The President Comes to Canada
Barack Obama's official inauguration as President is on January 20. To mark it, Rewind presents an hour of U.S. presidents who have visited Canada....
Barack Obama's official inauguration as President is on January 20. To mark it, Rewind presents an hour of U.S. presidents who have visited Canada.
Barack Obama will be sworn in for his second term as President of the United States on Sunday, January 20. The public ceremony takes place on Monday January 21st, which is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Rewind gives a nod to the occasion in our own way- by recounting visits to Canada by U.S. presidents.
Until about 100 years ago, American presidents never travelled much outside the U.S. That all changed in 1919 when Woodrow Wilson attended the Paris Peace Conference that set out the terms for ending the First World War. After that the stage was set for presidents to go beyond their own borders. Canada has always been a popular destination. In fact, it's now become a tradition that the first foreign visit by a U.S. President should be to our country.
The first piece is about the visit to Ottawa by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. President Roosevelt made history as the first U.S. president to visit Canada's capital. On his way to Parliament, FDR's motorcade passed what the Globe and Mail described as "solid walls of human beings, 10 and 20 deep, which were kept in bound by single and sometimes double rows of troops."
The year was 1943, when both countries were embroiled in the Second World War. Roosevelt delivered his address outside Parliament on a speaker system that echoed through the neighbourhood.
Roosevelt died in office in 1945 and was replaced by Harry S Truman.
Which leads to the next presidential visit. Truman was in Ottawa in 1947 and had high praise for Canada.
In the clip, you might have heard the members thumping their desks in loud approval. In the U.S. Congress, desk thumping signified extreme disapproval -- the opposite of what it meant in Canadian Parliament.
But let's presume that President Truman understood the good intention of the thumping.
And by the way, the initial in Truman's name didn't stand for anything. His middle name was simply "S" because his parents couldn't decide whether to name him after his maternal grandfather "Solomon" or his paternal grandfather "Shipper."
On to 1953 now and a visit from Dwight Eisenhower. President Eisenhower was applauded for opening his speech in French.
When he switched to English, like Roosevelt, he was full of praise for Canada. Eisenhower returned in 1958 with a forthright and frank speech to Parliament. He staunchly defended the interests of his country at a time when Canadian business leaders were worried they would be overtaken by American interests.
It was the first time television cameras were allowed into the House of Commons.
In May 1961 John F Kennedy came to Ottawa. A crowd of 50,000 greeted the President as he and his wife Jackie entered the House of Commons. The coverage was breathless as it followed their every step.
Inside the House of Commons, the reception was equally warm, with the MPs frequently bursting into applause and cheers as President Kennedy spoke. His speech was eloquent and his words stirring.
For all the attention to his "Florida tanned figure" with its "shock of brown hair," and the description of his wife's "pink-ribbed silk dress, flounced with three tiers of ruffles and matching stole," his visit was a serious one. He encouraged Canada to incorporate nuclear missiles into our national defence policy.
However, John Diefenbaker's cabinet was divided over the question of whether Canada should have nuclear warheads and the decision was put on hold.
Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 partway through his first term. His vice president Lyndon Johnson took over and in 1964 visited Canada. The occasion was the signing of the Columbia River Treaty, an international dam project in British Columbia.
The treaty was a dam project that saw Canada build three dams on the Columbia River in British Columbia to aid flood control and produce hydroelectric power for the United States. That country paid Canada 64 and a half million dollars for flood control and another $254 million for entitlement to the power the dam produced.
After Lyndon Johnson, it was Richard Nixon. Nixon might be best remembered for the Watergate scandal and his resulting resignation in 1974. But at the time of this speech, that was still in the future. He was between two historic trips. The first was to China and the second Russia.
The clip is Richard Nixon in April 1972, addressing a group of Canadian politicians.
One of the reasons Nixon was in Ottawa was to sign the Great Lakes Treaty, a bilateral agreement that set rules to reduce pollution. However, there were protestors who objected to Nixon's visit.
That was April 1972. Just a couple of months later, in June, there was a break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters. The Nixon administration tried to cover it up. The ensuing scandal led, two years later, to the president's resignation.
