The Cuban Missile Crisis
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The Cuban Missile Crisis The AVRO Arrow, Diefenbaker’s Mistake and Farewell to St. Laurent Louis St. Laurent – the current PM Louis St. Laurent was involved in NATO (both at its inception and its launch) He sought to position Canada as a middle power that can influence the superpowers while still maintaining good relations on both sides He also extended independence on the homefront: 1949 the Supreme Court of Canada made the final court of appeal (replacing the British Privy Council) 1952 Vincent Massey became the country’s first Canadian born Governor General Newfoundland joined Canada Louis St. Laurent. PM from 1949 - 1957 Newfoundland, you have options 1949 – Britain’s oldest colony became Canada’s newest province During WWII Newfoundland was used as a US army base. NFLND is an ideal base location as it juts out of the Atlantic. Canada and Britain also had a military presence on the island. Newfoundland had three options: 1. Remain under British control (Britain didn’t want them, an expense and responsibility) 2. Declare independence and declare a system of responsible gov’t (and probably be pulled into US’ orbit) 3. Join Canada Newfoundland highlighted on a map of Canada Welcome, Newfies! Joey Smallwood, politician on NWFLND, pushed to join Canada A close win: 52% in favour March 31, 1949 – Newfoundland joined confederation as Canada’s 10th province (Originally the date was to be April 1 – but Smallwood pushed to have it one minute before midnight – he didn’t want the legacy to be Newfoundland joined on April Fool’s Day) 48% opposed Smallwood became Newfoundland’s first premier and stayed for 20 years (1949 – 1972) Joey Smallwood, Newfoundland’s first premier Farewell, St. Laurent! Liberals were in power for 22 years. Under St. Laurent’s government: Trans-Canada Highway: started 1949 completed 1962 – connect the provinces and created jobs St. Lawrence Seaway: started 1954 and opened 1959 A billion-dollar project with the US Opened up the interior of the continent to ocean freighters But it took more than 500 hectares of land from the Mohawk nations and were cut off from a river that is vital to their history TransCanada Pipelines: 1951 completed 1958 Another joint US project. Pipeline from Lake Superior to Montreal (3,700 km) Dief the “Chief” a Renegade in Power Tories are now known by the name “Progressive Conservatives” (merged Conservatives with the Progressive Party in 1942) John Diefenbaker, from Saskatchewan beat the Liberals in 1957 Right away, Dief Increased the old-age pension Increased wheat payments to farmers Signed a North American Air Defense agreement (NORAD) that integrated US and Canadian systems Canada’s air defences were pretty much under US control Dief holding the Bill of Rights Canadian Bill of Rights Diefenbaker felt strongly about the need for a Canadian citizenship that knew no hyphenated consideration “There should be no German-Canadians, no Jewish or French-Canadians, only Canadian … I never deviated from this purpose, it’s the reason I went into public life [politics]” August 10, 1960 - The Bill of rights declared equality of race, religion, and beliefs, expressed human rights on the federal level. However, it was only effective on the federal level and could be amended or overruled by Parliament. It would be the precursor to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Compared to Diefenbaker, Pearson seemed “unexciting” Welcome to the Gov’t, Mr. Diefenbaker Diefenbaker was in power when the economy’s boom began to “cool” and unemployment was on the rise. Diefenbaker called a snap election (when an election is called earlier than planned) Diefenbaker won the election and in 1958 was the new Prime Minister. In Quebec, Maurice Duplessis of the Union Nationale fully supported Dief’s conservative party Diefenbaker was attached to the British Empire and deeply suspicious of the Americans The 15 percent promise After he became PM, he announced that 15% of Canada’s imports would divert from America to Britain This represented about $625 million a year – almost doubling British imports Americans pointed out that Canada signed the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which was made to increase world trade and open up international markets (and to avoid the selfdestructive protection we saw in the Great Depression’s 1930’s) Under the terms, one nation cant favour another To avoid this, Dief would have to create a “free trade zone” between Canada and Britain. This would require a complete restructuring of Canadian trade regulations It never happened, and Dief managed to annoy America and Britain Represents how Dief’s gov’t is constructed: Romantic gestures and no delivery Jigsaw You will be divided into groups (with several groups working on the same topic) You will need to read the sections in the textbook, discuss with your group members and record your answers to prepare a brief presentation to the class Groups: NORAD Avro Arrow Cuban Missile Crisis Missile Trackers Canada is the ham in the Soviet-American sandwich - Comment made by the Soviet Ambassador to Canada Canada was caught in the middle during the Cold War. Literally. Modern Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) could deliver nuclear warheads across the north pole in minutes. If the Soviets and Americans did fight, Canada would be caught in the crossfire During the 1950’s a series of radar lines were built across Canadian territory to detect these missiles NORAD The North American Air Defence Command (later North American Aerospace Defence Command) was an agreement designed to integrate the air defense forces between Canada and the United States NORAD would place a system of joint operational control between the two countries It would combine the forces of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the United States Air Force (USAF) in the event of a crisis or conflict Video The Pinetree Line Running along the 50th parallel Completed in 1954 Cost: $450 million – divided between the US (who paid 2/3) and Canada Run by NORAD Can give an hour or two of notice Used to detect Soviet Missiles, but the technology became outdated and the line was in operation for a short time The Mid-Canada Line AKA: McGill Fence Completed 1957 Ran along the 