Pearson and Canada's Role in Nuclear Disarmament and Arms Control Negotiations, 1945-1957

Pearson and Canada's Role in Nuclear Disarmament and Arms Control Negotiations, 1945-1957

Author: Joseph Levitt

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 1993-05-28

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 0773563377

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In Pearson and Canada's Role in Nuclear Disarmament and Arms Control Negotiations Joseph Levitt traces the history of these negotiations from the Canadian diplomatic perspective. He analyses the various proposals and documents the reactions of Pearson and his colleagues. Levitt reveals Pearson's own view of the strategic stalemate between the USSR and the United States -- Pearson did not believe that an open and liberal society such as the United States would ever launch an unprovoked offensive on the USSR; he thought instead that the danger of a major military confrontation arose only from the possibility that the Soviet Union might attack. Consequently the main thrust of Canadian diplomatic activity in these negotiations was not prevention of an American arms build-up but support of a strategy which would compel the USSR to accept an agreement that would benefit the Americans militarily or, failing that, to hold the Soviets responsible for the impasse in the talks and thus win the all-important propaganda war.


Pearson and Canada's Role in Nuclear Disarmament and Arms Control Negotiations, 1945-1957

Pearson and Canada's Role in Nuclear Disarmament and Arms Control Negotiations, 1945-1957

Author: Joseph Levitt

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9780773509054

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Lester Pearson was Minister for External Affairs between 1948 and 1957. During this time Canada was a member of two successive United Nations commissions on eliminating or controlling nuclear arms with the United States and the Soviet Union as the main negotiators. The goal of these discussions was to reach an agreement on general principles that reflected the strategic needs of each side, rather than on the technical details necessary for a treaty. While the United States and the Soviet Union played the largest role in the negotiations, two other major powers, Britain and France, allies of the Americans, were also at the bargaining table. Canada was the only middle power to participate in all negotiations.


The American Nuclear Disarmament Dilemma, 1945-1963

The American Nuclear Disarmament Dilemma, 1945-1963

Author: David Tal

Publisher: Syracuse University Press

Published: 2008-09-25

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 9780815631668

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 quickly ushered in a popular and political movement toward nuclear disarmament. Across the globe, heads of state, high-ranking ministers, and bureaucrats led intense efforts to achieve effective disarmament agreements. Ultimately these efforts failed. In The American Nuclear Disarmament Dilemma, David Tal offers a detailed analysis of U.S. policy from 1945 to the summer of 1963, exploring the reasons for failure and revealing the complex motivations that eventually led to the Limited Test Ban Treaty. While previous books have focused on the policies of specific administrations, Tal’s is the first to consider negotiations as an evolving phenomenon that preoccupied three presidents, from Truman to Kennedy. Drawing on extensive archival research, the author examines the profound dilemma faced by leaders on all sides—forced by political pressure to engage in negotiations whose success they saw as injurious to national interests. Far from believing that the nuclear arms race would inevitably lead to war, the United States regarded nuclear weapons as the greatest guarantee that war would not happen.


The Nuclear North

The Nuclear North

Author: Susan Colbourn

Publisher: UBC Press

Published: 2020-10-01

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 0774864001

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Since the first atomic weapon was detonated in 1945, Canadians have debated not only the role of nuclear power in their uranium-rich land but also their country’s role in a nuclear world. Should Canada belong to international alliances that depend on the threat of nuclear weapons for their own security? Should Canadian-produced nuclear technologies be exported? What about the impact of atomic research on local communities and the environment? This incisive nuclear history engages with much larger debates about national identity, Canadian foreign policy contradictions during the Cold War, and Canada’s global standing to investigate these critical questions.


Canada's Department of External Affairs, Volume 2

Canada's Department of External Affairs, Volume 2

Author: John Hilliker

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13: 0773507388

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The second volume of the official history of the 'Department of External Affairs, Coming of Age' covers a period of remarkable expansion and achievement in the history of Canadian external relations.


At Home and Abroad

At Home and Abroad

Author: Patrick Lennox

Publisher: UBC Press

Published: 2010-07-01

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 0774859075

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Canada's relationship with the United States and its place in the world currently occupy distinct spheres in the minds of policymakers, intellectuals, and citizens. At home, Canada is thought to enjoy a "special" relationship with the United States; abroad, it occupies a place as the world's problem-solver and peacekeeper. Patrick Lennox analyzes six key events in the history of relations between the two countries to reveal the underlying connection between the Canada-US relationship and Canada's place in the world. The war in Afghanistan is but the latest in a series of paradoxical interactions between the two states abroad that has resulted from the hierarchy in Canada-US relations at home.


