No, Prime Minister: Revisiting Diefenbaker and the “Pearsonalities”

Abstract

John Diefenbaker has been portrayed as having been out of his league in foreign affairs. In part, his lack of foreign policy successes have been blamed on his poor relationship with Canadian diplomats, who he feared were “Pearsonalities” loyal to former Liberal foreign minister Lester Pearson. Yet, historians have largely dismissed Diefenbaker's suspicions. First revisiting the poor relationship between Diefenbaker and the diplomats, this article then focuses on one highly divisive policy issue: the prime minister's rhetorical war against the Soviet Union, notably a campaign, carried out from 1960–62, to have the un pass a resolution condemning Soviet colonialism. Commentators have been unkind toward this campaign, in part because it was so obviously driven by domestic political calculations but also, and relatedly, because it sparked a feud between the prime minister and Canadian diplomats. As this article makes clear, there were in fact Pearsonalities actively working against Diefenbaker on this issue, a finding that raises questions about the Canadian tradition of civil service loyalty and that fits within the ongoing historiographical trend of adding nuance to the study of Diefenbaker's foreign policy.