Canadian Military History

Volume 3 Issue 2 Article 21

1994

True Patriot: The Life of Brooke Claxton, 1898–1960 by David Jay Bercuson [Review]

David A. Lenarcic Wilfrid Laurier University

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Recommended Citation Lenarcic, David A. "True Patriot: The Life of Brooke Claxton, 1898–1960 by David Jay Bercuson [Review]." Canadian Military History 3, 2 (1994)

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True Patriot drive of his will, ... his incredible for mastery over the other The Life of Brooke Claxton energy, and his organizational helped determine the course 1898-1960 skill." (p.5) ofBrooke Claxton's career and But it is also the story of a his personal life. (p .43) David Jay Bercuson. True Patriot: man: his voyage from adoles­ The Life of Brooke Claxton 1898- cence to adulthood, his inner The author never loses sight 1960 (Toronto: University of battles with depression, and his of the interrelationship between Toronto Press, 1994) 363 pages, relationships with father, wife and personality and policy. $35.00. children. Bercuson's ability to It is in the examination of construct a portrait of Claxton Claxton's public service where his olitical biography has become based on both his public and "overriding ... desire to be useful P something of a lost art within private lives is perhaps the book's to his country" (p.287) shines the Canaclian historical profession. main forte. Readers of this jour­ through. Those attracted to It has suffered from the misfor­ nal will be particularly interested military history will especially tune of combining the two types of in the author's description of enjoy Bercuson's treatment of history whose efficacy has been Claxton's military service with the Claxton's tenure as Minister of most challenged in recent years 1Oth Canadian Siege Battery in National Defence from 1946 to within the field. Once a staple of France during 1918, the 1954. The author discusses the Canadian historiography, it has repugnance for war it produced in major part he played in shaping been relegated to the backwater. him, and the key effect it had in Canadian defence policy through This is not to say that the "great turning him into an ardent the early years of the , man" approach to the study of the Canadian nationalist, his "only including 's role in NATO, past was without shortcomings. real ideology." (p. 67) Claxton was laying the foundation for joint As that term itself implies, it was awarded a Distinguished Conduct North American defence with the not. But in harping on the inad­ Medal and eventually became the United States, participation in the equacies of political biography and highest-ranking NCO in his unit. Korean Conflict, and particularly forgetting how riveting it can be As the book unfolds, a picture his efforts at rebuilding and when done properly, the baby has emerges of a very complex man. reorganizing the nation's armed been thrown out with the At the same time that "intelligence, forces in the immediate post-World bathwater. imagination, and a willingness to War II period which saw their largest Thankfully, for those who work," were his strengths, (p.126) peacetime mobilization ever. recall the sheer joy in reading a tendency to "be extremely Here, too, the book's central Creighton's Macdonald or impatient, intolerant, and strengths are represented. Careless' Brown, there remain judgmental with those he either Bercuson tackles controversial some scholars willing to try to disagreed with or thought of as historiographical debates head on. maintain the high standards and less principled than he," proved a Some historians have portrayed tradition such classics established weakness. (p.95) As Bercuson so Claxton as a budget slasher who for the genre. is eloquently puts it, at Prime Minister Mackenzie King's one, and in True Patriot he command willingly initiated deep succeeds admirably in doing just by his own design, [Claxton] cuts in defence spending. that. came to possess two personae: Bercuson demonstrates convinc­ This is a well-written and one for the world, which was ingly that Claxton "bitterly exhaustively researched study of ebullient, fun-loving, vigor­ resisted" the wholesale gutting of an important individual who ous, active, and a believer in his ministry's resources (pp.166- wielded power and exerted and leader of causes; and an 169). Oddly enough, though, the influence within the highest inner man who experienced author does not explicitly situate government circles. It is the tale of" a the same self-doubt as other his interpretation of Claxton's doer, not a thinker" (p.63) whose mortals but who also knew realistic approach to the contributions to establishing the despair and loneliness. This Canadian-American defence CBC, building the welfare state, inner man could be extraor­ relationship (pp.190, 289-290) creating the modern Canadian dinarily sensitive and within the academic debate over military, and setting up the empathetic, but few people the merits of post-war Liberal are a testament were ever to know that. That policy toward the United States. to "the power of his intellect, the struggle of the one persona

