Acknowledgments and Recommended Further Reading

No book is written alone, and this is especially true of a biography. People always wander in and give you a bit of information at the right time or point you in a direction you hadn’t thought of before. I’d like to specifically thank three of those people: Rhonda Bailey, the editor of this book, for taking a chance on a fiction writer, and Dave Margoshes and Ven Begamudré for their advice. And a special nod of appreciation goes to Hugh Arscott for reading and commenting on this book. I discovered that everyone (and I mean everyone) has a Diefenbaker story. I want to thank all those people who shared theirs; it helped me understand how the Chief became a part of the national consciousness. And finally, thanks to my wife, Brenda Baker, for putting up with my musings about Diefenbaker. Yes, at times I became a Diefenbore.

There is no shortage of material on the life of John George Diefenbaker. In writing this book, I read and reread Diefenbaker’s One Canada: Memoirs of The Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker (Toronto: Macmillan, 1972). I want to thank Carolyn Weir for granting permission to quote from these books. This three-volume memoir, written near the end of his life, was an inspiring view into the inner workings of Diefenbaker’s personality. Equally inspiring, and daunting in its scope, was Denis Smith’s Rogue Tory: The Life and Legend of John G. Diefenbaker (Toronto: Macfarlane, Walter and Ross, 1995). This biography is one of the few that spans Diefenbaker’s entire lifetime. I also wish to thank The University of Toronto Press for permission to quote from Peter Stursberg’s Diefenbaker: Leadership Lost 1962–67. And finally I made many repeat visits to the Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker Centre here in Saskatoon, where the staff was extremely helpful with my requests for information and photos (and for that I am thankful). At the Centre you can see the famous blue marlin and many other items from Diefenbaker’s day And for fun and more information about Dief, visit Diefenbakerweb at http://www.ggower.com/dief/. Finally, if there was a soundtrack for this book it would be scored by Bob Bossin, whose “Dief Will Be The Chief Again” was a #1 hit in Prince Albert in 1974. Visit Bob at http://www.island.net/~oldfolk/

What follows is a list of other books that were also helpful:

DONALDSON, Gordon. Eighteen Men: The Prime Ministers of Canada. Toronto: Doubleday Canada Limited, 1985.

HOLT, Simma. The Other Mrs. Diefenbaker: A Biography of Edna Mae Brower. Toronto: Doubleday, 1982.

MCILROY, Thad. (ed.) Personal Letters of a Public Man: The Family Letters of John G. Diefenbaker. Toronto: Doubleday, 1985.

NASH, Knowlton. Kennedy and Diefenbaker: Fear and Loathing Across an Undefended Border. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1990.

NEWMAN, Peter C. Renegade in Power: The Diefenbaker Years. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1963.

SPENCER, Dick. Trumpets and Drums: John Diefenbaker on the Campaign Trail. Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 1994.

STURSBERG, Peter. Diefenbaker: Leadership Gained, 1956–1962. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1975.

STURSBERG, Peter. Diefenbaker: Leadership Lost, 1962–1967. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976.

WEIR, Carolyn. The Right Honourable John George Diefenbaker: A Pictorial Tribute. Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada, 1979.

WILSON, Garrett and Kevin WILSON. Diefenbaker for the Defence. Toronto: James Lorimar and Co., 1988.

VAN DUSEN, Thomas. The Chief. Toronto: McGraw Hill, 1968.

Printed in April 2001
at AGMV/Marquis,
Cap-Saint-Ignace (Quebec).