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(I especially liked the quote about deterrence by Lester B. Pearson‘s son - it‘s unfortunate this gem will be lost in the hullabaloo)
General, not Pearson, created peacekeeping, new book says
Chris Wattie
National Post
Thursday, July 11, 2002
Lester B. Pearson never formally claimed to have come up with the idea of UN peackeeping.
A new book by a Canadian military historian says Lester B. Pearson did not invent peacekeeping during the 1956 Suez crisis, the international standoff that he won the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to defuse.
In Canada and UN Peacekeeping, Sean Maloney, a professor at Royal Military College, says most of the credit for creating the first force of blue-helmeted United Nations peacekeepers should have gone to a little-known Canadian general.
Dr. Maloney argues that Lieutenant-General E.L.M. "Tommy" Burns, a Canadian Army officer seconded to the UN, actually did the bulk of the work in creating the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in 1956.
"It is clear that the credit for the creation of UNEF has been somewhat misplaced," the book reads.
Since his death in 1972, Pearson has become an icon in the Department of Foreign Affairs. The ministry‘s main building in Ottawa is named after him, as is the Canadian International Peacekeeping Training Centre founded in 1994 by the federal government.
And although he never personally claimed to have devised peacekeeping, politicians, diplomats and commentators have branded the practice a Canadian invention that he spearheaded.
"Never, since the end of the last war, has the world situation been darker than during the Suez crisis," said the Nobel Committee when it presented Pearson with the 1957 Peace Prize, adding he is "the man who contributed more than anyone else to save the world at that time."
But Dr. Maloney‘s book, which is scheduled to be released next week by Vanwell Publishing Ltd., says Pearson did not save the world all by himself.
"Although Pearson got the credit, there were other significant contributors as well," Dr. Maloney writes. "Burns implemented a vague idea emanating from New York and produced a workable force on the ground, even though his suggestions for such a force had been rebuffed a year earlier."
UNEF was created in response to a French and British invasion of the Suez Canal near the end of 1956. The vital waterway had been seized by Egypt but was the object of continued fighting with the Israeli army.
Pearson, then minister of external affairs, was a key player in diplomatic manoeuvring at the UN, Dr. Maloney writes, including the resolution that authorized a multinational force.
But the book says Gen. Burns, who died in 1985, was the man who actually shaped UNEF and eventually led it into the disputed canal zone.
In November, 1956, Gen. Burns drew up recommendations for the UN force and, the book says: "[UN Secretary General Dag] Hammarskjold consulted General Burns extensively on the organization of the UNEF."
Without Gen. Burns, the force might never have gotten off the ground, Dr. Maloney writes, noting that the Egyptians originally objected to Canadian peacekeepers because of their historical links to the British Army.
Egypt, however, "really wanted General Burns to run UNEF because he was fair and impartial."
The peacekeeping force was the first large-scale UN operation of its kind, although there had been two earlier UN military observer missions in Jerusalem and the Kashmir.
It was also the first to wear the now familiar blue helmets and UN insignia and the first to include combat troops from a number of different nations, all of which became standard practice for future UN peacekeeping forces.
Norman Hillmer, a professor of international relations at Carleton University and author of a number of books on Pearson, acknowledged that the former Liberal prime minister did not invent peacekeeping, although he is often named as its creator.
"He made it happen in a sense," Dr. Hillmer said. "He stage-managed the diplomacy that brought into being the first real peacekeeping force: UNEF.
"He was our greatest diplomat and a brilliant diplomatic craftsman. You could call him the father of peacekeeping."
Dr. Hillmer said it was impossible to attribute the invention of peacekeeping to any one person.
Yves Tremblay, a historian for the Department of National Defence, agrees the late Canadian general deserves more credit than he received. "Burns was the real architect of what appeared on the ground," he said.
"He got all the details done to get UNEF underway ... to organize that force -- and it was a first, no one had ever done anything like that before -- was a lot of work."
Dr. Tremblay said Pearson "had the general idea of a UN police force. But the form it eventually took was Burns‘ work.
"The problem is that Burns received almost no credit."
He said the concept of some sort of UN force had been discussed by a number of people long before the 1956 crisis, including another Canadian general, Lieutenant General Charles Foulkes, in 1947.
Dr. Maloney‘s book, subtitled Cold War by Other Means, also maintains that a "peacekeeping myth" sprang up soon after the first Canadian troops were sent to the Middle East, a popular perception that peacekeeping was a noble and humanitarian use for the military.
However, Dr. Maloney says that in fact successive Canadian prime ministers used peacekeeping for hard-nosed political reasons. Peacekeepers were sent to Cyprus, for example, because the conflict between Greeks and Turks threatened the stability of the NATO alliance.
++++
Son defends Pearson‘s peacekeeping legacy
General credited in new book was ‘fleshing out a plan‘
Chris Wattie
National Post
Friday, July 12, 2002
Ottawa Citizen
Geoffrey Pearson, a retired diplomat, says his father, Lester B. Pearson, never claimed to have invented peacekeeping but played a "pivotal role" by introducing a resolution creating the UNEF at the United Nations.
