Rogue Tory: The Life and Legend of John G. Diefenbaker

by Denis Smith

Winner of the Dafoe Book Prize
Winner of the University of British Columbia Medal for Canadian Biography

1995 marked the 100th anniversary of that most charismatic and enigmatic public figure, the thirteenth prime minister of Canada, John George Diefenbaker. Beloved and reviled with equal passion, he was a politician possessed of a flamboyant, self-fabulizing nature that is the essential ingredient of spellbinding biography.

After several runs at political office, Diefenbaker finally reached the Commons in 1940; sixteen years later he was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party. In 1958, after a campaign that dazzled the voters, the Tories won the largest majority in the nation’s the Liberal party was shattered, its leader, Lester Pearson, humiliated by an electorate that had chosen to “follow John.”

Diefenbaker’s victory promised a long and sunny Conservative era. It was not to instead Dief gave the country a decade of continuous convulsion, marked by his government’s defeat in 1963 and his own forced departure from the leadership in 1967, a very public drama that divided his party and riveted the nation. When Diefenbaker died in 1979, he was given a state funeral modeled - at his own direction - on those of Churchill and Kennedy. It culminated in a transcontinental train journey and burial on the bluffs overlooking Saskatoon, alongside the archive that houses his papers - the only presidential-style library built for a Canadian prime minister.

Canadians embraced the image of Dief as a morally triumphant underdog, even as they were repelled by his outrageous excesses. He revived a moribund party and gave the country a fresh sense of purpose but he was no match for the dilemmas of the Cold War of Quebec nationalism, or the subtleties of the country’s relations with the United States.

This compelling biography, illuminating both legend and man and the nation he helped shape, was among the most highly praised books of the year.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Canada, Nonfiction, History, Politics

702 pages, Paperback

First published October 26, 1995

About the author

Librarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Doreen Petersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

To me Diefenbaker was one of the more complex and colorful prime ministers of Canada. I think this one would be a great read for anyone interested in biography and/or history.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's likely the definitive Diefenbaker biography at the time of writing, and it's definitely well researched...and not afraid to compare and contrast itself to Dief's own memoir. But I wish it was a more enjoyable read: it's staid and (dare I say) conservative in a way that wouldn't be the case in this present-day of the early 21st century. In fact, it feels like the last of a bygone age...and considering that age was the 1990s, I find that to be simultaneously hilarious and age-inducing. A bio today would be louder, slightly more acidic or more willing to confront contradictions and sacred cows, and more willing to include gossip and social/private lives. It's a stolid piece of work...about the best description I can give it.

[Gregory Klages · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smith has managed to provide a fuller and more complex understanding of a much derided and dismissed Prime Minister. The book provides intriguing insights into Diefenbaker's early political career and personal life. It is not quite as full about life in Ottawa, and tells little of Diefenbaker's later years. Smith's analysis is fair, although it certainly suggests that Diefenbaker struggled with ego, grudge holding, and decision making.

One criticism: extended, and in my opinion unnecessarily lengthy, quotations sometimes take away from the flow of the text.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing biography. The biographer comes across as a hostile witness. A great Canadian like Diefenbaker deserved much better.