Burton Taylor Richardson was a journalist, born in Manitoba in 1906. He was editor of the Toronto Telegram from 1953 to 1962 and special assistant to John Diefenbaker from 1963 to 1966. He wrote Canada and Mr. Diefenbaker in 1962 and briefly helped Diefenbaker with his own memoirs.
This series contains reference material assembled by Burton T. Richardson while serving as Diefenbaker’s special assistant.
This series contains John Diefenbaker’s correspondence while Prime Minister, both incoming and outgoing, filed by his office staff. It contains correspondence with cabinet members, the Civil Service, other politicians, foreign leaders, personal friends and advisors, and the general public, all arranged in the same series of subject files. The topics covered include almost all the political and social questions of the period.
This series contains John Diefenbaker’s correspondence while Prime Minister, both incoming and outgoing, which was filed by his office staff. Together with the correspondence in MG 01/VI PMO Numbered Correspondence, it comprises the whole of Diefenbaker’s correspondence during the period, excluding that with his family. It contains correspondence with members of his cabinet, the Civil Service, other politicians, foreign leaders, personal friends and advisors, and the general public, all arranged in the same series of subject files. The topics covered include almost all the political and social questions of the period.
Paul Martineau, born at Bryson, Quebec, in 1921, was a lawyer and Conservative Member of Parliament for Pontiac-Temiscamingue from 1958 to 1965. He served as Diefenbaker’s Parliamentary Secretary (1959-1961), Deputy Speaker (1962), and Minister of Mines and Technical Services (1962-1963).
This subseries contains the reference material assembled by Paul Martineau while serving as Diefenbaker’s Parliamentary Secretary.
Merril Menzies was an economist and brother-in-law of Dr. Glen Green, one of Diefenbaker’s closest political supporters in Prince Albert. In late 1956 Green gave Diefenbaker a paper by Menzies on the possibilities of northern development in Canada. As a result, Menzies became Diefenbaker’s chief economic advisor and the force behind the Northern Vision policy of the 1958 campaign. He resigned his position prior to the 1963 election.
This subseries contains reference material accumulated by Merril Menzies while serving as Diefenbaker’s economic advisor.
John Diefenbaker holding Sir John A Macdonald plaque, standing by sideboard with Macdonald statue in East Block office. Ellen Fairclough watching on as unidentified man films plaque.
Note on the date: Date has been estimated based on a passage from Ellen Fairclough's memoir "Saturday's Child", pg 163, where she says she presented Diefenbaker with a table reputed to have been used by Sir John A. MacDonald, and gave it a plaque describing its history. She says that he was "delighted with it. He called in reporters and cameramen, who took pictures and lsiten to his anecdotes about Sir John" (Saturday's Child, pg 163).
This series contains reference material collected by John Diefenbaker and his staff from 1940, when he was elected to Parliament, to 1957, when he became Prime Minister. A wide range of political and social subjects, both Canadian and international, are present.
This series contains Diefenbaker’s papers for the six month period of his first term as Leader of the Opposition. Although Diefenbaker outpolled Donald Fleming and Davie Fulton after the first ballot, his rise to prominence had not been without its setbacks. This was his third try for the opposition which had escaped his grasp in 1942 and 1948. This series consists largely of post-convention correspondence and election material, but there are also files about headquarters organization, the appointment of advisors, and current political events such as the release of the report of the Gordon Commission on Canada’s Economic Prospects.
This subseries contains general subject files about Progressive Conservative party affairs within the constituency, and requests from constituents for assistance in dealing with the federal government in matters of pensions, unemployment and taxation. Election files from the constituency are filed with the general election files.