Defenders of Lester B. Pearson, including the former prime minister‘s son, said yesterday that he deserves full credit as "the father of peacekeeping," despite a new book suggesting it was really invented by a little-known Canadian general.
"Quite simply, Lester Pearson invented peacekeeping," said Alex Morrison, founder and former president of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, in Nova Scotia. "He pushed for it at the United Nations; with the Americans and the Brits ... he made it happen."
Canadian military historian Dr. Sean Maloney maintains in a book to be released next week that Pearson got the lion‘s share of the praise for creating peacekeeping during the 1956 Suez crisis, but a Canadian general deserves most of the credit.
Although Pearson, the Canadian minister of external affairs at the time, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in defusing the crisis, the book Canada and UN Peacekeeping claims that Lieutenant-General E.L.M. "Tommy" Burns actually created the first force of blue-helmeted peacekeepers.
Dr. Maloney, a professor at Royal Military College and a research fellow at Queen‘s University, says Burns did the bulk of the work in creating the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF).
"It is clear that the credit for the creation of UNEF has been somewhat misplaced," the book reads.
However Mr. Morrison, who retired as head of the peacekeeping training centre last year, said that Burns, who died in 1985, was only fleshing out a plan instigated by Pearson.
"It‘s true that Burns deserves a lot of praise," he said. "But it‘s not true that he did more than Pearson."
Geoffrey Pearson, the son of the former Liberal prime minister, is a retired diplomat now living in Ottawa. Mr. Pearson says his late father never claimed to have invented peacekeeping, but said he was nonetheless the key player in bringing the first full-fledged UN force into being.
"He played the pivotal role: he introduced the resolution in the United Nations that authorized the force," Mr. Pearson said yesterday.
"He‘d had the idea of a UN police force for years before that ... UNEF was an opportunity for him to do that: to send in a UN force as a deterrent to further fighting."
Dr. Maloney‘s book, which is published by Hamilton-based Vanwell Publishing Ltd., says Burns got the first peacekeeping force off the ground.
UNEF was created in response to a French and British invasion of the Suez Canal near the end of 1956. The vital waterway had been seized by Egypt and was the object of continued fighting with the Israeli army.
Dr. Maloney says Burns was the man who actually shaped UNEF and led it into the disputed canal zone.
It was the first large-scale UN operation of its kind, and the first to wear the now familiar blue helmets and UN insignia. It was also the first to include combat troops from a number of different nations, all of which became standard practice for future peacekeeping missions.
Mr. Pearson said Burns was an excellent choice as commander of the force, but was essentially carrying out the Pearson plan in creating UNEF. "Burns didn‘t authorize the force," he said. "He deserves a lot of the credit ... but he was a soldier, not a diplomat."
Since his death in 1972, Pearson has become a near-saint for promoters of peacekeeping and the United Nations.
The Department of Foreign Affairs main building in Ottawa is named after him, as is B.C.‘s Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific, which emphasizes "the cause of international understanding."
But Geoffrey Pearson, who retired from the diplomatic corps in 1985, says his father was a realist who would have had little time for the "soft power" advocates who often invoke his name.
"He wouldn‘t have agreed with the idea of soft power alone - he was a strong believer in deterrence," Mr. Pearson said.
General, not Pearson, created peacekeeping, new book says
Chris Wattie
National Post
Thursday, July 11, 2002
Lester B. Pearson never formally claimed to have come up with the idea of UN peackeeping.
A new book by a Canadian military historian says Lester B. Pearson did not invent peacekeeping during the 1956 Suez crisis, the international standoff that he won the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to defuse.
In Canada and UN Peacekeeping, Sean Maloney, a professor at Royal Military College, says most of the credit for creating the first force of blue-helmeted United Nations peacekeepers should have gone to a little-known Canadian general.
Dr. Maloney argues that Lieutenant-General E.L.M. "Tommy" Burns, a Canadian Army officer seconded to the UN, actually did the bulk of the work in creating the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in 1956.
"It is clear that the credit for the creation of UNEF has been somewhat misplaced," the book reads.
Since his death in 1972, Pearson has become an icon in the Department of Foreign Affairs. The ministry‘s main building in Ottawa is named after him, as is the Canadian International Peacekeeping Training Centre founded in 1994 by the federal government.
And although he never personally claimed to have devised peacekeeping, politicians, diplomats and commentators have branded the practice a Canadian invention that he spearheaded.
"Never, since the end of the last war, has the world situation been darker than during the Suez crisis," said the Nobel Committee when it presented Pearson with the 1957 Peace Prize, adding he is "the man who contributed more than anyone else to save the world at that time."
But Dr. Maloney‘s book, which is scheduled to be released next week by Vanwell Publishing Ltd., says Pearson did not save the world all by himself.
"Although Pearson got the credit, there were other significant contributors as well," Dr. Maloney writes. "Burns implemented a vague idea emanating from New York and produced a workable force on the ground, even though his suggestions for such a force had been rebuffed a year earlier."
UNEF was created in response to a French and British invasion of the Suez Canal near the end of 1956. The vital waterway had been seized by Egypt but was the object of continued fighting with the Israeli army.
