In 1895, on this day the ultra-nationalist Canadian Tory prime minister John George Diefenbaker was born in the peaceful village of Neustadt, Ontario.

Birth of architect of Diefenbaker PlanHis term of office was shaped by the apocalyptic events of October 1962; the often unilateral judgements he took, and the heavy-handed way he communicated those decisions to his colleagues and allies. In his diaries, he rejected these charges, claiming that President Kennedy told him bluntly that, "When I tell Canada to do something, I expect her to do it!". What is indisputed is that on the 22nd, his Defense Minister Douglas Harkness advised him that Kennedy had approved an escalation of the NORAD measurement from two (peace) to three (enhanced awareness) on the way to five (war) without consulting Ottawa even though Canada was supposedly an equal partner to America in NORAD.

Two days later, World War Three broke out and the boot was on the other foot. American Cities were devastated by Soviet nuclear missiles. Under the Dieffenbaker Plan, the Canadian Government laid claim to territory possessed by the United States in order to rehabilitate that land "back to a standard of civilization".
This is an installemend from the Cuba 62 - Canada thread.

In 1963, on this day, Douglas Harkness confronted Dieffenbaker directly at a Cabinet session. Ostensibly, the question was whether BOMARC ought to be acquired if it did not have nuclear warheads. Within minutes, Dieffenbaker was shouting at Harkess that this matter was really a vote of confidence in his leadership.

Canadian Cabinet in Turmoil 2 by Raymond Speer"It is more like a referendum on your sanity," a long-frustrated Harkness shouted back. "Are you crazy or simply a backstabbing bastard?"

Diieffenbaker announced that he had total confidence in the people of Canada. "I''ll be awarded the greatest majority ever when they get the chance to repudiate you and your friend Pearson". Shaking his fist at Harkness, the PM said he would see the Governor General by lunch and resign. Thereupon half the Cabinet said they would join their chief in resignations.

When the Cabinet meeting broke up into small groups, a secretary noted that (if verbal assertions of quitting were enough) three quarters of the Cabinet (including all major officers) had quit office. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister was on the phone and in meeings all that day, trying to hold a majority together in the House of Commons.

AMERICAN DELEGATION TO OTTAWA

A dozen members of the North Plains Agricultural Association visited Ottawa today, asking Parliament to work with willing American allies as partners for the reconstruction of the continent.

They had an audience with Liberal leader Lester Pearson, who told them that the Liberals acknowledged American independence and would work closely with President Rusk in any policy that would be followed.

News filtered through the capitol that controversy had rocked a Cabinet meeting on the BOMARC issue and that the Government had split on it. Tomorrow would be the test on whether the Government would fall.

In 1963, newspaper report ~ TURMOIL IN CABINET. PEARSON & LIBERALS PLEDGE CO-OPERATION WITH AMERICANS.

Canadian Cabinet in Turmoil by Raymond SpeerIn the Cabinet of Prime Minister Dieffenbaker, dissent has focused on Defense Minister Douglas Harkness since October 22, 1962. Then, two days before the launches of the missles, President Kennedy had approved an escalation of the NORAD measurement from two (peace) to three (enhanced awareness) on the way to five (war). Not that anybody noticed in Washington DC, but the Prime Minister was infuriated that Canada was supposedly an equall partner to America in NORAD but no one consulted Ottawa.

Canada's Defense Minister, Colonel Douglas Harkness, thought the issue was too trivial to deserve a major debate on the eve of atomic war. Accordingly, the Minister did not make a fuss and even persuaded Dieffenbaker to consent to upping the NORAD scale to two (imminent war) on October 24, 1962,

The Prime Minister would remember that Harkness did not obey him immediately previous to World War Three, but hesitated from dismissing Harkness for fear of the support that man had among Tory backbenchers. In Dieffenbaker's opinion, an unwillingness to follow their leader was surely the most dysfunctional trait of Canadian Conservatives.

Harkness and other Cabinet members had been consulted by the Prime Minister some what. Dieffenbaker had mused that "an expansion of authority" was necessary to kickstart "the reconstruction of the continent and the rehabilitation of the populace". But before October 15, 1963, the Prime Minister had not stated that his plans involved Canadian mastery over the USA.

Dieffenbaker had run a General Election only four months before the Third World War and attained a slight edge over rivals (116 Con., 100 Lib., 30 Social Credit, 19 New Democrats and 1 Independent). Although the world had changed dramatically since June 1962, the Prime Minister had felt no need to hold a new General Election.

