University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2018-04-10 Making Sense of the Arctic: U.S.-Canadian Foreign and Defense Relations and the Establishment of JAWS and the DEW Line, 1944-1957 Woitkowitz, John Woitkowitz, J. (2018). Making Sense of the Arctic: U.S.-Canadian Foreign and Defense Relations and the Establishment of JAWS and the DEW Line, 1944-1957 (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/31798 http://hdl.handle.net/1880/106511 doctoral thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Making Sense of the Arctic: U.S.-Canadian Foreign and Defense Relations and the Establishment of JAWS and the DEW Line, 1944-1957 by John Woitkowitz A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN HISTORY CALGARY, ALBERTA April, 2018 © John Woitkowitz 2018 Abstract This dissertation examines the diplomatic history of U.S.-Canadian foreign and defense relations in the Arctic from 1944 to 1957. World War II and the emerging Cold War transformed the Northern and Arctic regions of North America from a peripheral region of international politics to a frontline of military planning. The Cold War confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States, the advent of the nuclear age, and the advancements in the field of long-range aviation fixed foreign policy and continental defense planners’ attention on Northern and Arctic Canada, devising plans for the establishment of the Joint Arctic Weather Stations (JAWS) in 1947 and the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line in 1955. This study analyzes the origins, negotiations, and the construction of these Northern defense projects at the intersection of an emerging Cold War security crisis, an evolving legal landscape for Arctic sovereignty, and conceptions of the Arctic as a symbolic marker in the construction of Northern nationalisms. Existing studies of the JAWS and DEW Line talks by historians Shelagh Grant, Whitney Lackenbauer, Alexander Herd, and Peter Kikkert discuss these defense projects within the framework of sovereignty and security. More recent studies have adopted epistemological perspectives, exploring the construction of Arctic knowledge. This dissertation builds on this literature and contributes an analysis of the ideas and perceptions that guided key decision makers in Ottawa and Washington during the bilateral talks. By exploring unpublished personal papers and re-examining the ministerial records of Canada and the United States with a new research focus, this thesis explores how global and national conceptions of Arctic defense interacted with bureaucratic cultures within the Canadian and American foreign and defense establishments. Moreover, this study sheds new light on the relationship between non- governmental actors such as explorers, artists, novelists, and scientists and the realm of ii diplomacy and foreign policy-making. At the intersection of security, sovereignty, and nationalism, this dissertation, therefore, provides a fresh perspective on the way foreign and defense officials in Ottawa and Washington made sense of a rapidly changing international security situation and managed a yet nascent defense relationship in Northern and Arctic Canada. Keywords: International History, Northern and Arctic History, U.S. Foreign Policy, Canadian Foreign Policy, World War II, Cold War iii Acknowledgements I owe a great debt to my supervisor Stephen Randall. His guidance, support, and trust were always at hand throughout the years of researching and writing this thesis. His constant probing and helpful advice, moreover, pushed me to sharpen my arguments and rethink seemingly established truths. I also would like to thank Rob Huebert and John Ferris for serving on my supervisory committee. Our conversations over Arctic affairs and the history of international relations has importantly stimulated my own thoughts about the history of American-Canadian relations in the Northern and Arctic reaches of the North American continent. I am, furthermore, grateful to Petra Dolata, James Keeley, Whitney Lackenbauer, and Frank Towers for serving on my examination committee and for reading this thesis. I would like to acknowledge the financial support by the University of Calgary’s Department of History, the Faculty of Graduate Studies, the German Historical Institute in Washington D.C., and the Association for Canadian Studies in German-Speaking Countries. Their generous assistance enabled me to conduct archival work in Canada and the United States and to present portions of this research in Canada, England, Germany, and Italy. Over the years, many friends and colleagues have become traveling companions in this project for portions of the way, some for the entire journey. I am particularly grateful to Erna Kurbegovic, Stefanie Land-Hilbert, and Ryan McMahon for the innumerable conversations about our work, their generous assistance, and the endless ruminations about it all. Their time and perseverance were a great inspiration throughout and helped to sustain me throughout the solitary months of writing. I continue to be thankful for the enduring collegiality and friendship of fellow Ohio State alumni David Dennis, Robyn Rodriguez, Ryan Shaughnessy, Oscar Vargas- Rodriguez, and Matt Yates. During my travels in the United States, their kind hospitality was a iv wonderful reward after a long day in the archives. Beau Cleland, Mikkel Dack, David Gallant, Glenn Iceton, and Shannon Murray have greatly helped me navigate my time at the Department of History in Calgary. Finally, I would like to thank Helen Gibson, Nadja Klopprogge, Thomas Lindner, and Marvin Menniken of the Doctoral Lab in North American History at the Freie Universität Berlin for their excellent comments on draft chapters of this thesis. My wife, Anke, who has had a frontrow seat in this undertaking and who agreed to move halfway around the world from Berlin to Calgary, for me to pursue this journey, to her I owe the greatest debt and gratitude. I gratefully acknowledge permission by the Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien to use material from my article “The Northern Education of Lester B. Pearson” (Vol. 37, no. 1, 2017) in this thesis. v Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... vi List of Figures and Illustrations ....................................................................................... viii Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................1 Historiography and Contribution ..................................................................................13 Concepts and Terminology ...........................................................................................36 Overview of Chapters ...................................................................................................41 CHAPTER I: U.S.-Canadian Northern and Arctic Relations, 1867-1945..................45 Introduction ...................................................................................................................45 Ideas ..............................................................................................................................46 Claims ...........................................................................................................................57 War ................................................................................................................................71 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................82 CHAPTER II: The Joint Arctic Weather Stations and the Cold War, 1944-1950 ....85 Introduction ...................................................................................................................85 The Expansion of Northern Defense Research and Operations, 1944-1950 ................93 Canadian Northern Nationalism and the Cold War ....................................................102 The Origins of the Joint Arctic Weather Stations, 1944-1946 ....................................107 Negotiating Nationalism, Defense, and Arctic Weather Stations, 1946-1947 ............115 The Implementation of JAWS, 1947-1950 .................................................................157 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................162 CHAPTER III: The Distant Early Warning Line: 1950-1955 ..................................168 Introduction