Reassessing the Rogue Tory: Canadian Foreign Relations in the Diefenbaker Era ed. by Janice Cavell and Ryan M. Touhey (review)

This book is a fascinating collection of chapters which explore Canadian foreign relations during the Diefenbaker era. John Diefenbaker is one of Canada's most controversial prime ministers, and this is particularly the case when it comes to his foreign policy. However, the essays in this collection look to challenge and reassess some of the long-standing views towards his foreign policy. Because of limited space I will focus on a chapter each from the three main sections of the book.

Francine McKenzie, in her chapter on 'A New Vision for the Commonwealth: Diefenbaker's Commonwealth Tour of 1958', explores a significant episode of Diefenbaker's external (the word 'external' is used intentionally compared to 'foreign' as Diefenbaker did not consider relations with other Commonwealth countries 'foreign') policy. McKenzie argues that Diefenbaker genuinely envisaged a significant role for the Commonwealth in the Cold War at the time. Furthermore, unlike his fellow leaders of the 'Old Commonwealth' (Britain, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and South Africa), he was prepared to criticise South Africa's apartheid regime, which went down well with the 'New Commonwealth', although was viewed extremely negatively, especially by the British.

Stephen Azzi's 'The Problem Child: Diefenbaker and Canada in the Language of the Kennedy Administration' reassesses the traditional view of Diefenbaker being solely to blame for the difficulties in the Canada–United States relationship during his premiership, and in particular his personally volatile relationship with US president John F. Kennedy. Through the use of US documents, Azzi illustrates that the US, and Kennedy in particular, regarded Diefenbaker and Canada more generally through a particular lens, which emphasised its inferiority complex and psychological introspection. These views shaped many of the exchanges between Diefenbaker and Kennedy. Azzi does admit, however, that Diefenbaker's indecision and paranoia also played a part in their difficulties.

'Tilting the Balance: Diefenbaker and Asia, 1957–63' by Jill Campbell-Miller, Michael Carroll, and Greg Donaghy explores a hitherto largely neglected part of Diefenbaker's foreign policy, his positions on the non-Commonwealth parts of Asia, in particularly China and South East Asia. In the case of the former, his government flirted with diplomatic recognition, and also attempted to sell wheat in particular to the country. However, both efforts were quickly quashed by the US, either through indirect or direct means. In the case of South East Asia, Diefenbaker tried to help extricate the US from involvement in Vietnam. However, this was not appreciated by its neighbour. And Canada's attempt to fulfil its obligations in regard to international agreements on Vietnam, with an increasing build-up of US forces, also put a strain on Canada–US relations.

This is an excellent collection of essays, which make a significant contribution to the field. The book is also very readable. Therefore I wholeheartedly recommend it to readers, both expert and general.