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Bercuson also delivers on the controlling factor."' (p.212) his country remained surprisingly promise made in the Preface to Here and elsewhere, Bercuson constant ... "(p.8) becomes some­ tell Claxton's story '"warts and does well in explaining the what problematic. It is here, all."' (p.xii) This, of course, is motivations behind Claxton's perhaps, that the absence of much precisely what good biography actions; he recognizes the tension, ofthe correspondence-destroyed should do and Bercuson does not inconsistency, and even contra­ after his death-between Claxton disappoint. The book's tone is diction which sometimes existed and his wife, in whom he confided generally sympathetic and the within them. While "Claxton's his deepest feelings, is most author displays great admiration faith was his liberalism," he was regrettable for what light it might for Claxton's accomplishments; very much "the pragmatic liberal." have shed on these matters. these he stresses in a positive (p.8) Yet, one particular area might Readers should also bear in manner, and rightly so. However, have been fleshed out more fully. mind that permeating Bercuson's Bercuson does not hesitate to find Prior to taking on the reins at appraisal of Claxton is his fault when criticism is warranted; National Defence, Claxton was agreement with what Claxton there are few sacred cows when it Minister of National Health and fundamentally believed in and comes to both character and policy Welfare from 1944-46. There he fought for. Bercuson concludes failings. became "one of the architects of that one of Claxton's most serious For example, Bercuson notes the Canadian welfare state." (p.4) sins was sharing the Liberals' how Claxton's successful opposi­ He accepted the National Defence belief that "their party was tion to Canadian participation in portfolio only after being per­ Canada's only hope and that the Berlin airlift of 1948 not only suaded by Mackenzie King that so preserving it in government was a "ignored the basic fact ... that if long as the armed forces were truly sacred national trust." This war broke out over Berlin, Canada eating up such a large portion of was "a peculiarly arrogant way of would be in it up to its neck," but the budget the social reforms he thinking," the author concedes, also "flew in the face of everything championed would never be "but looking at the record of that he had believed in since the implemented. (p.l51) Yet, as Canada's federal governments mid-1930s ... collective security Bercuson emphasizes, Claxton since 195 7 does far more to uphold short of war ... [and] standing up proved very protective of his new that belief than to undermine it." to a power that ... was expansionist ministry's turf, even in the face of (p.288) Not everyone would agree and inherently aggressive." pleas from his successor at Health with this assessment of Liberal Bercuson concludes that Claxton and Welfare, Paul Martin, who centralization. The author's "clearly missed the import of the "pointed out, correctly, that additional claim that "the belief of Allied airlift and the possible 'Canada would be unable to Claxton and his colleagues that consequences of its failure." He continue the heavy expenditures this country needed effective speculates that Claxton might which modem defence programs national government is only have believed that taking the same entailed and at the same time confirmed by the chaos that has attitude on the subject as expand social services."' (p.205) attended the transformation of a Mackenzie King would improve Bercuson acknowledges that once-united Canada into a 'com­ his prospects for landing the Claxton's "constant struggle for munity of shopping centres ..."' long-coveted External Affairs defence dollars made him less (p.289), likewise injects an un­ portfolio. (p.197 -9) Claxton's sympathetic to welfare spending," derlying bias into an otherwise intense ambition sometimes got (p.8) but what Claxton thought balanced account. How much the better of him. about the relationship between Claxton himself -"a true party Bercuson is similarly candid his work at both ministries-and man" (p.121 )-might have regarding Claxton's reluctance to the basic incompatibility of his contributed to those long-terms see Canada involved in the Korean achievements while heading each reasons for the Liberal Party's War. "When Claxton examined of them-is not fully clear. defeat in 195 7 which he identified this issue from the perspective of When one also considers at the time (p.281) remains cold military logic, he concluded Claxton's apparent modification unclear as well. that Canada should avoid entan­ of other deeply-held views like In the end, though, there is glement in Korea. But [as a close those regarding collective security much more to recommend than to friend] pointed out, this was one mentioned above, the author's criticize about this book. In of those circumstances 'in which contention that his subject's "goals retrieving Brooke Claxton from "a cold logic [could not] be the and objectives for himself and for crack in history" (p.4) and

