HIST-1400-A01 – Nov.

29, 2023
Pearson
 The Vietnam War
o Between the First Indochina War (1946-1954) and the Vietnam War (1956-1975),
Canada participated in the International Control Commission for Vietnam (ICC),
established by UN appointment as a means of maintaining peace by patrol along
buffer lines
o In the ICC, Canada was a supervisory member to peace efforts which sought to
remove the French, due to their imperialist behavior and return to Indochina,
and later the Americans on friendlier terms, as well as seeking to reunite the
Vietnams in proper elections
 The elections after the first conflict were to be set 2 years after the
armistice, but were halted by American intervention into the region, as
dictated by their “domino policy”
o Ho Chi Minh was a Parisian communist and Vietnamese liberator who gained
popular support in his home nation, propelled by the success of removing French
occupational forces from Vietnam
o By the end of the 1950s, the Americans were concerned that Minh’s spread of
communism in Southeast Asia could trip their aforementioned domino theory
into action, allowing the rest of Asia to fall to communist thought and eventually
into the American heartland
 Thus, to preserve their interests and policy of containment of both Russia
and China, they invaded the North Vietnamese in 1956 and eliminating
communism from the country
 Concerns of South Vietnamese corruption was becoming another issue as
the Prime Minister Diem and his successors were known to be polarizing
leaders in the eyes of the South
o By the 1960s, American equipment and military advisors being sent to South
Vietnam instead of their troops was the common practice, as were Soviet and
Chinese to the North
 1000s of American military advisors were assigned to South Vietnamese
posts to better train their personnel
 Bombing campaigns across the North became commonplace, before and
after the US Marine Corps were sent into to liberate South Vietnam from
Northern aggression
 Their targets were often fortified positions (typically villages) and
military equipment caches from Soviet and Chinese suppliers in
country
  However, the bombings became more internationally notorious as
it flooded public spheres and informed media back home
 Pearson heavily disagreed with American interventionism in
Vietnam, seeing it as a self-fulfilling prophecy as the Americans
pushed the world into seeking solace and safety with communism
from such barbarity
o 1965: Pearson broke his quiet diplomatic pledge to American relations in his
Temple University speech addressing the United States and its actions in Vietnam
publicly
 Pearson supported American motives, calling them “noble”, yet
continually warned of the dangers of extreme bombardment that would
sway the world against them
 He proposed a 90-day cessation of aerial bombings by American forces as
a means of pushing forward ICC diplomacy and seek a peaceful
settlement
 Canada was a renowned mediator and peace broker, respected by
all belligerents while on the International Board Commission
 However, even with such high diplomatic prowess, the Americans
and North Vietnamese often disagreed in spite of one another and
never reached a viable solution
 The only option outlined became the total withdrawal of
American troops from the region in a fashion acceptable to the
United States and that would guarantee some South Vietnamese
security
 President Lyndon B. Johnson, Vice-President to JFK prior to his
assassination, met with Pearson privately and berated him for taking a
public opposing stance to American Vietnam doctrine
 He was very unwelcoming to Pearson and Canadian criticisms and
prided American superiority and dominance in their relationship
 Pearson complied that he no longer made public addresses
against American interventionism and returns to quiet diplomacy
 1967-1968: Public opinion in the American public shifted against
the war effort, causing domestic pressure until the end of
American involvement by 1973
o Canadian impacts and strains on American-Canadian relations
 Since the Temple Speech, the relationship between the two North
American powers was strained and the United States lost confidence in
Canada as a viable ally in private, maintaining publicly that Canada was
their closest ally
 30,000 Canadian volunteers moved to the US to join up in the fight in
Vietnam
 Canadian opinion on the US was firmly positive prior to the 1960s
Canadian industries benefitted for manufacturing for American forces as
per Department of Defence contracts, upwards of $2 billion in 1964, and
the Hyde Park Agreement of their joint board of defence
 Agent Orange, the chemical weapon employed to Vietnam as
defoliant, was developed and manufactured in Canada, as a
means of removing Vietnamese advantage of jungle obscurity
o Those unfortunates to be coated in the spray had
increased rates of cancer and birth defects
 Canadian domestic challenges of the 1960s
o Growth of the youth culture and rebellious nature
 After Vietnam, most traditional values had returned and a sense of
normalcy felt as the Baby Boom was in full swing as they grew up to adult
age in the mid-1960s
 1960s: More young adults attended universities as they were seen as a
“key to success” in their careers
 1965: 50% of Canadians were under the age bracket of 24 and
within the middle-class, excluding working-class students, who
often did not have part-time occupations
 University education meant more critical thinking and challenging of
traditional home values, such as criticisms against materialism, organized
religion, anti-establishment sentiments, anti-Americanism, and overall
political shifts leftward
 Anti-establishment folk wished to pride themselves on Canadian
culture and content, as well as more inclusion in decisions
according to independent studies
 Anti-Americanism was fostered by anti-Vietnam War protests and
the recognition of American cultural media domination (i.e., film,
tabloids, music)
o According to George Grant in his book “Lament for a
Nation”, American media domination in Canadian culture
could lead to cultural collapse and lack of separate identity
to the United States
o Many students wished to avoid the fate of being “other
Americans” and sought to promote Canadian features
instead
 Popular leftism grew as a result of more public interaction and
involvement in government affairs
 o The NDP became popular as public demands for more
government intervention and responsibilities that
benefited society
 The “Hippie Age” was known for narcotic experimentation across North
America
 They often found “gateway” drugs to introduce themselves to
more hardcore narcotics
 Living arrangements changed as they sought more communal
ideas
o Idea of the 12 tribes (Israelite successors) and Jesus people
(their suppliers), with shared identity (longer hair and
beards) and folk music
 Canadian nationalism
o Due to the higher amount of mass political movements in Canada, the
government takes their concerns into some account
o The Canadian flag would be changed during Pearson’s tenure into the maple leaf
between two red bars, instead of the red flag with a Union Jack in the top left
corner and coat of arms in the middle right
 The previous flag was a reminder of the close ties to Britain Canada once
had during the early 20th Century, as well as being an unpopular flag for
Québeckers
 The change in design reflected Canadian shifts to autonomy and
eventually total independence from Britain, maturing into its own nation
o 1967: Pearson assigned a Royal Commission to study the American influence and
control on Canadian culture and economics
 Their recommendations were the institution of 30% Canadian
music/musician features on public broadcast, later increasing to 50%
 i.e., Anne Murry, Gordon Lightfoot
 After Pearson and into the Pierre Trudeau years
 1973: Trudeau fostered the Foreign Investment Review Act, where
any Canadian company with at least 100 staff could not be sold to
an extranational firm unless by federal review, as well as blocking
sales of Canadian companies
o This lasted until the late 1980s
o The Centennial Celebration of 1967 was in celebration of Canadian confederation
since 1867, where the federal government provided provincial grants for large
celebratory architectural projects
 i.e., Centennial concert hall, centennial pool
o 1967: The World’s Fair was hosted in Canada, the Expo ’67 held in Montréal with
50 million attendees