Prime Minister Mackenzie King and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt were in Eastern Ontario on this date in 1938 and made milestone advances in the proud history of Canadian-American relations.
In the morning, he made his famous visit to Queen’s University, making his historic pledge that America would come to Canada’s aid should the Dominion to the north of his nation ever come under attack. As you can imagine, the Queen’s audience responded with great cheers to the visiting President’s promise. You can listen to FDR’s Queen’s address at this link..
Later in the day, King and Roosevelt drove to Ivy Lea-Clayton to officially dedicate the Thousand Islands Bridge that still links their two countries. You can watch film of the historic event 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.