Mackenzie King
Canada’s Greatest Prime Minister
Early Life
William Lyon Mackenzie King was born in Berlin (now: Kitchener), Ontario on December 17, 1874. He was the eldest of four children of John King and Isabel (daughter of William Lyon Mackenzie). His family was not very wealthy and lived rather modestly. As a child he attended Berlin Central School, and later Berlin High School in which he took particular interest in law and politics.
King has earned an overall of five degrees in University. Two of the degrees he earned in University of Toronto. There, he was a member and officer of the Kappa Alpha Society and took particular interest in issues regarding social welfare. He also attended Osgoode Hall Law School, in which he earned another degree (LL.B in 1896) and University of Chicago and Harvard. in which he studied economy.
Early Career
In 1900, King was elected to be Canada’s first Deputy Minister of Labour. As deputy, he was a mediator in a number of strikes and was the major influence behind the Industrial Disputes and Investigations act of 1907. This act delayed strikes and lockouts in public mines or utilities until the board of reconciliation received a settlement or a published report.
In 1908, he joined the Liberal party and won a seat in North York. About a year later, 1909, he entered Sir Wilfred Laurier’s cabinet as Minister of Labour. In 1911, he lost his seat and went to become a consultant in Rockefeller Foundation (U.S). In 1917, he ran — and lost — again. However, in 1919 he was elected the leader of the Liberal Party. His views against conscription, siding with Laurier, won over Quebec, and the conciliation skills he gained as deputy helped him win over the crowd as a whole — and so, in 1921, the Liberals won the elections.
King as a Prime Minister
As a prime minister, in his first years, his main goal was to regain the confidence of farmers in Ontario and western Canada (these farmers were supporters of the Progressive Party). He did this because he knew that the liberals needed the support of the progressives, and he tried to accomplish that through the reduction of tariff and freight rates.
In 1926, after his defeat in the House, he was pressured to resign, however, after the election that year, he resumed his role as Prime Minister.
King was a large contributor to Canada’s independence and development as a nation with the creation of a Canadian citizenship in 1947, the establishment of Old Age pensions in 1927, of Air Canada in 1937, of the National Film Board 1939, of Unemployment Insurance in 1940 and Family Allowances in 1945.
King and the Great Depression
King, despite his education in economics, was reluctant to accept the seriousness of the depression. Thus, he did not grant federal funding to provinces with unemployment issues. On the other hand, the conservatives made many compelling promises and the Liberals lost in 1930. Despite all of this, King kept the party united; he was a powerful opposition leader, and attacked Bennett (leader of Conservative Party) for his empty promises.
King or Chaos
In 1935, the Liberal Party launched a campaign — “King or Chaos”. This campaign won him a comfortable majority and he returned to his position as Prime Minister.
King and the Second World War
King and Hitler
Shortly before the war broke, King had a meeting with Hitler in Berlin, in June of 1937. Due to the existing antisemitism in Canada, King did not address Hitler’s antisemitic policies. Rather, he was quite impressed by Hitler, as he wrote in his diary. In this meeting, Hitler tried to convince King that he (Hitler) has no plans for war.
However, soon enough, it was made clear that Hitler lied and there was indeed a war approaching. Knowing this, King declared that the decision to go to war will be made by the Canadian Parliament rather than he British government. The rest of Canada knew of this as well, and was afraid of what it meant for them in terms of conscription, and so, King made a promise that there won’t be any conscription policies enacted.
In 1939, Britain declared war on Germany, and Canada was called in for an emergency session. Canada declared war on Germany as well.
Plebiscite of 1942 and the Conscription Crisis
In 1942, King saw that it is possible that soon enough there won’t be enough voluntary enlistments and decided to have a nation wide Plebiscite. He asked the population to vote on whether or not he would be able to break his promise — he did this knowing that the majority of the population, the English-Canadians, will be for conscription. The majority said yes, he could break his promise.
This scared the French population as they dreaded conscription. However, King assured them that this is only a safety measure and conscription will only be enacted if it is absolutely needed
“Not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary.”
