Soldiers and Politicians

This book was written in the hope that the author’s accounts of some of the incidents with which he was directly and indirectly connected during his many years as a member of the Canadian public service might prove of value to students of Canada’s military and political history. The author has had the opportunity for a long and careful observation of important periods and episodes in Canada’s recent history and his reporting and comment about particular events and in general about the role of Canada in world affairs will be found to be full, thoughtful and fair. There are chapters, for instance, which take up Canada’s military unpreparedness in the thirties, the situation in which the country found itself on the outbreak of war, the early days of the Canadian Army in England in 1940-41, Canada’s position vis-a-vis the Combined Chiefs of Staff in Washington as this body under Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt directed the Allied war effort, the Quebec Conferences, the Conscription crisis of 1944; they will throw valuable additional light on these subjects regarding which much still remains to be said. From 1945 to 1956, the author served in diplomatic posts in Berlin, Brussels, and Madrid and his account for these years is among the first to be given to the public of the life and duties of a Canadian foreign service officer abroad.This book will make good reading for all those interested in international affairs and in government and will give its readers a most pleasant and happy introduction to a distinguished public servant.Lieutenant-General Maurice Pope, C.B., M.C., son of Sir Joseph Pope and grandson of Sir Henri Taschereau, late Chief Justice of Quebec, was at National Defence Headquarters, 1933-5. 1937-40; a member of the General Stuff, Canadian Military Headquarters, England, 1940-1; Chairman, Canadian Joint Staff Mission, Washington, 1942-4; Military Staff Officer to the Prime Minister, 1944-5; Chief, Canadian Military Mission, Berlin, 1945-50; Chief, Canadian Mission, Bonn, 1949-50; Ambassador to Belgium, 1950-3, and to Spain, 1953-6.