Sign-In
Cart
Diefenbaker's World: A Populist in Foreign Affairs
Paperback
Series: Heritage
General Political ScienceInternational Relations
ISBN13: 9780802069221
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: Aug 1 1991
Pages: 384
Weight: 1.19
Height: 0.80 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
Politicking on the streets of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, John Diefenbaker was in his element. He was much less at home negotiating with the heads of other governments and formulating foreign policy. As prime minister from 1957 to 1963, Diefenbaker oversaw Canada's role in some of the most dramatic moments of twentieth-century world affairs, but it was an arena in which The Chief was never really comfortable.
The Diefenbaker years were a distinctive era in Canada's external affairs, both in the international challenges the country faced and in the style with which government met those challenges. Basil Robinson served Diefenbaker as External Affairs liaison officer for five years. He presents an informed, balanced, and clear-eyed assessment of the time and the man whose compelling personality shaped it.
For Robinson and others who had worked in the department of External Affairs in its post-war glory days, the period of transition was difficult. They found Diefenbaker always interested, conscientious, and accessible to his immediate advisers. But each of his foreign policy decisions was inevitably coloured by domestic political considerations: how would it play in Saskatoon?
That question informed Diefenbaker's' attitudes on most of the international issues that confronted him: the North American air defence agreement (NORAD); the controversy over the stationing of nuclear weapons on Canadian soil; the withdrawal of South Africa from the Commonwealth; his attempt to obstruct the United Kingdom's negotiation for entry into the European Economic Community; the crises of Berlin in 1961 and Cuba in 1962; and the nuclear weapons controversy which brought about the fall of his government in 1963.
Robinson takes us through each of these developments and Diefenbaker's handling of them. We find out why he got along so well with Dwight D. Eisenhower and so badly with John F. Kennedy, and about the ups and downs of his relationship with Harold Macmillan. We get to know the advisers with whom he surrounded himself, and to understand why he chose them. We learn what made him anxious, what gave him confidence. And we see what impact all those things had on the way Canada interacted with our allies and enemies in those years of international tension.
Also in
International Relations
Nonstate Warfare: The Military Methods of Guerillas, Warlords, and Militias
Biddle, Stephen
Hardcover
Turning the Tide: U.S. Intervention in Central America and the Struggle for Peace
Chomsky, Noam
Paperback
Wronged by Empire: Post-Imperial Ideology and Foreign Policy in India and China
Miller, Manjari Chatterjee
Paperback
Dawn of the Code War: America's Battle Against Russia, China, and the Rising Global Cyber Threat
Graff, Garrett M.
Carlin, John P.
Paperback
Hostage on the Yangtze: Britain, China, and the Amethyst Crisis of 1949
Murfett, Malcolm H.
Hardcover
Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor
Kuehn, Christine
Hardcover
100 Deadly Skills: The Seal Operative's Guide to Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation
Emerson, Clint
Paperback
The Kennedys and the Windsors: The Story of Two Dynasties, One Born, One Made
Hallemann, Caroline
Hardcover
The American School of Spies: The Archaeologists Who Fought the Nazis and Saved the Treasures of Ancient Greece
Talty, Stephan
Hardcover
Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II
Graham, Elyse
Paperback
A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders: Surprising Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps
Elledge, Jonn
Paperback
The Nord Stream Conspiracy: The Inside Story of the Explosions That Shook the World
Pancevski, Bojan
Hardcover
Kennedy's Coup: A White House Plot, a Saigon Murder, and America's Descent Into Vietnam
Cheevers, Jack
Hardcover
Polar War: Submarines, Spies, and the Struggle for Power in a Melting Arctic
Rosen, Kenneth R.
Hardcover
Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder
McFaul, Michael
Hardcover
Killed to Order: China's Organ Harvesting Industry and the True Nature of America's Biggest Adversary
Jekielek, Jan
Hardcover
The Best Kind of American: A True Story of Murder, War, and America's Undoing in the Middle East
Ghattas, Kim
Hardcover
Going to Tehran: Why America Must Accept the Islamic Republic of Iran
Leverett, Flynt
Leverett, Hillary Mann
Paperback
The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the Cia, and the Rise of America's Secret Government
Talbot, David
Paperback
How to Win a Trade War: An Optimistic Guide to an Anxious Global Economy
Keynes, Soumaya
Bown, Chad P.
Hardcover
100 Deadly Skills: A Navy SEAL's Guide to Crushing Your Enemy, Fighting for Your Life, and Embracing Your Inner Badass
Emerson, Clint
Paperback
Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States
Parsi, Trita
Paperback
The Havana Syndrome: Secret Weapons, a Government Cover-Up, and the Greatest Spy Mystery of Our Time
Rey, Michael
Zill de Granados, Oriana
Hardcover
The Visionaries: Bretton Woods, the Marshall Plan, and the Making of the Post-World War II Order
Holland, James
Hardcover
The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources
Blas, Javier
Farchy, Jack
Paperback
Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks: Russian Intelligence and Putin's Secret War
Wiswesser, Sean Michael
Hardcover
Axis of Aggressors: Countering the Cooperation of China, Russia, Iran & North Korea
Montgomery, Rear Admiral (Ret) Mark
Dezenski, Elaine K.