Give Me Shelter

Give Me Shelter

Author: Andrew Paul Burtch

Publisher: UBC Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 0774822406

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

What do you do when a nuclear weapon detonates nearby? During the early Cold War years of 1945-63, Civil Defence Canada and the Emergency Measures Organization planned for just such a disaster and encouraged citizens to prepare their families and their cities for nuclear war. By the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the civil defence program was widely mocked, and the public was vastly unprepared for nuclear war. Canada’s civil defence program was born in the early Cold War, when fears of conflict between the superpowers ran high. Give Me Shelter features previously unreleased documents detailing Canada’s nuclear survival plans. Andrew Burtch reveals how the organization publicly appealed to citizens to prepare for disaster themselves -- from volunteering as air-raid wardens to building fallout shelters. This tactic ultimately failed, however, due to a skeptical populace, chronic underfunding, and repeated bureaucratic fumbling. Give Me Shelter exposes the challenges of educating the public in the face of the looming threat of nuclear annihilation. Give Me Shelter explains how governments and the public prepared for the unexpected. It is essential reading for historians, policymakers, and anybody interested in Canada’s Cold War home front.


Mike’s World

Mike’s World

Author: Asa McKercher

Publisher: UBC Press

Published: 2017-10-01

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 0774835311

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Although fifty years have passed since Lester Pearson stepped down as prime minister, he still influences debates about Canada’s role in the world. Known as “Mike” to his friends, he has been credited with charting a “Pearsonian” course in which Canada took on a global role as a helpful fixer seeking to mediate disputes and promote international cooperation. Mike’s World explores the myths surrounding Pearsonianism to explain why he remains such a touchstone for understanding Canadian foreign policy. Leading and emerging scholars dig deeply into Pearson’s diplomatic and political career, especially during the 1960s and his time as prime minister. Topics range from peacekeeping and Arctic sovereignty to environmental diplomacy and human rights policy. They show that competing forces of idealism and pragmatism were key drivers of Pearsonian foreign policy and how global events often influenced politics and society within Canada itself. Situating Pearson within his times and as a lens through which to analyze Canadians’ views of global affairs, this nuanced collection wrestles with the contradictions of Pearson and Pearsonianism and, ultimately, with the resulting myths surrounding Canada’s role in the world.


Our Lives: Canada after 1945

Our Lives: Canada after 1945

Author: Alvin Finkel

Publisher: James Lorimer & Company

Published: 2012-12-13

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 1459400518

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book offers a short, comprehensive history of post-war Canada. All the major events and developments in Canadian history are discussed: the evolution of the welfare state; the growth of economic domination by the United States; the halcyon days as a Middle Power; the Quiet Revolution; the First Nations' quest for autonomy; the flowering of English-Canadian nationalism; Quebec nationalism; the women's movement; neo-conservatism; and globalization. Finkel covers political, economic, social, and cultural history in this volume. This second edition includes a substantial new chapter that discusses the people, events, and developments that have dominated the period from 1995 to 2012. This chapter looks at the growing social inequality within Canadian society; the effects of globalization on Canada's industries, economy, and workers; and the increasing environmental challenges that we face. Extensively illustrated, Our Lives: Canada after 1945 is a uniquely accessible and comprehensive overview of a period only beginning to attract the attention of historians.


Learning to Love the Bomb

Learning to Love the Bomb

Author: Sean M. Maloney

Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.

Published: 2011-07

Total Pages: 611

ISBN-13: 1612342477

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In Learning to Love the Bomb, Sean M. Maloney explores the controversial subject of Canada's acquisition of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Based on newly declassified Canadian and U.S. documents, it examines policy, strategy, operational, and technical matters and weaves these seemingly disparate elements into a compelling story that finally unlocks several Cold War mysteries. For example, while U.S. military forces during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis were focused on the Caribbean Sea and the southeastern United States, Canadian forces assumed responsibility for defending the northern United States, with aircraft armed with nuclear depth charges flying patrols and guarding against missile attack by Soviet submarines. This defensive strategy was a closely guarded secret because it conflicted with Canada's image as a peacekeeper and therefore a more passive member of NATO than its ally to the south. It is revealed here for the first time. The place of nuclear weapons in Canadian history has, until now, been a highly secret and misunderstood field subject to rumor, rhetoric, half-truths, and propaganda. Learning to Love the Bomb reveals the truth about Canada's role as a nuclear power.