55th Parallel Built and paid for by Canada Cost: $250 million Used the Doppler effect to detect if something were moving More simple to construct – didn’t require staff to continuously observe But can only signal rapidly moving object between two stations Used to replace the Pinetree Line The DEW Line The Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line Built along 70th parallel of Canada’s artice Completed 1957 Paid for by the Americans Similar technology to the Pinetree Line It would have an automatic alarm if an object were detected Allowed over 4 hours of warning Cost: $224 million Controversy: Canadian Independence? Was it a good thing to have American bases in Canada’s far North? Canada is now under protection of American defenses. Did we lose sovereignty or did we gain more by working with the Americans? The Americans now were asserting their authority over Canada’s defenses Even though these lines were on Canadian territory, you needed US approval to approach it Although, as part of the DEW line agreement, the Americans accepted Canada’s claims to the Arctic Anti-American? Allegiance to the Old Empire In the 1950’s – it seemed the best defence was a cooperation between Canada and the United States During Diefenbaker’s election campaign, he made the US seem like the source of unfair pressures on Canada and Canadians He had a vision of Canada independent from America The Avro Arrow Developed by the A.V. Roe Company in Malton, Ontario Called the CF-105 Arrow Developed to intercept Soviet Bombers that would cross the North Specs: can tolerate temperate range from -57°C to +45 °C, able to climb 40,000 feet and a speed of 1.85 Mach. It was the most impressive aerospace engineering developed by Canadians. Roll-out Day The Arrow was to make its public appearance for October 4, 1957 Unfortunately that was the same day the Soviets launched their satellite Sputnik Newsreel The Space Age introduces a new threat The Soviet threat had shifted from bomber to missile forces and it was anticipated that a fighter aircraft would be useless against it By March 1958, the government was paying A.V. Roe more than $100 million. With limited buyers, the production for the unit was ridiculously high Diefenbaker never fully supported the Arrow program, and began to see enough reason to cancel Black Friday and the Brain Drain February 20 1959, Diefenbaker cancelled the Avro Arrow project, called “Black Friday” in aviation history It was also known as the “Canadian Brain Drain” as many of Canada’s talented engineers and workers moved to America for work. They would play important roles in America’s space program More than 25,000 jobs were lost Cancellation of the Arrow April 22, 1959 – the government ordered all of the Arrows, including blueprints and all materials associated with it, to be cut into scrap A reporter flew over the tarmac and took a photograph while the 5 completed Arrows were lined up for scrap (“Death Row”) However, his photograph only shows 4 Arrows in line One of the noses had survived (now in the National Aviation Museum in Ottawa) From this photograph, a number of conspiracy theories developed why Dief would want such valued intelligence destroyed so quickly Death Row Photograph of Arrows lined up for scrap Video Clip 14, 000 employees lost their jobs at A.V. Roe The second banana BOMARC Diefenbaker replaced the Arrow with the ground-toair missiles BOMARC, a second-hand interceptor from the US He justified it was for price. (The Arrow costs about $8 million a unit, while the BOMARC is $2 million each) However, the BOMARC needs nuclear warheads, and Diefenbaker refused to equip them, making them useless. He thought he could arm them with high explosives instead. In 1959, Dief stated the BOMARCs could not defend against the threat of ICBMs They were equipped with “sandbags” The BOMARC missile The Voodoo Another interceptor to replace the Arrow was the US Voodoo As part of the BOMARC deal, Canada bought 66 Voodoos from the US Originally the RCAF rejected them because they couldn’t fly fast enough Cuban Missile Crisis Major Players Fidel Castro Fidel Castro overthrows Cuba’s gov’t in 1959 and replaces it with his own communist gov’t The US tried to support an invasion to overthrow the gov’t, but it failed Castro’s Cuba turns to the USSR for support Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had missiles in Cuba and refused to remove them Nikita Khrushchev The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 October 14, 1962 an American U2 Spy Plane flew over Cuba and photographed a Soviet construction site building missiles President Kennedy established a naval blockade to prevent further nuclear equipment from being imported into Cuba Cuban Missile Crisis Kennedy made an address explaining the situation to the public. About an hour later, Diefenbaker made a statement to the House of Commons where he doubted the photograph. He doubted American evidence, and angered Kennedy On October 28, 1962 after days of intense political negotiations, Krushchev agreed to remove the missiles if the Americans would promise not to invade Cuba, and the crisis was seen within manageable control Conclusion, should Canada have nuclear weapons? Avro Arrow Thesis Outline Assignment For your next assignment you will answer a question in the form of a thesis outline. This is not a paragraph response, but it asks for you to briefly organize how you would answer the question. You will address the question by organizing three thesis statements and stating three points for each statement Example (but yours will be better) Why was the Arrow built To one extent the and within the time cancellation of the period of? Arrow did call into question Canadian autonomy 1) Cold War, Canada ideologically sided with US. Geographically in between leaders 2) Igor Gouzenko – communism threat in Canada 3) NORAD / DEW Line The cancellation of the Arrow did not call into question Canadian autonomy, rather… 1) Canada cancelled the 1) The cost of production arrow in 1959 and was out of control 2) Considered us anti2) Louis St. Laurent missile aircraft approves of Arrow, 3) Purchased used US new gov’t of Dief voodoo fighter jets cancels it 4) Canada’s air defense 3) Because USSR has dictated by US pressue satellites, space makes the Arrow obsolete to defend against missiles
