Canada’s Consul General in California, Robert Adams, received a surprise request from Governor Ronald Reagan on this date in 1974. The latter contacted him, inviting him to make a visit to the state’s capital city because Reagan wanted to know “what’s going on in Canada.”
Adams jumped at the opportunity and a few days later was sitting down with the future President and assistants like Michael Deaver and Edwin Meese, the latter who became famous when they accompanied their boss to Washington seven-years-later.
The Consul General later provided an extensive written report of the meeting to his superiors in Ottawa and at the Canadian Embassy in Washington. Adams said that Reagan and his staff demonstrated little knowledge of Canada, but seemed very interested in Canadian social welfare and urban policies. The Canadian described the questions he received as “simple and narrow” and very much in line with Reagan’s well-known conservative beliefs about the role of government.
Still, Adams liked what he saw. “He is among the most charming of men,” the Canadian diplomat wrote. “At the age of 63 he is extremely well-preserved and obviously fit. His mien is one of modesty and sincerity, with none of the self-centeredness that one might anticipate from a former luminary of the silver screen. This seems to be in contrast to the dynamic and electrifying he projects when addressing a large audience. This has made him the most popular party speaker among Republicans…I came away feeling that although nothing very spectacular had been accomplished, a foundation had been laid for building up a knowledge of Canada within the Reagan office that may prove useful to us in the future.”
Gifts, of course, were exchanged. Reagan received a piece called “To Everything There is a Season” by famed Canadian artist Rolff Beny of Alberta, while Nancy Reagan was given a silk scarf imprinted with an Inuit painting.
Full credit goes out to the University of Toronto’s Canada Declassified project for making these documents available to Canadians.
You can read Consul General Adams full report of his talks with Reagan and his team at this link.
Arthur 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.