McCulloch, Tony; (2008) Roosevelt, Mackenzie King and the Royal Visit to the USA in 1939. London Journal of Canadian Studies , 23 (1) pp. 81-104.

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Abstract

In May 1939 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth began a month-long tour of Canada that also included a brief visit to the United States. The timing of this visit was fortuitous from the British point of view coming as it did soon after the controversial Munich agreement in September 1938, which ceded the Czech Sudetenland to Germany, and the subsequent occupation of the remainder of the Czech state by German troops in March 1939—both of which had damaged Britain's image in America. The Royal Visit to the USA was a great public relations success, as was the visit to Canada, and its significance for relations between Britain, Canada and the United States has been discussed by a number of historians from all three countries. However, very little attention has been paid to the key role of the Canadian Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, regarding the American phase of the Royal Visit. This article therefore seeks to fill this gap by assessing Mackenzie King's involvement in the origins and conduct of the visit. It also reflects upon what the Royal Visit reveals about Canada's relations with Britain and the United States and Mackenzie King's relationship with President Franklin Roosevelt.

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