O.D. Skelton: The Work of the World, 1923-1941

During the years between the world wars and into the Second World War, O. D. Skelton was the chief foreign policy advisor to Canada’s prime ministers and a lonely advocate for the country’s “out and out” independence from Great Britain. Norman Hillmer’s edition of Skelton’s powerful and eloquent writings on international affairs illuminates his work and his world – co-operating and clashing with Prime Ministers Mackenzie King and R. B. Bennett in an attempt to keep Canada in the international arena and at the same time away from its troubles; maneuvering at imperial conferences in London and at League of Nations meetings in Geneva; systematically building up the Department of External Affairs and the Canadian diplomatic service as instruments of a distinctive national interest; confronting the Manchurian, Ethiopian, and Czech crises of the 1930s; aligning himself with senior francophone politicians such as Ernest Lapointe and Raoul Dandurand; watching in despair as the devils broke loose in Europe and Asia and continents descended into war; and, after the fall of France, moving away from his Canada First views about the Second World War to a realization of the importance of the fight for freedom abroad.

More information at: http://www.uregina.ca/events/od-skelton-the-work-of-the-world-1923-1941