Bowman, Bradley L.
Paperback
The Great Heist: China's Epic Campaign to Steal America's Secrets
Shedd, David R.
Badger, Andrew
Hardcover
Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalries, Big Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare
Feldstein, Steve
Hardcover
The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran
Crist, David
Paperback
A Moon Will Rise from the Darkness: Reports on Israel's Genocide in Palestine
Albanese, Francesca
Paperback
Shadow Cell: An Insider Account of America's New Spy War
Bustamante, Andrew
Bustamante, Jihi
Hardcover
A Shadow Over the World: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Rise of Fascism, and the Making of America's World War II
Hitchcock, William I.
Hardcover
Race Against Terror: Chasing an Al Qaeda Killer at the Dawn of the Forever War
Tapper, Jake
Hardcover
We Are The Bad Guys: How The U.S. Wages War, Controls Economies, and Calls It Freedom
Lester, Michael
Paperback
Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941
Olson, Lynne
Paperback
Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory
MacIntyre, Ben
Paperback
Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy (Large Print Edition)
MacIntyre, Ben
Paperback
Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the Fbi, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence
Burrough, Bryan
Paperback
While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East
Katz, Yaakov
Bohbot, Amir
Hardcover
When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail
Dolin, Eric Jay
Paperback
Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict
Chenoweth, Erica
Stephan, Maria
Paperback
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II
Mundy, Liza
Paperback
The Globalist Plan to Collapse Everything: To Usher in a New World Order
Roberts, Allan Paul
Paperback
More Than a Shirt: How Football Shirts Explain Global Politics, Money and Power
D'Urso, Joey
Paperback
Kicking the Hornet's Nest: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East from Truman to Trump
Zoughbie, Daniel E.
Hardcover
Atlas of Borders: Walls, Migrations, and Conflict in 70 Maps
Papin, Delphine
Tertrais, Bruno
Hardcover
Two World Wars and Hitler: Who Was Responsible?: Anglo-American Money, Foreign Agents and Geopolitics
MacGregor, Jim
O'Dowd, John
Paperback
The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources
Blas, Javier
Farchy, Jack
Hardcover
The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World
MacIntyre, Ben
Paperback
The Great Global Transformation: The United States, China, and the Remaking of the World Economic Order
Milanovic, Branko
Hardcover
Against Our Better Judgment: The hidden history of how the United States was used to create Israel
Weir, Alison
Paperback
Israel on the Brink: And the Eight Revolutions That Could Lead to Decolonization and Coexistence
Pappé, Ilan
Hardcover
The Myth of American Idealism: How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers the World
Robinson, Nathan J.
Chomsky, Noam
Paperback
The Architect of Espionage: The Man Who Built Israel's Mossad Into the World's Boldest Intelligence Force
Katz, Samuel M.
Hardcover
Simple Sabotage Field Manual: A Declassified CIA Guide to Subverting Fascism Through Weaponized Incompetence
Of Strategic Services, United States Office
Paperback
G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner): J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century
Gage, Beverly
Paperback
The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives
Brzezinski, Zbigniew
Paperback
Strategic Influence: Public Diplomacy, Counterpropaganda, and Political Warfare
Waller, J. Michael
Paperback
Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World: A New Economics for the Middle Class, the Global Poor, and Our Climate
Rodrik, Dani
Hardcover
Embargo: The 1973 Oil Crisis That Changed the World (and What We Can Learn from It Now)
Delves Broughton, Philip
Hardcover
Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror
Carr, Jack
Scott, James M.
Paperback
Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II
Graham, Elyse
Hardcover
The Hundred-Year Marathon: China's Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower
Pillsbury, Michael
Paperback
The Shortest History of War: From Hunter-Gatherers to Nuclear Superpowers - A Retelling for Our Times
Dyer, Gwynne
Paperback
Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins
Jacobsen, Annie
Paperback
The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America
Grandin, Greg
Paperback
Great Power Diplomacy: The Skill of Statecraft from Attila the Hun to Kissinger
Mitchell, A. Wess
Hardcover
Three Days at the Brink: Fdr's Daring Gamble to Win World War II
Baier, Bret
Whitney, Catherine
Paperback
Dark Alliance: Movie Tie-In Edition: The Cia, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion
Webb, Gary
Paperback
The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill
Meltzer, Brad
Mensch, Josh
Paperback