The Politics of John W. Dafoe and the Free Press / / Ramsay Cook.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Archive 1933-1999
• VerfasserIn: Cook, Ramsay,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2017]; ©1963
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Series: Heritage
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (320 p.)

John W. Dafoe was a dominant figure in western Canadian political history during the first half of the twentieth century. As editor of the Winnipeg Free Press from 1901 to 1944, he gained an international reputation for his perceptive analysis of the issues facing Canada and the world. He was at the centre of almost every major political development of his time: he advised prime ministers, was deeply involved in organizing the Progressive party, and was a member of the crucial Rowell-Sirois Commission on federal-provincial relations. His influence was enormous, and at the time of his death he was widely regarded as the nation's most distinguished editor. This book is a study at close quarters of Dafoe, the man of politics. It focuses on the Dafoe who read and studied and the Dafoe who observed men and events; on Dafoe in his centre of operation and at the Free Press and Dafoe moving watchfully about the country and abroad when critical decisions were in the making; on the ideas confided in letters to friends and the ideas delivered in public speeches; on contributions made to conferences and commissions and advice given to political figures. The book is not intended as a complete biography of Dafoe in all his aspects, but it is even less an abstract treatise in the field of political theory. It is the biography of a political mind. The impression is of a mind recalled to its full vigour, for no prejudgments have been made about it and no restraints upon it. Ramsay Cook treats his subject with candour, but also with understanding and a sense of humour. He has ordered his material with extraordinary skill, so that his book is enjoyable reading as well as a valuable source of information about a distinguished Canadian and a momentous period in Canadian history.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Introduction -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- I. Self- Made Man -- II. Sifton’s Lieutenant 1901–5 -- III. Liberalism: Domestic and Imperial 1906–11 -- IV. The Luxury of Opposition 1911–14 -- V. The War and a New Political Alignment 1914–17 -- VI. Ushering in a New World 1918–20 -- VII. “In the Lap of the Gods” 1920–3 -- VIII. The Triumph of Liberal Nationalism 1921–3 -- IX. Lord Byng Intervenes 1924–6 -- X. Canada, the Commonwealth and the World 1923–30 -- XI. Bennett, King and Chaos 1927–37 -- XII. Remodelling the Canadian Constitution -- XIII. The Whole World in Travail 1929–39 -- XIV. Canada Fights 1939–44 -- XV. Western Liberal Nationalist -- A Note on Sources -- Index