Cold War Canada : : The Making of a National Insecurity State, 1945-1957 / / Gary Marcuse, Reginald Whitaker.

Canadians might expect that a history of Canada's participation in the Cold War would be a self-congratulatory exercise in documenting the liberality and moderation of Canada set against the rapacious purges of the McCarthy era in the United States. Though Reg Whitaker and Gary Marcuse agree th...

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Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Archive 1933-1999
VerfasserIn:
Place / Publishing House:Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2019]
©1996
Year of Publication:2019
Language:English
Online Access:
Physical Description:1 online resource (512 p.)
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Other title:Frontmatter --
Contents --
Preface --
Acknowledgments --
Chronology --
Part One: Introduction --
Part Two: The Gouzenko Affair --
Part Three: Canada in a Cold War World --
Part Four: The Cold War in Ottawa --
Part Five: The Cold War in Canadian Society --
Part Six: The End of the First Cold War Era --
Notes --
Primary Sources, Abbreviations, and Subjects Interviewed --
PICTURE CREDITS --
Index
Summary:Canadians might expect that a history of Canada's participation in the Cold War would be a self-congratulatory exercise in documenting the liberality and moderation of Canada set against the rapacious purges of the McCarthy era in the United States. Though Reg Whitaker and Gary Marcuse agree that there is some evidence for Canadian moderation, they argue that the smug Canadian self-image is exaggerated. Cold War Canada digs past the official moderation and uncovers a systematic state-sponsored repression of communists and the Left directed at civil servants, scientists, trade unionists, and political activists. Unlike the United States, Canada's purges were shrouded in secrecy imposed by the government and avidly supported by the RCMP security service. Whitaker and Marcuse manage to reconstruct several of the significant anti-communist campaigns. Using declassified documents, interviews, and extensive archival sources, the authors reconstruct the Gouzenko spy scandal, trace the growth of security screening of civil servants, and re-examine purges in the National Film Board and the trade unions, attacks on peace activist James G. Endicott, and the trials of Canadian diplomat Herbert Norman.Based on these examples Whitaker and Marcuse outline the creation of Canada's Cold War policy, the emergence of the new security state, and the alignment of Canada with the United States in the global Cold War. They demonstrate that Canada did take a different approach toward the threat of communism, but argue that the secret repression and silent purges used to stifle dissent and debate about Canada's own role in the Cold War had a chilling effect on the practice of liberal democracy and undermined Canadian political and economic sovereignty.
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9781442673045
9783110490947
DOI:10.3138/9781442673045
Access:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Gary Marcuse, Reginald Whitaker.