In 1944, due to high number of casualties and low enlistments, King enacted a conscription policy, and sent troops over to Europe.
Wartime Economy
When Canada went to war it switched to wartime footing. There was a cooperation between the government, businesses and labour lead — this had a positive effect on the Canadian economy, and unemployment rates drastically declined. However, Canadians were in fear of a post-war economic depression as happened after the First World War. As a response, King created Unemployment Insurance to calm down the dreadful Canadians.
A part of improving Canada’s economy and independence from Britain were the many Canada-US treaties that King signed with Franklin Roosevelt:
0 A variety of military related treaties: Canadian and American soldiers are to train together, and the US Military was allowed to build airbases in Newfoundland, and both Canadian and American commanders discussed military tactics together.
0 Hyde Park Declaration was a trade agreement between the US and Canada that states that Canada and the US will exchange an equal amounts of goods. There was a total of $1 billion’s worth of goods exchanged.
Post War
King’s role in post war Canada was not very prominent. He remained in power until 1948, when he resigned. He died two years later on July 22, 1950.
King’s Public Image Vs. Private Life
After King’s death, his secretary submitted King’s diary that he has kept secretly during his time as Prime Minister. Before his death, he told his secretaries to burn all parts of the diary except the parts indicated; the secretary published it anyway in claim that it wasn't clear which part to burn. The diary entries dated from 1893 (when he was in university) until 1950 (his death). These diary entries caused a lot of controversies regarding the variety of topics he discussed.
Spiritualism
In his diaries, King often discussed his spiritualistic hobbies. He claimed he had the ability to talk to dead people such as Laurier, Da Vinci, his mother who passed, Teddy Roosevelt, and his dead dogs. He also often consulted with mediums and fortune tellers about certain political decisions (that sort of consultation was rare) and the future; there was even an occurrence in which he asked a fortune teller if his party will win the elections. He also often alluded to the possession of an Ouija board and a crystal ball.
Pat, Pat, Pat, BOB
In his diaries, King often expressed how his dogs were his closest companions as he had no wife/lover. When his first dog, Pat, had died, King was devastated and sent men to find an identical Irish Terrier whom he named Pat. He pretended that Pat (the first) had never died, and that Pat (the second) was actually Par (the first). When Pat (the second) died as well, he adopted another Irish Terrier and named him Pat as well. Finally, when Pat (the third) died he got another dog, but he named this one Bob.
Love Life
Although King was 76 when he died, he never had a wife/lover/mistress. However, there are two theories existing regarding King’s love life. The first, as concluded using allusions in his diary, was that King often slept with prostitutes. The second was that Mackenzie King was actually a homosexual. Furthermore, in relation to that, it was theorized that King was also secretly in-love with Hitler, as he seemed very fond of him in his diary entries:
“I believe the world will yet come to see a very great man — a mystic, in Hitler…much I cannot abide in Nazism — the regimentation — cruelty and oppression of Jews…but Hitler him[self] the peasant — will rank some day with Joan of Arc among the deliverers of his people, and if he is only careful may yet be the deliverer of Europe.”
King’s Impact Analysed
Despite all the controversies caused by Mackenzie King’s diaries and such, King has led Canada effectively for the 22 years he was in office.
Mackenzie King governed Canada in an honest manner; he rarely made promises he couldn't keep and was very democratic with his decisions. He also did a good job in keeping the nation calm despite the war, and often found ways to improve the situation and reassure his citizens with reason and compromise rather than lies.
Furthermore, King was a major part of Canada’s development as a nation independent from Britain. Many of his decisions helped Canada develop its economic strength and international identity, as well as create an international market and trades. Furthermore, his choices distinguished Canada from Britain and allowed it to disconnect from Britain and be able to funciton on its own.
King helped Canada grow and mature as a nation, slowly but surely, through a combination of a variety of decisions, none too rash or extreme in their nature. Step by step, little by little, King pushed the nation forward and changed it forever.
