The years when John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives were in office were among the most tumultuous in Canadian history. This book provides a fresh assessment of foreign policy in the Diefenbaker era to determine whether its failures can be attributed to the prime minister's personality traits, particularly his indecisiveness, or to broader shifts in world affairs. Written by leading scholars who mine new sources of archival research, the chapters examine the full range of international issues that confronted the Diefenbaker government and probe the factors that led to success or failure and decision or indecision. This fascinating reconsideration of the Diefenbaker years challenges readers to push beyond the conventional and reassess the "Rogue Tory's" record with fresh eyes.

In 1974, India shocked the world by detonating a nuclear device. In the diplomatic controversy that ensued, the Canadian government expressed outrage that India had extracted plutonium from a Canadian reactor donated only for peaceful purposes. In the aftermath, relations between the two nations cooled considerably. As Conflicting Visions reveals, Canada and India's relationship was turbulent long before the first bomb blast. Canada's expectations of how the former British colony would behave following its independence in 1947 led to a series of misperceptions and miscommunications that strained bilateral relations for decades.

The years when John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives were in office were among the most tumultuous in Canadian history. This book provides a fresh assessment of foreign policy in the Diefenbaker era to determine whether its failures can be attributed to the prime minister's personality traits, particularly his indecisiveness, or to broader shifts in world affairs. Written by leading scholars who mine new sources of archival research, the chapters examine the full range of international issues that confronted the Diefenbaker government and probe the factors that led to success or failure and decision or indecision. This fascinating reconsideration of the Diefenbaker years challenges readers to push beyond the conventional and reassess the "Rogue Tory's" record with fresh eyes.