Neither of the next two presidents- Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter visited Canada. So next up is Ronald Reagan.
As with the visit years before of Richard Nixon, Reagan was met with both support and protest. Reagan's conservatism was at odds with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's more liberal views.
The clip is from March 1981.
Ronald Reagan addressing Parliament in 1981. Some of the New Democrat MPS wore black armbands to protest American involvement in El Salvador. The president had just sent U.S. troops to train El Salvador's soldiers fighting communist guerrillas.
In 1985, Reagan was back in Ottawa to talk about free trade. It came to be known as the Shamrock Summit as it concluded on St. Patrick's Day. And to honour their shared heritage, the President, the Prime Minister and their wives took to the stage to sing an Irish song.
The reception wasn't so warm two years later when Reagan addressed Parliament and talked about his Star Wars initiative to destroy missiles in space.
In 1989 there was a new president- George Bush, the first one.
On to 1995 and Bill Clinton. With his trademark charm and warmth, it seemed that he ended up making everyone feel good. He continued in the tradition of U.S. presidents who spoke affectionately about Canada. At this point, it was Jean Chretien who was Prime Minister.
Clinton was re-elected the next year. He was the first Democratic President since Franklin Roosevelt to win a second term.
And that takes us to President George W Bush. He was elected in 2000 and was scheduled to come to Canada to address a joint session of parliament in May 2003. But the trip was cancelled three weeks before it was supposed to happen. There was speculation that Bush had cancelled because Canada refused to join the "coalition of the willing," the group of nations that participated in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Relations between Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the U.S. president were tense, but the prime minister denied that President Bush had cancelled his trip because Canada refused to join the war coalition.
Finally, four years into his presidency, George Bush made his first official visit to Canada. Hopes were high that the trip would ease tensions.
Bush was conciliatory, but also dropped a bombshell on Prime Minister Paul Martin.
Canada repeatedly refused to participate in Bush's plans for a ballistic missile defence system, an issue that further strained relations between the countries. In March 2005, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice postponed her visit to Ottawa amid reports of U.S. displeasure with Canada's decision not to back the missile shield program.
But by 2009, there was a new Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and a new president, Barack Obama. Obama made Canada his first international visit.
Barack Obama will be sworn in for his second term as President of the United States on Sunday, January 20. The public ceremony takes place on Monday January 21st, which is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Rewind gives a nod to the occasion in our own way- by recounting visits to Canada by U.S. presidents.
Until about 100 years ago, American presidents never travelled much outside the U.S. That all changed in 1919 when Woodrow Wilson attended the Paris Peace Conference that set out the terms for ending the First World War. After that the stage was set for presidents to go beyond their own borders. Canada has always been a popular destination. In fact, it's now become a tradition that the first foreign visit by a U.S. President should be to our country.
The first piece is about the visit to Ottawa by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. President Roosevelt made history as the first U.S. president to visit Canada's capital. On his way to Parliament, FDR's motorcade passed what the Globe and Mail described as "solid walls of human beings, 10 and 20 deep, which were kept in bound by single and sometimes double rows of troops."
The year was 1943, when both countries were embroiled in the Second World War. Roosevelt delivered his address outside Parliament on a speaker system that echoed through the neighbourhood.
Roosevelt died in office in 1945 and was replaced by Harry S Truman.
Which leads to the next presidential visit. Truman was in Ottawa in 1947 and had high praise for Canada.
In the clip, you might have heard the members thumping their desks in loud approval. In the U.S. Congress, desk thumping signified extreme disapproval -- the opposite of what it meant in Canadian Parliament.
But let's presume that President Truman understood the good intention of the thumping.
And by the way, the initial in Truman's name didn't stand for anything. His middle name was simply "S" because his parents couldn't decide whether to name him after his maternal grandfather "Solomon" or his paternal grandfather "Shipper."
On to 1953 now and a visit from Dwight Eisenhower. President Eisenhower was applauded for opening his speech in French.
When he switched to English, like Roosevelt, he was full of praise for Canada. Eisenhower returned in 1958 with a forthright and frank speech to Parliament. He staunchly defended the interests of his country at a time when Canadian business leaders were worried they would be overtaken by American interests.
