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Mackenzie King was the prime minister of Canada
throughout the Second World War. Leader of the Liberal Party for 29
years, his commitment to social reform likely had its roots in his
devout Presbyterianism. He was raised largely in Germany
in circumstances that could be described as genteel poverty: His
father, a lawyer, was unsuccessful at building his practice, and the
family was compelled to move back to Toronto where King attended
university.He briefly considered law but became a doctoral fellow in
political economy at the University of Chicago and Harvard. His
scholarly career came to a sudden end when he was offered a position in
the Canadian Department of Labor in 1900
King soon became deputy minister of labor and served as a government troubleshooter
until being elected to Parliament in 1908. He lost his seat in 1911 and
worked for a time with John Davison Rockefeller Jr. on labor relations
in the mining industry. In August 1919 he was chosen as leader of the
Liberals in a party caucus. He first became prime minister in 1922
King worked to establish closer ties with the United States and acted as something of an intermediary between Churchill and Roosevelt
prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Like Chamberlain, he badly
misjudged Hitler, who he believed to be a reasonable man who would
eventually lead Germany to a brighter future, but King led Canada into
the war on 10 September 1939.King later hosted the QUADRANT and OCTAGON conferences but was not himself a major participant.
King's greatest political challenge during the war was over the issue of
conscription. Though the Government received approval for conscription in a 1942
referendum, the split between English Canadians (who supported it) and
French Canadians (who strongly opposed it) disturbed King, and he did
not actually authorize deployment of conscripted men overseas until 23
November 1944. By then he had succeeded in reconciling most of the French Canadians to the necessity.
King was a decidedly eccentric man, lacking in personal charisma, a
lifelong bachelor who was privately deeply interested in spiritualism.
However, he had an excellent grasp of politics and economics and was
able to build effective coalitions.
References
Neatby (2000; accessed 2011-10-15)
The Pacific War Online
Encyclopedia © 2011 by Kent G. Budge. Index
