Avoiding armageddon: Canadian military strategy and nuclear weapons, 1950-63

An examination of the historical evidence of strategic thought at the Department of National Defence, as well as the interplay and differences between that department and the Department of External Affairs, between 1950 and 1963, leads [Andrew Richter] to argue that Canadians identified strategic interests that were separate from those of the Americans and other allies. Richter demonstrates the existence of independent strategic thought in two ways. He compares the conceptual thinking of Canadians on core issues (for example, the acquisition of nuclear weapons) with those of key foreign strategists. At the same time, he examines how Canada's national interests influenced the recommendations of government officials and how those interests were tempered by external constraints. To this end he relies on a selected topics approach, examining the development of air defence and NORAD, the debate surrounding the acquisition of nuclear weapons, and the Canadian approach to arms control and disarmament. He concludes that it is not necessary to demonstrate that Canadian strategic thinkers wielded great influence with their American counterparts. Instead, he looks to the interaction between Canadian and American strategic thinkers, illustrating the existence of both formal and informal mechanisms that led to the exchange of ideas.