Canadian Prime Minister R.B. Bennett had recently been in Washington for talks with President Herbert Hoover that caught the attention of former U.S. Chief Executive Calvin Coolidge. Writing in his February 2, 1931 newspaper column Calvin Coolidge Says, which was published regularly in countless American newspapers, the past President said Canada-U.S. relations should be a model for the world.
“The visit of Prime Minister Bennett of the Dominion of Canada to Washington emphasizes the friendly relations of two American nations. He reported to the press that he had no important business to transact with our government. There are no serious disputes between the two countries. Such diplomatic exchanges as are necessary are in the nature of communications between merchants who buy from and sell to each other. The Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence are common natural resources from which mutual advantages will be secured by future development. The only indication of a frontier of three thousand miles between the United States and Canada is the places where exports and imports are supervised. Yet we are two separate people with a strong and distinct national spirit.
In recent years many delegations have come from foreign countries to study our industrial development. It might be profitable for an international delegation to study the manner in which two great and competing countries in North America maintain friendly relations without any fortifications or any armed forces at their borders. If such a secret could be discovered and applied it would be the greatest blessing that could be secured by many foreign people.”