It was the first time television cameras were allowed into the House of Commons.
In May 1961 John F Kennedy came to Ottawa. A crowd of 50,000 greeted the President as he and his wife Jackie entered the House of Commons. The coverage was breathless as it followed their every step.
Inside the House of Commons, the reception was equally warm, with the MPs frequently bursting into applause and cheers as President Kennedy spoke. His speech was eloquent and his words stirring.
For all the attention to his "Florida tanned figure" with its "shock of brown hair," and the description of his wife's "pink-ribbed silk dress, flounced with three tiers of ruffles and matching stole," his visit was a serious one. He encouraged Canada to incorporate nuclear missiles into our national defence policy.
However, John Diefenbaker's cabinet was divided over the question of whether Canada should have nuclear warheads and the decision was put on hold.
Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 partway through his first term. His vice president Lyndon Johnson took over and in 1964 visited Canada. The occasion was the signing of the Columbia River Treaty, an international dam project in British Columbia.
The treaty was a dam project that saw Canada build three dams on the Columbia River in British Columbia to aid flood control and produce hydroelectric power for the United States. That country paid Canada 64 and a half million dollars for flood control and another $254 million for entitlement to the power the dam produced.
After Lyndon Johnson, it was Richard Nixon. Nixon might be best remembered for the Watergate scandal and his resulting resignation in 1974. But at the time of this speech, that was still in the future. He was between two historic trips. The first was to China and the second Russia.
The clip is Richard Nixon in April 1972, addressing a group of Canadian politicians.
One of the reasons Nixon was in Ottawa was to sign the Great Lakes Treaty, a bilateral agreement that set rules to reduce pollution. However, there were protestors who objected to Nixon's visit.
That was April 1972. Just a couple of months later, in June, there was a break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters. The Nixon administration tried to cover it up. The ensuing scandal led, two years later, to the president's resignation.
Neither of the next two presidents- Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter visited Canada. So next up is Ronald Reagan.
As with the visit years before of Richard Nixon, Reagan was met with both support and protest. Reagan's conservatism was at odds with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's more liberal views.
The clip is from March 1981.
Ronald Reagan addressing Parliament in 1981. Some of the New Democrat MPS wore black armbands to protest American involvement in El Salvador. The president had just sent U.S. troops to train El Salvador's soldiers fighting communist guerrillas.
In 1985, Reagan was back in Ottawa to talk about free trade. It came to be known as the Shamrock Summit as it concluded on St. Patrick's Day. And to honour their shared heritage, the President, the Prime Minister and their wives took to the stage to sing an Irish song.
The reception wasn't so warm two years later when Reagan addressed Parliament and talked about his Star Wars initiative to destroy missiles in space.
In 1989 there was a new president- George Bush, the first one.
On to 1995 and Bill Clinton. With his trademark charm and warmth, it seemed that he ended up making everyone feel good. He continued in the tradition of U.S. presidents who spoke affectionately about Canada. At this point, it was Jean Chretien who was Prime Minister.
Clinton was re-elected the next year. He was the first Democratic President since Franklin Roosevelt to win a second term.
And that takes us to President George W Bush. He was elected in 2000 and was scheduled to come to Canada to address a joint session of parliament in May 2003. But the trip was cancelled three weeks before it was supposed to happen. There was speculation that Bush had cancelled because Canada refused to join the "coalition of the willing," the group of nations that participated in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Relations between Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the U.S. president were tense, but the prime minister denied that President Bush had cancelled his trip because Canada refused to join the war coalition.
Finally, four years into his presidency, George Bush made his first official visit to Canada. Hopes were high that the trip would ease tensions.
Bush was conciliatory, but also dropped a bombshell on Prime Minister Paul Martin.
Canada repeatedly refused to participate in Bush's plans for a ballistic missile defence system, an issue that further strained relations between the countries. In March 2005, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice postponed her visit to Ottawa amid reports of U.S. displeasure with Canada's decision not to back the missile shield program.
But by 2009, there was a new Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and a new president, Barack Obama. Obama made Canada his first international visit.