September 11, 2013

Terry Reardon Discusses His New Study of the Two Prime Ministers

Click on Image to see VideoLong-time Churchill Centre member and Finest Hour contributor Terry Reardon discussed his new book on Ontario Public Television’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin in a two-part interview that surveyed the 50 year relationship between the British and Canadian prime ministers.  In the first part, Terry talks about the first meeting between Churchill and Mackenzie King in 1900 and continues up to the point that Churchill became prime minister in 1940.  During this period the two men seldom saw eye-to-eye.  Mackenzie King supported Chamberlain’s appeasement policies and discounted the possibility of war with Germany right up to the outbreak of hostilities.  In the second part of the interview Terry discusses the war years when the British and Canadian leaders worked together.  He credits Mackenzie King for the decision to take Canada into the war straight away.  This point cannot be overemphasized as Canada’s contribution to the war in terms of men, money and material was vital.  To View Video of Terry discussing his book CLICK HERE.

John G. Plumpton reviews Churchill and Mackenzie King in the current issue of Finest Hour (Number 159) where he notes that “the meat of the book is the little known story of how King supported and worked with Churchill to prod and assist the United States into war.”  “It is hard for today’s advocates of the Anglo-American special relationship to believe that there was a time when the U.S. and Britain could not talk directly to each other without an intermediary.” Plumpton notes.  “That linchpin (again a Churchillian term) was not Canada: it was Mackenzie King.”

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