Building a Special Relationship
Building a Special Relationship
Canada-US Relations in the Eisenhower Era, 1953–61
Building a Special Relationship examines an under-appreciated time in foreign relations between the United States and Canada during the 1950s, when North American officials formed a culture of bilateral cooperation under the shadow of a growing Cold War.
This work asserts that the Eisenhower era was critical to the evolution of diplomatic dealings between Canada and America. Under Eisenhower and Prime Ministers St. Laurent and Diefenbaker, policy makers collaborating in Ottawa and Washington achieved what authors Asa McKercher and Michael D. Stevenson deem to be “tolerant accommodation” on significant issues of the day. Despite often disagreeing on their path forward but by embracing shared political ideologies and goals, both nations found common ground on matters such as defence, foreign policy, economic growth, and natural resource management.
Building a Special Relationship is a significant contribution to the scholarly understanding of Canadian diplomacy during a formative era for Ottawa. Drawing on a wide array of archival sources, this book presents a vital new interpretation of how North American diplomacy in the Eisenhower years continues to influence what is often characterized as the “special relationship” between Canada and the United States.
Historians, scholars, and readers of diplomacy, political history, and international relations will find keen new insights in Building a Special Relationship’s analysis of an integral period in North American history.
This path-breaking survey of Canada-US relations during the Eisenhower administration convincingly shows that the past was not mere prelude, but foundational to the shape and successes of Canada’s relations with its main ally and trade and diplomatic partner. Despite challenges stemming from differing approaches to the Cold War, the two countries enjoyed harmony due to both personalities and effective bilateral institutions. This work should re-define our understanding of Canada-US relations.
Building a Special Relationship is a highly readable, extremely knowledgeable accumulation of the histories of US-Canadian relations during the Eisenhower era. It will prove to be very useful.
Asa McKercher is an assistant professor in the Department of History at the Royal Military College of Canada, a senior fellow of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, and a fellow at Queen’s Centre for International and Defence Policy. He is editor-in-chief of International Journal, Canada's journal of global policy analysis. His books include Canada and the World since 1867 and Camelot and Canada: Canadian-American Relations in the Kennedy Era, as well as the edited collections North of America: Canadians and the American Century, 1945–60, Undiplomatic History: Rethinking Canada in the World and Mike's World: Lester B. Pearson and Canadian External Affairs. Michael D. Stevenson is a professor in the Department of History at Lakehead University. He is the author of Canada’s Greatest Wartime Muddle: National Selective Service and the Mobilization of Human Resources during World War II and editor of the 1957–58 volumes of Documents on Canadian External Relations.
Mike’s World
Lester B. Pearson and Canadian External Affairs
Edited by Asa McKercher and Galen Roger Perras
Reassessing the Rogue Tory
Canadian Foreign Relations in the Diefenbaker Era
Edited by Janice Cavell and Ryan M. Touhey
North of America
Canadians and the American Century, 1945–60
Edited by Asa McKercher and Michael D. Stevenson
