"The key log in the jam": Mackenzie King, the North Atlantic Triangle and the Anglo-American rapprochement of 1935-39

• Main Author: McCulloch, Tony
• Other Authors: Sachdev, I
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: London Conference on Canadian Studies 2005
• Subjects: Canada; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10117532/1/Tony%20McCulloch,%20Key%20Log%20in%20Jam,%20LJCS,%2020.4,%202005.pdf; https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10117532/

This article looks at relations between Britain, the United States and Canada in the years leading up to the Second World in order to ascertain the extent to which a North Atlantic Triangle can be said to have existed at that time. It argues that there was an Anglo-American rapprochement between 1935 and 1939 and that the Canadian Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, played an important part in this development. In particular, it stresses his role in facilitating (1) the Anglo-American trade agreement of 1938, (2) Roosevelt’s support for Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement during the Munich crisis in the same year and (3) the Royal Visit to the USA in 1939. Henry Stimson, the former American Secretary of State, had predicted that Canada could be “the key log in the jam” in improving Anglo-American relations and there is much to be said for his opinion. In view of Canada’s important role in influencing AngloAmerican relations at this time the term “North Atlantic Triangle” appears to be an entirely valid one when applied to the international diplomacy of 1935–1939.