Canada and The 1960 United States Presidential Election - Looking Back

Looking Back

Some Canadian concerns about a Kennedy victory did come about. American agricultural subsidies, that have been increased even further since then, are a continued irritant. The Diefenbaker government's concerns did come to pass and relations between them and the Kennedy’s administration were abysmal. U.S. historians tend to blame this on Diefenbaker, however. In 1962 he infuriated Kennedy when he refused to put Canadian forces on alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Canadian military, fulfilling their role in national defense, largely moved to an alert footing on their own accord during the crisis however. Diefenbaker was equally infuriated by Kennedy's decision not to consult with him ahead of time during the crisis. Diefenbaker worried Kennedy was grandstanding and could involve the world in a nuclear war. He was the only major U.S. ally to express these views, however. Later that year, he refused to accept nuclear warheads for the missiles based in Canada, rendering them all but useless. The Kennedy administration could barely contain its delight in Diefenbaker's replacement by Lester B. Pearson in 1963. Controversies also arose from Diefenbaker's decision not to join in the U.S. led embargo against Cuba after the expropriation of U.S. owned businesses making up over 70% of the Cuban economy.

Despite these problems, Canadians today widely venerate Kennedy as an American statesman. The anti-Catholic prejudices have largely disappeared, and in the years since 1960 Canada has also pursued a path more to the left of the United States, meaning the views of Canadian Prime Ministers are more in line with the views of the Democrats than the Republicans. Later events, such as Kennedy's assassination in 1963, have enhanced his image, while Watergate contributed to Nixon's continued unpopularity. A street in Montreal is named Avenue-du-President-Kennedy, and a bust of Kennedy stands on a traffic island there.

In the Canadian federal elections of 1962 and 1963, John Diefenbaker charged the U.S. government with somehow subverting his election campaign and aiding liberal Lester B. Pearson, who was later elected in 1963. Though this has never been proven, Pearson and the Liberal Party did hire American advisors who normally helped the Democratic Party in their country.