Before the Third World War, Canada had thought of building a jet interceptor for its defense, but the Arrow was estimated to cost nine million American dollars apiece, ten times the cost of a competing American jet, the F-104. The Liberals and later the Conservatives had agreed the Arrow was too expensive and ordered from the US contractor, Boeing, the BOMARC, an unmanned missle supposed to be cheap enough to scatter profusely over Canada.

No one ever accused "Dieff the Chief" of proceeding carefully with a master plan. The PM's style was to announce a great project all by itself and fail to consider whether his new ambition might have side effects on other matters.

In BOMARC's case, the system was not promised to be effective unless the missiles were capped with nuclear warheads. The problem was that another Dieffenbaker enthusiasm was that Canada would lead the world in refusing to put atomic warheads on BOMARCs. Defense Minister Douglas Harkness thought any expenditure on non nuclear BOMARCS would be a wasteful absurdity. Unfortunately, the shadow defense minister for the Liberals made the same observation, rousing suspicion in the Prime Minister that Harkness was in treacherous contact with the Opposition.

In 1963, newspapers report ~ DIEFFENBAKER CLAIMS HUMANITARIAN NEED TO ANNEX USA TERRITORY. AMERICA REMAINS SOVEREIGN, PLEDGES RUSK.

Canadian Rep Expelled by Raymond SpeerThe Canadian representative to the American refugee capital in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, was expelled by President Dean Rusk today, following the Prime Minister's declaration that Canada's full strength and attention was needed to save the United Sttaes from a fatal calamity later this year.

"I wish the situation was less urgent," said Prime Minister Dieffenbaker. "I would enjoy Mr. Rusk's attempt to build a comic opera statelet in his little cave, if it wasn't for the millions in North America who would die for his failure to tend to essential business".

In his press conference, President Rusk says that "the Prime Minister forgets that there is still more left of the United States after World War Three after the missiles than there ever was of Canada, Our best figures, confirmed for me by Vice President McNamara, is that we had 180 million Americans in October 1962 and that we lost 25 million in the Third World War. The relatively few of us that died outnumber the Canadians alive today".

Secretary Rockefeller predicts that "our Canadian cousins will renounce their dreams of conquest and apologize for ever having them". Further, the Secretary of State promised to "continue unstinting aid to our allies, such as the free men of South Vietnam".

In 1963, on this day the ultra-nationalist Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's minority government was defeated 142-111 in House of Commons.

Collapse of the Diefenbaker PlanHis term of office had been shaped by the apocalyptic events of October 1962; the often unilateral judgements he took, and the heavy-handed way he communicated those decisions to his colleagues and allies. In his diaries, he rejected these charges, claiming that President Kennedy told him bluntly that, "When I tell Canada to do something, I expect her to do it!". What is undisputed is that on the 22nd, his Defense Minister Douglas Harkness advised him that Kennedy had approved an escalation of the NORAD measurement from two (peace) to three (enhanced awareness) on the way to five (war) without consulting Ottawa even though Canada was supposedly an equal partner to America in NORAD.

Two days later, World War Three broke out and the boot was on the other foot. American Cities were devastated by Soviet nuclear missiles. Under the Dieffenbaker Plan, the Canadian Government laid claim to territory possessed by the United States in order to rehabilitate that land "back to a standard of civilization". However that plan failed to gain the necessary Parliamentary support and Dief was thrown out of office.
This is an installemend from the Cuba 62 - Canada thread.

In 1979, on this day the ultra-nationalist Canadian Tory prime minister John George Diefenbaker died in Ottawa, Ontario. He was eighty-three years old.

Death of architect of Diefenbaker PlanHis term of office was shaped by the dramatic events of October 1962; the often unilateral judgements he took, and the heavy-handed way he communicated those decisions to his colleagues and allies. In his diaries, he rejected these charges, claiming that President Kennedy told him bluntly that, "When I tell Canada to do something, I expect her to do it!". What is indisputed is that on the 22nd, his Defense Minister Douglas Harkness advised him that Kennedy had approved an escalation of the NORAD measurement from two (peace) to three (enhanced awareness) on the way to five (war) without consulting Ottawa even though Canada was supposedly an equal partner to America in NORAD.

Two days later, World War Three broke out and the boot was on the other foot. American Cities were devastated by Soviet nuclear missiles. Under the Dieffenbaker Plan, the Canadian Government laid claim to territory possessed by the United States in order to rehabilitate that land "back to a standard of civilization".
This is an installemend from the Cuba 62 - Canada thread.

