Camelot and Canada

Asa McKercher's exemplary study of Canadian-American relations explores several particularly timely themes: the rising hopes emerging from the election of a young, charismatic leader; the influence of a foreign power on the outcome of a national election; and a campaign's politically motivated stoking of a nationalism that questioned commitments to security alliances and severely strained bilateral relations. These and other topics of contemporary relevance emerge in McKercher's astute analysis of the breakdown of bilateral relations in the early 1960s. McKercher broadens and complicates the narrative of this breakdown that has centered on the enmity between U.S. president John F. Kennedy and Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker. He begins with an overview of Canadian-American relations from 1957 to 1961, emphasizing the rise of Canadian nationalism and the origins of several diplomatic disputes that antedated the notorious personal animosity that developed between Kennedy and Diefenbaker. His close examination of the records of leading politicians and diplomats on both sides during the Kennedy presidency credits the successful practice of “quiet diplomacy” with resolving several bilateral disputes (p. 3). In detailing the discreet resolution of contentious issues and underscoring cooperation and support in crises involving Berlin and Cuba, McKercher demonstrates that the Kennedy administration more often than not displayed neither arrogance nor ignorance in its relations with Canada. In fact, the administration acknowledged Canada's special status with the United States by granting exemptions that contradicted American trade and security policies designed to isolate China and Cuba

Administration (probate law · Charisma · Diplomacy · Ignorance · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Presidency · Sociology · Canadian Policy and Governance · Law · Public Administration