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recounting his many impressive Donald Graves cites C.P. Stacey's began with parry and thrust, and achievements in the cause of quip: "The War of 1812 is one of continued into the night as troops. Canadian unity and the country those episodes in history that in pitch darkness, struck at the which he loved, David Bercuson make everybody happy, because enemy with determination. What builds a persuasive case for why everybody interprets it in his own are now called "losses from friendly "one of the most interesting way. The Americans think of it fire" were regular occurrences. The of the twentieth cen­ primarily as a naval war in which power of the Royal Artillery, tury" (p.xi) should be remembered the pride of the Mistress of the advantageously placed on an by a generation that does not seem Seas was humbled by what an eminence, wasted unprotected as sure as he was of what binds imprudent Englishman had called American infantry. Royal Scots and them together. 'a few fir-built frigates manned the 8th, 41st and 89th Regiments of by a handful of bastards and Foot put up stout resistance. The David A. Lenarcic outlaws.' Canadians think of it officer commanding British forces Wilfrid Laurier University equally pridefully as a war of was Canadian-born Sir Gordon defence in which their brave Drummond, who was wounded, fathers ... saved the country from and his second-in-command was * * * * * conquest. And the English are the captured. By early the next day happiest of all because they don't the British and Canadians had even know it existed." These kept their ground, and the The Battle of assessments derive basically from Americans retired toward Fort Lundy's Lane the fact that the war tended to Erie, there to fight again in what is On the Niagara in 1814 settle few if any differences exist­ an important coda to this story. ing between the United Kingdom As a battle, Lundy's Lane offers Donald E. Graves. The Battle of and the United States. Although the historian rich possibilities for Lundy's Lane: On the Niagara in the diplomacy of the war, and the research. Donald Graves has 1814. (Baltimore, Maryland: The making of the peace which mastered all known sources. In Nautical & Aviation Publishing followed it on Christmas Eve 1814, particular he has used to great Company of America, 1993) 342 fall outside of the focus of this effect the official reports of pages, $24.99 US. book we generally conclude that General Drummond and those the war altered hardly at all the answering to him. Drummond attle campaigns of the War of relations between the two powers: faced two great adversaries, both B 1812 generally go unnoticed what mattered most was the of whom went on to subsequent in the larger history of warfare, successful defence of Canada. If distinguished careers in the United and in many cases are neglected Loyalist settlement moulded the States Army-Major-General altogether by students of military political character of the western Jacob Jennings Brown and history. Thus it is a matter for frontiers of what was then the Brigadier-General Winfield Scott. celebration to find a superb Province of , and shaped The contribution of Lundy's Lane history of one such battle, Donald the destiny of Upper Canada, then to the making of the careers of Graves' Lundy's Lane. This book surely the War of 1812 congealed Drummond, Brown and Scott can promises to revive our interest in Canadian attitudes against any be imagined, for all three went on the Anglo-American war in which future American invasion. Lundy's to distinguished careers in the Canadians played such a Lane was the anvil, and here the military and public service. conspicuous part in the defence Americans decided to hammer Graves scrupulously scans the of their homeland. More than this, their great blow. They did not official reports of these field however, this study will stimulate succeed. commanders against other the reader to wonder why the great On the sultry evening of 25 evidence, and it is pleasing to see conflict ever happened in the first July 1814, almost within sight of him check Drummond's enthusias­ place and, equally important, to Niagara Falls, American troops tic report on his own success. ponder the legacies of this attacked British regular forces Similarly, Graves notes numerously bloodiest of Anglo-American that were assisted by Canadian how E.W. Cruikshank lacked full encounters. fencibles and militia. It was a access to documentation that In one of the many quotations savage encounter, the most bitterly would have given a more that pepper this book, with profit, contested in the War of 1812. It even-handed assessment of

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