In 1958, on this day in the federal election, the Progressive Conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker, won the largest percentage of seats in Canadian history, with 208 seats of 265.

Election of Canadian PM John DieffenbakerBut his term of office would be shaped by the apocalyptic events of October 1962; the often unilateral judgments he took, and the heavy-handed way he communicated those decisions to his colleagues and allies. In his diaries, he rejected these charges, claiming that President Kennedy told him bluntly that, "When I tell Canada to do something, I expect her to do it!". What is undisputed is that on the 22nd, his Defense Minister Douglas Harkness advised him that Kennedy had approved an escalation of the NORAD measurement from two (peace) to three (enhanced awareness) on the way to five (war) without consulting Ottawa even though Canada was supposedly an equal partner to America in NORAD.

Two days later, World War Three broke out and the boot was on the other foot. American Cities were devastated by Soviet nuclear missiles. Under the Dieffenbaker Plan, the Canadian Government laid claim to territory possessed by the United States in order to rehabilitate that land "back to a standard of civilization". However that plan failed to gain the necessary Parliamentary support and Dief was thrown out of office.
This is an installemend from the Cuba 62 - Canada thread.

In 1963, newspapers report ~ WHITE HOUSE SHELTER EXCAVATED. POSSIBLE REMAINS OF KENNEDY AND STAFF FOUND. In a project which took four months of planning and two months of digging in the still radioactive "ground zero" of Washington DC, the United States Armed Forces unearthed the remments of the underground A-bomb shelter of the White House.

Ground Zero by Raymond Speer"It was not planned or built well," wrote an Army colonel who surveyed the site. "None of the Red missles landed closer than three miles to the White House and yet iit looks as if three-quarters of the whole suffered catastrophic collapse on October 24, 1962". Autopsies of recovered bodies show that twenty-one survivors sped their demise with cyanide capsules, indicating that their air had become barly breathable within hours.

Dental records have helped identify the body of John F. Kennedy. His autopsy indicates that his death was due to the collapse of the ceiling atop him, likely within minutes of the detonations. "The president's body was hugging his brother at the time they both died," said one mortician.

On the previous day, October 23, 1962, Secretary of State Dean Rusk had been ordered to travel to an Air Force shelter in Colorado. President Kennedy had told him that someone had to explain to history what had happened to the world.

Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy's Vice President, had made telephone calls to Texas predicting his imminent arrival in his home state on October 23. Despite an intensive search, not a trace has ever been found of an evacuation plane for Lyndon Johnson.

Neither the Speaker of the House or the President Pro Temp of the US Senate (last known alive on October 24) agreed to go timely to a secure area. It is presumed both of those senior citizens died when Washington DC was atomized.

In 1959, on this day the Canadian Government terminated the CF-105 Arrow Interceptor Fighter Plane project.

Mothballing of Avro Arrow ProjectThe Sputnik launch had forced an immediate re-evaluation of Nuclear Defense Policy. Intercontinental ballistic missiles were upgraded to a greater future threat than bombers and therefore funds were redirected to buy Boeing's Bomarc Missiles.

In Malton, Ontario the fourteen thousand employees of Avro were informed via the company's public address system that they had all lost their jobs with immediate effect. One of Canada's most promising industries had been shut down, and many skilled engineers went south to seek employment with American Aerospace Companies.

The head of the company Fred Smye was locked in an even bigger dispute with the Diefenbaker Government who had ordered him to not only halt testing of the plane, but to also destroy all prototypes, engines and drawings, technical designs data and drawings. When he refused, they reminded him it was government property, and threatened to send in the Army to carry out the order. But Test Pilot Spud Potocki made a public stand, and Diefenbaker was forced to back down.

As events transpired, it was fortunate that the project had been mothballed rather than utterly destroyed. Because three years later the Cuban Missiles Crisis escalated into nuclear war. Canada then set upon implementing the The Dieffenbaker Plan to claim the territory possessed by the United States to rehabilitate that land "back to a standard of civilization".
This post is a prequel to Raymond Speer's Dieffenbaker Plan thread.

In 1963, newspapers report ~ DEAN RUSK SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT. FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENCE McNAMARA TAKES OATH AS VICE PRESIDENT. NEW YORK GOVERNOR NELSON ROCKEFELLER IS NEW SECRETARY OF STATE.

President Rusk Sworn in by Raymond SpeerDean Rusk was first sworn in as President when the experts digging out the White House bomb shelter identified the body of President Kennedy in the arms of his dead brother, Robert. Today, at noon Mountain time, President Rusk was sworn again into office before a television audience of the whole nation.

