While the pair discussed bilateral issues, foreign policy was also on the agenda. Diefenbaker, for example, described for Kennedy the challenges the Commonwealth faced because of South Africa’s odious apartheid policies.

“The Prime Minister spoke of the coming meeting in London of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers and the problem created by the necessity of the Union of South Africa seeking readmission to the Commonwealth now that it had determined to become a republic,” American note-takers recorded. “He said that this question of its readmission would cause great difficulty with the (black) members of the Commonwealth and that it placed him in a very difficult position. He indicated his view that the Commonwealth could only prosper if its members pursued enlightened racial policies. The President acknowledged the problem posed and smilingly said that in this case it was fortunate for us that the United States was not a member of the Commonwealth.”

You can read the complete report of the discussions between the two leaders at the link below: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v13/d418Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.