Diefenbaker: Leadership Gained, 1956–62 by Peter Stursberg (review)

330 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW scandal, theGamey Affair, noonewasprosecuted, although theLiberalpartypaida highpriceindeedin thesubsequent election. PublicandPrivatePersons, then,isnota bookaboutpoliticalculture;it remainsa bookaboutpolitics andpoliticians. It isacollection of articles onpublicandprivate persons asseenfrom insidetheparties.Yet despite thisdrawbackthebookremains eminentlyreadableandinformative.I rememberbeingtoldasa graduatestudent thatnomatterwhereoneplugsintothesystem onelearnssomething abouthowthat system works.Oliverhaspluggedinto Ontario'spoliticalsystem at theupperechelonsof the parties,and in sodoinghe isableto tell usa greatdealabouthowthe system functioned. Despite thedisappointment, Public andPrivate Persons represents animportantcontribution tothe muchneglected historyof Ontario. MICHAEL J. PIVA University ofOttawa Forgotten Heroes.' TheCanadians atDieppe. JOHN MELLOR. Toronto, Methuen, 1975.PPviii , 164,maps,illus.$•o.95. Thisisthelatest bookontherathernotoriously unforgotten Diepperaid.It iswholly undocumented andcontains nobibliography andnoindex;butitappears tobebased on interviews andcorrespondence with participants - not, it mustbe said,thebest possible source ofinformationaboutabattleoverthirtyyearsaftertheevents. It adds nothingto our knowledge of theoperation,andcontains a fair numberof demonstrable errors.Itsinterest liesinthefactthatMr Melior,morethananyprevious author, hassetoutto describe the painfulexperiences in Gemanyof the Dieppemenwho became prisoners of war;hisaccount of thesetakesup nearlyhalf thebook.He concerns himselfmainlywith the 'otherranks';the officers,who werein separate prisoncamps, getlessattention.The moststrikingfigurein thisnarrativeisnota Canadian, buta Britishsoldier:Regimental Sergeant-Major Harry Beesley of No 3 Commando, a pre-war regular. He was the senior warrant officer ('noncommissioned officer'intheauthor'svocabulary) capturedatDieppe.In Stalag vmB he sethimselfto maintainthe prisoners'discipline,moraleand courage,and he compelled the Germansto respecthim astheir spokesman. Beesley waskilledin Poland in 1945,tryingtominimizethedamage donebyanaccident toatraincarrying liberatedprisoners. C.P. STACEY Massey College, Toronto Diefenbaker: Leadership Gained, •956-62. PETER STURSBERG. Toronto, Universityof TorontoPress, •975. PP-xv,278, illus.$•5.oo. Armedwithataperecorder,encouraged bythesupport of theheadof thehistorical sound recording section ofthePublic Archives ofCanada, andintentonpresenting a historyof theDiefenbaker yearsbased ontherecollections of thosewhoshared the REVIEWS 331 politicalspotlightwith Canada'sthirteenth prime minister,Peter Stursberghas producedan entertainingand informativemanuscript. Formercabinetministers, aides,newspaper reporters,and politicalopponents wereinterviewedat lengthby Mr Stursberg for this,the firstof twovolumes. Nineteenhoursof interviewswere conductedwith Mr Diefenbakerhimself,but theycouldnot be includedfor fear of violating the former prime minister'scontractfor the publicationof his own memoirs.Asthe author correctlypointsout, thebookdoesnot pretendto be a full account of the Diefenbaker era. Rather, 'it is the recorded table talk of cabinet ministers andotherinsiders' (xiii),aboutthemselves, theirprimeminister,theirparty and government. The bookisrepletewithanecdotes about'theChief' andexplanations of manyof the controversial decisions madeby his government.Someof theseare by now familiar, though not painfully so as is often the casewith storiesconcerninga legendary figure.Othersarenewandarerevealedpubliclyfor thefirsttime.Among the latter are Ellen Fairclough'saccountof George Drew's resignationfrom the Conservative leadership in •956,PierreS6vigny's admission of hischicanery to gain Duplessis' supportfor the federalelectionof •957, Mike Starr'sdescription of the formation of Diefenbaker'scabinet,and Donald Fieming'sversionof the Coyne affair in •96•.The eventsmay be well known,but the light shedon them by the participants comes fromafreshangleandemploys differenthuesandintensities. Byitsverynaturethefinalproductofanoralhistoryprojectisnecessarily different fromthose ofthemoretraditionalhistorical approaches. It isnocriticism ofthisbook to pointout that a politician's recollections of eventswhichoccurredten or fifteen yearsbeforearelikelytobeasfaultyastheyareselective, thoughperhapsnomoreso thanwouldbethecase withmostof us.Politicians havebothreputations andegos to protectand it isin their self-interestto presentthemselves in the mostfavourable light.Oral historycannot,therefore,becommended foritsdetachment, itsimpartial reflection,anditsprecision. It is,astheauthormodestly states, 'therawmaterialof history'(xiii). The picturethat emergesof John Diefenbakeris muchasone wouldhaveexpected :alonerwhowasambitious, cunning,politically astute,anddeeplysuspicious ofothers.Surprisingly, healsocomes across asamanwho,inspiteofhistotalabsence of government experience, wasquicktograsptheessentials of mostissues andwho, onbalance, exercised reasonably sound judgment.Hiscabinetcolleagues foundhim receptive to newideasandjudiciousin reachingdecisions - a manunfairlycharacterizedatthetimeastheheadof a one-manoperation.He wasa disastrous administrator when the goinggot tough,but in manywayshe wasa better-than-average politicalleader. He began his prime ministershipas a confidentand energetic politician whowascapable of makingharddecisions oncetherelevantdatahadbeen gatheredandthevariousarguments hadbeenpresented. Then camethe Avro Arrow decision.That eventprovedto be the watershedin Diefenbaker's career.In isolation it wasneitherhisgovernment's undoingnor his, butit clearlypromptedachange in hisapproachtopoliticalleadership. Diefenbaker wasshaken bythe politicalrepercussions of the Arrow decision. The Liberals(who undoubtedlywouldhavereacheda similardecision on theArrow) capitalizedonthe 332 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW issue andtheyscored heavilyontheConservatives whereit hurtthemost,in southern Ontario.Diefenbakerneverfullyrecovered from thatevent.He learnedthepriceto be paid politicallyfor rationaland decisivegovernmentactionon controversial matters. Couldonedatetheprimeminister's irresolution andincreasing suspiciousnessfrom that point?Almostcertainlyso.It appearsto havebeendownhillall the way: Coyne,devaluation,Cuba,and nuclearwarheads.Delaysand fractiousness soonreplaceddecisiveness andharmonyasthe dominantstyles andmoodsof the Diefenbaker government. In thewordsof GeorgeHees'...wejustarguedourselves into exhaustion'(•8o). Several of Diefenbaker's colleagues wereof oldConservative stock. They were,in manycases, individuals whose ancestors hadbeenprominentmembers of Conservativeadministrations federallyand/or provincially- aspremiers,cabinetministers, M•'s, and Senators. There were at least six such ministers in Diefenbaker's cabinet: L/•onBalcer...