This series documents Wishart Robertson's life in politics, weighted towards his time in the Senate. Robertson was appointed to the Senate in 1943 and served until 1965. During this tenure he was first Government Leader in the Senate and Minister without Portfolio in Mackenzie King and St. Laurent Cabinets (1945-1953) and later was Speaker of the Senate (1953-1957).
His interest during this period was pan-Atlantic union. Heavily influenced by American journalist Clarence Streit's writings Union Now (1939; revised 1949) and Freedom Against Itself (1954), Robertson became involved in international affairs, particularly the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Clarence Streit envisioned a world where the western democracies would unite federally as the Thirteen Colonies had in 1776. Such a democratic union, initially conceived to stop the spread of fascism, was repositioned after the war to focus on halting the spread of Soviet expansionism. For Robertson and others, the promise of Streit's vision was contained in Article Two of the North Atlantic Treaty, which stressed the non-military aspects of the treaty. Article Two was seen as the initial stage for Streit's Atlantic Union with its particular combination of federalism, freedom, democracy and free-market economics. Robertson's advocacy of Streit's ideas proved to be an articulation of Canada in NATO far different from the Atlantic politics adopted by Lester Pearson, Escott Reid and others.
The series contains Robertson's Atlantic Union and Common Market files which document his correspondence with leading figures in the movement, including Americans Clarence Streit and Walden Moore of the Atlantic Union Committee, Walter Hallstein, State Secretary in the German Foreign Affairs Ministry and first president of the European Commission and Canadian supporters including CCF M.P. Alistair Stewart and Senator L.M. Gouin. Additionally there is a file on the NATO Parliamentary Conference in 1952, over which Robertson presided. The series also consists of files on Senate Reform, correspondence with the Nova Scotia Liberal Party (early 1950s), correspondence and other material pertaining to Princess Elizabeth's visit to Canada in 1951, and political memorabilia, including the Memorial Service for Mackenzie King and a Dinner for British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.
The series also consists of an abbreviated block of Robertson's political correspondence. Correspondence was apparently arranged chronologically and alphabetically. Very few letters before the late-1950s and not all letters of the alphabet have survived: most letters date from 1957-1964 and letters from correspondents whose last name ends in "F" and "H" predominate. Robertson's correspondents include Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, Eugene Forsey, Walter Hallstein, C.D. Howe, Walden Moore, Lester B. Pearson, Robert Stanfield and Clarence Streit. Other correspondence, subject-related, can be found in the Atlantic Union and Senate Reform files.
Photographs from this series comprise images of Robertson as Speaker of the Senate. They include visits to Canada from foreign dignitaries, including Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and Haile Selassie. They cover such events as Mackenzie King's funeral and the swearing in of Vincent Massey as Governor General of Canada.