Also sworn in was Vice President Robert McNamara, who had spent the time of the nuclear exchanges aboard Air Force mobile command centers. So far as is known, VP McNamera is the second seniormost Cabinet officer to have survived World War Three.

A new member of the Cabinet is Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who survived the erasure of Albany, New York, in the Governor's Bunker and who has won praise for his reestablishment of New York State government. Rockefeller has been entrusted by President Rusk with foreign affairs and hopes that he shall revitalize trade.

An early priority is to establish better relations with Canadian Prime Minister Ernest Dieffenbaker. Canada escaped any nuclear explosions on its soil and it is known that the Prime Minister believes that will greatly increase his country's influence over the world.

In 1963, the Prime Minister of Canada John Dieffenbaker announced at a televised session of the Parliament at Ottawa that "the heavily damaged United States is in need of radical and all-inclusive aid or else many more millions shall die in the second year of the post-nuclear apocalypse".

The Dieffenbaker Plan by Raymond SpeerAs a consequence, Dieffenbaker stated that Canada would claim the territory once possessed by the United States of America and would rehabilitate that land "back to a standard of civilization".

Secret records kept confidential until 2006 reveal that Dieffenaker first announced plans to annex territory of the USA on October 24, 1962, less than ten hours after the United States and the Soviet Union had a nuclear exchange of missiles and bombs over the Soviet Union's installation of missiles in Cuba.

From his command center at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, Dean Rusk (once secretary of state, who had proclaimed himself president only eight days earlier) denounced the proclamation and its planner. "The United States even now is bigger and more successful by any measure to our neighbor to the north. We shall remain independent of Canada and decide our own destiny".

Over in Great Britain, where London is an immense burned swath of radioactive rubble, King Charles III announced the retirement of Prime Minister Harold McMillan, who has been replaced by the Conservative majority in the UK Parliament by the Earl of Home, the Foreign Secretary. The British Government endorses self-government for the United States, though it conceded that Canada's "resources and organization" will require that Canada will take a primary role in the rebuilding of Europe and North America.

In East Europe, shelled horribly by nuclear weapons as late as November 4, 1962, the remnants of the Warsaw Pact govern the area out of Prague, Czechoslovakia. The Ministers of the Warsaw Pact have made no statement on the Canadian threat to seize the United States.

Nebraska Governor Morrison has created the North Plains Agricultural Association, from the Great Lakes to the Rockie Mountains and from Canada to Kansas, and has credited that measure with preventing famine conditions in the northern Great Plans. Morrison is going to Ottawa within the week to confer with Dieffenbaker and his people.

Businessman Walt Disney in California distributed a television broadcast in color that said that he hoped there would be no difficulties arise between Prime Minister Dieffenbaker's plans and the EPCOT project. Disney's plan for the Experimental Project for a Community of Tomorrow is supposed to bring America back to full productivity within 25 years, starting in California.

In 1972, the controversial state visit to Ottawa to negotiate America's release from the hated Dieffenbaker Plan began with an assassination attempt that left the life of the thirty-seventh President of the United States Richard M. Nixon hanging in the balance.

Victim of his own successNixon had come to power in the 1964 election with large tracts of the country devastated by nuclear war. And his weak predecessors had agreed a recovery plan under which the Canadian Government had claimed territory possessed by the United States to rehabilitate that land "back to a standard of civilization". Now running for a third term of office, the prospects for national recovery were very much brighter. A victim of his own success, he had created the opportunity for his opponent George Wallace to set out a radically different vision under which the United States would simply abrogate the Dieffenbaker Plan restoring the 1818 borders as set down by the Rush-Bagot Treaty. With this popular measure, Wallace was hoping to become the first Democrat elected to office since Kennedy in 1960.

The would-be assassin Arthur Herman Bremer had travelled up from Wisconsin with a self-made promise to "to do SOMETHING BOLD AND DRAMATIC, FORCEFUL & DYNAMIC, A STATEMENT of my manhood for the world to see". But Canadian security had prevented him taking a shot on target, that was until Nixon unwisely decided to leave the window of the Presidential limonsine open as he was departing from a set-piece speech.

Events now took their own course. It was widely expected that negotiations would be suspended and Nixon would, at best, serve out the remaining months of his second term. However, this decision would hang upon more than medical opinion. Because the GOP wanted Nelson Rockefeller to take over the helm rather than Vice President Agnew.
This post is an installation of Raymond Speer's Dieffenbaker Plan thread.