Camelot and Canada: Canadian-American Relations in the Kennedy Era by Asa McKercher (review)

What a perfect time to be reviewing a book on Canadian-American relations set during the John George Diefenbaker/John Fitzgerald Kennedy era. That they had a tumultuous personal relationship, as Asa McKercher points out, is well known. The question facing us now is the evolution of the Justin Trudeau/Donald Trump connection. Are there any lessons from this earlier period for the Canadian side in dealing with such a personality? Is it perhaps déjà vu all over again, but this time from the reverse perspective?

This is a very good book, thoroughly researched and well written. I do not think that there is one important archival source that McKercher has omitted. As well, the list of secondary sources runs to more than 300 with every significant commentator of the period listed here. Clearly, his grasp of the years being examined allows the author to change the tone of the relationship and to offer an interestingly different conclusion. Importantly, "Camelot and Canada explores American views of Canadian nationalism, thereby breaking out of the narrow boundaries typical of studies of Canadian identity" (4). In short, it does not only obsess about Canadians' attitudes toward the United States but also offers the corrective of how the latter saw the former. President Dwight Eisenhower was much easier, as is well known, but, as McKercher points out, Kennedy, as well as his predecessor, affirmed that the two governments could disagree with one another.

As well, McKercher focuses more on the actions of officials than of heads of government. Both of these are welcome contributions to the literature in that, while dealt with in some fashion in the past, they have not been addressed systematically as is done here. Similarly, the author places the Canadian-American relationship in the wider context of the Cold War–how and why it was affected given the global responsibilities of the United States over the period. As the author maintains, Canada was but one tiny and relatively insignificant cog in a mighty us wheel, which is a reality that would probably have come as a surprise to many Canadians who thought that surely we must be front and centre in American minds.

The chapter "Grand Designs: Canada-us Economic Relations, Nationalism and Global Trade, 1961–1962," whose title is a play on the Eisenhower Grand Design policy, which is in some ways at the centre of the Canadian-American relationship, demonstrates the historiographical contribution that is evident throughout a book covering an era and a theme that have received attention from Canadian critics. In short, the us side is examined, and motivations for American policy elucidated, in a depth that is generally absent from other treatments of the period even though the topics addressed, Canadian-American trade or the effect on Canada of the uk application to join the European Economic Community, have been historical staples in terms of the literature. McKercher's account has the Canadians as taking the measure of their us counterparts.

With respect to Cuba and its various crises vis-à-vis the United States, the theme of another chapter, Canadians were equally tough. Indeed, as the author suggests, Americans backed down in terms of demanding Ottawa's compliance with their policy. Taking a leaf from Canada's practice, the author quite rightly points out that Washington preferred "quiet diplomacy" over Cuba instead of making more aggressive demands (149). McKercher's analysis puts a slightly different spin on the historiography, one that is informed by his wide-ranging archival sources. This refusal to accept the era's prescribed historiographical wisdom in terms of the Canada–us relationship is to be found in all chapters. It is refreshing.

Asa McKercher has provided a compelling account of the evolution of the Canadian-American relationship over the period from roughly 1960 until 1963 through his examination of a number of themes that animated the era. His is one that will surely appeal to both...