Collection search - Pickersgill, Jack - Interview

Interview conducted for the television series THE DAYS BEFORE YESTERDAY : STRUGGLE FOR NATINOHOOD, of Jack Pickersgill. Pickersgill talks about his working relationships with William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent as well as the political issues these prime ministers faced between 1938 and 1958. Pickersgill begins the interview by describing his own political views when he was a young man. He recalls hearing Arthur Meighen speak in 1925 and, while he disagreed with everything Meighen said, he couldn't support Mackenzie King because he was the grandson of a rebel. He talks about how he came to work for Mackenzie King in 1938, his first impressions of the man and his understanding of Mackenzie King years later. Pickersgill was longtime secretary to Mackenzie King. Pickersgill says that Mackenzie King was "a very patient politician but an impatient man in private". Pickersgill talks about Mackenzie King's speech-writing style, which was influenced by a pamphlet published by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Pickersgill often helped Mackenzie King to write his speeches and laughingly comments that the first half was King and the second half was Pickersgill. He says that he wrote some of Mackenzie King's speeches to suit Mackenzie King's vocabulary. He speaks about influences on the Liberal Party during the Depression and Mackenzie King's challenge to R.B. Bennett's New Deal. Pickersgill felt that Mackenzie King was a skilful debater when he wasn't too well prepared but he didn't like to speak spontaneously due to his "five-cent piece" remark in the House of Commons. He speaks about Mackenzie King's war record and the contribution made throughout the Second World War by such men as Colonel Ralston, General Andrew MacNaughton, General H.D.G. Crerar, James Gardiner, and C.D. Howe. Concerning conscription, Pickersgill said that Mackenzie King felt he must yield to the "articulate majority without doing too much injury and violence to the feelings of

1. THE DAYS BEFORE YESTERDAY : STRUGGLE FOR NAITONHOOD was broadcast in seven parts on November 4, 11, 18 and 25, 1973 and December 2, 9 and 16, 1973.~2. Transcript available in the Visual and Sound Archives Division.~3. Workprints.