Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
17 November 2011
Prime Ministers and
Presidents Part One
Sometimes, the leaders of Canada and the United States are friendly, sometimes they don’t get along very well
Prime ministers and presidents come and go and, as they do, the relationship between
Canada and the United States changes -
And, the state of the personal relationship between Canadian and U.S. leaders does have an effect on the handling of issues.
On the surface, all is warmth and friendliness -
For the cameras, Prime Minister Jean Chretien and President George W. Bush put on their happy faces and shook hands. In reality, they didn’t like each other very much.
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and President Ronald Reagan were great pals when the public was looking on and when it wasn’t.
Harding’s Unlucky Visit
The first U.S. president to visit Canada while in office was 
Warren Harding (left)
in 1923 (None of the previous 28 presidents could find time to visit Canada).
Mr. Harding was travelling home to Washington after a visit to Alaska. On the way, he came down with a fever and stopped in British Columbia to recover.
But, his over-
President Harding’s illness got worse and he died on the way to San Francisco, without ever reaching Washington again.
The First Summits
Since 1935, summit meetings between North American leaders have often been carefully
scripted affairs. Prime Ministers from William Lyon Mackenzie King to Steven Harper
have used honey-
The origin of the special relationship with Washington can be traced to Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s return to power in 1935.
One day after being sworn into office Mr. King paid a visit to the American Minister to Canada. According to the U.S. diplomat, Norman Armour, the Canadian leader “made it plain…that there were two roads open to Canada, but that he wanted to choose ‘the American road’ if we made it possible for him to do so.”
Out of this 1935 meeting grew a Canadian-
In November 1935, Mr. King met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington. The two men signed the historic trade deal and began what became known as the special relationship.
Library and Archives Canada
Mackenzie and Roosevelt meet in 1936.
The friendship grew in summit meetings before and after the outbreak of World War II.
With the war clouds gathering in August 1938, President Roosevelt made a now-
“The Dominion of Canada is part of the sisterhood of the British Empire,” he told Mr. King and the assembled dignitaries. “I give you assurance that the people of the United States will not stand idly by if domination of Canadian soil is threatened by any other empire.”
World War II moved Canada farther down the American road.
On 18 August 1940, Prime Minister King and President Roosevelt met in upper New York State and signed the Ogdensburg Agreement.
This first North American wartime agreement was fateful for Canada’s future defence. It set up a Permanent Joint Board of Defence to examine issues and to make plans for “the defence of the North half of the Western Hemisphere.”
If the King-
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and King’s successor, Louis St. Laurent, saw each other four times over the span of five years.
In Canada, President Eisenhower found a willing ally in the Cold War campaign against Soviet and Asian communism.
Resources consulted for this series
“Continental Divide.” CBC News.
“Canadian American Relations.” Canadian Encyclopedia.
“U.S. Presidents and Canadian Prime Ministers: Good Vibes or not.” Gil Troy and L. Ian MacDonald, Policy Options, March 2011.
“The Presidents and the Prime Ministers.” Lawrence Martin, Doubleday Canada, 1982.
© Canada and the World, November 2011
All rights reserved
“Americans are our best friends whether we like it or not.”
Robert Thompson, Leader of the Social Credit Party,
early 1960s
NAME GAME
Several U.S. presidents have had trouble with the names of our prime ministers.
President Franklin Roosevelt once called William Lyon Mackenzie King “Mackenzie,” presumably thinking this was his given name.
President Harry Truman gave a speech in 1949 referring five times to Canada’s prime minister without saying his name; later, he admitted he didn’t know how to pronounce Louis St. Laurent.
And, Lyndon Johnson introduced Prime Minister Lester Pearson to a news conference as “My close friend Prime Minister Wilson.”
Slips such as these often cause an outbreak of insecurity among Canadians who feel the U.S. doesn’t pay enough attention to us.
In 1871, when Prime Minister John A. Macdonald arrived by train in Washington for
an official visit there were no U.S. officials on hand to meet him.
He had to wait around for two weeks before he was given an audience with President Ulysses S. Grant.
President Calvin Coolidge, born in the border state of Vermont, once asked whether Toronto was near a lake.
“Mr. King, my old friend. Your course and mine have run so closely and affectionately during these many long years that this meeting adds another link to that chain. I have always felt at home in Canada and you, I think, have always felt at home in the United States.”
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a speech on Parliament Hill, August 1943