Editor's Note

This issue begins with an article by Michael D. Stevenson discussing the crisis that engulfed U.S.-Canadian relations in the early 1960s in connection with the proposed transfer of nuclear-armed BOMARC air defense missiles to Canadian jurisdiction. President John F. Kennedy and his advisers became increasingly frustrated with Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker because of his reluctance to permit nuclear munitions to be stored on Canadian territory in peacetime. The administration worried that Diefenbaker's leeriness of embracing U.S. proposals for nuclear weapons custody would leave crucial air defense systems unable to respond in a timely manner to incoming Soviet long-range bombers. In the wake of the Cuban missile crisis, which created new opportunities for the Kennedy administration to press the issue, Diefenbaker moved closer to the U.S. position, but senior officials in Washington eventually lost patience and abruptly suspended the negotiations. Subsequently, in a rambling speech to the Canadian parliament in...