Pearson, then minister of external affairs, was a key player in diplomatic manoeuvring at the UN, Dr. Maloney writes, including the resolution that authorized a multinational force.
But the book says Gen. Burns, who died in 1985, was the man who actually shaped UNEF and eventually led it into the disputed canal zone.
In November, 1956, Gen. Burns drew up recommendations for the UN force and, the book says: "[UN Secretary General Dag] Hammarskjold consulted General Burns extensively on the organization of the UNEF."
Without Gen. Burns, the force might never have gotten off the ground, Dr. Maloney writes, noting that the Egyptians originally objected to Canadian peacekeepers because of their historical links to the British Army.
Egypt, however, "really wanted General Burns to run UNEF because he was fair and impartial."
The peacekeeping force was the first large-scale UN operation of its kind, although there had been two earlier UN military observer missions in Jerusalem and the Kashmir.
It was also the first to wear the now familiar blue helmets and UN insignia and the first to include combat troops from a number of different nations, all of which became standard practice for future UN peacekeeping forces.
Norman Hillmer, a professor of international relations at Carleton University and author of a number of books on Pearson, acknowledged that the former Liberal prime minister did not invent peacekeeping, although he is often named as its creator.
"He made it happen in a sense," Dr. Hillmer said. "He stage-managed the diplomacy that brought into being the first real peacekeeping force: UNEF.
"He was our greatest diplomat and a brilliant diplomatic craftsman. You could call him the father of peacekeeping."
Dr. Hillmer said it was impossible to attribute the invention of peacekeeping to any one person.
Yves Tremblay, a historian for the Department of National Defence, agrees the late Canadian general deserves more credit than he received. "Burns was the real architect of what appeared on the ground," he said.
"He got all the details done to get UNEF underway ... to organize that force -- and it was a first, no one had ever done anything like that before -- was a lot of work."
Dr. Tremblay said Pearson "had the general idea of a UN police force. But the form it eventually took was Burns‘ work.
"The problem is that Burns received almost no credit."
He said the concept of some sort of UN force had been discussed by a number of people long before the 1956 crisis, including another Canadian general, Lieutenant General Charles Foulkes, in 1947.
Dr. Maloney‘s book, subtitled Cold War by Other Means, also maintains that a "peacekeeping myth" sprang up soon after the first Canadian troops were sent to the Middle East, a popular perception that peacekeeping was a noble and humanitarian use for the military.
However, Dr. Maloney says that in fact successive Canadian prime ministers used peacekeeping for hard-nosed political reasons. Peacekeepers were sent to Cyprus, for example, because the conflict between Greeks and Turks threatened the stability of the NATO alliance.
++++
Son defends Pearson‘s peacekeeping legacy
General credited in new book was ‘fleshing out a plan‘
Chris Wattie
National Post
Friday, July 12, 2002
Ottawa Citizen
Geoffrey Pearson, a retired diplomat, says his father, Lester B. Pearson, never claimed to have invented peacekeeping but played a "pivotal role" by introducing a resolution creating the UNEF at the United Nations.
Defenders of Lester B. Pearson, including the former prime minister‘s son, said yesterday that he deserves full credit as "the father of peacekeeping," despite a new book suggesting it was really invented by a little-known Canadian general.
"Quite simply, Lester Pearson invented peacekeeping," said Alex Morrison, founder and former president of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, in Nova Scotia. "He pushed for it at the United Nations; with the Americans and the Brits ... he made it happen."
Canadian military historian Dr. Sean Maloney maintains in a book to be released next week that Pearson got the lion‘s share of the praise for creating peacekeeping during the 1956 Suez crisis, but a Canadian general deserves most of the credit.
Although Pearson, the Canadian minister of external affairs at the time, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in defusing the crisis, the book Canada and UN Peacekeeping claims that Lieutenant-General E.L.M. "Tommy" Burns actually created the first force of blue-helmeted peacekeepers.
Dr. Maloney, a professor at Royal Military College and a research fellow at Queen‘s University, says Burns did the bulk of the work in creating the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF).
"It is clear that the credit for the creation of UNEF has been somewhat misplaced," the book reads.
However Mr. Morrison, who retired as head of the peacekeeping training centre last year, said that Burns, who died in 1985, was only fleshing out a plan instigated by Pearson.
"It‘s true that Burns deserves a lot of praise," he said. "But it‘s not true that he did more than Pearson."
Geoffrey Pearson, the son of the former Liberal prime minister, is a retired diplomat now living in Ottawa. Mr. Pearson says his late father never claimed to have invented peacekeeping, but said he was nonetheless the key player in bringing the first full-fledged UN force into being.
"He played the pivotal role: he introduced the resolution in the United Nations that authorized the force," Mr. Pearson said yesterday.
"He‘d had the idea of a UN police force for years before that ... UNEF was an opportunity for him to do that: to send in a UN force as a deterrent to further fighting."
Dr. Maloney‘s book, which is published by Hamilton-based Vanwell Publishing Ltd., says Burns got the first peacekeeping force off the ground.
UNEF was created in response to a French and British invasion of the Suez Canal near the end of 1956. The vital waterway had been seized by Egypt and was the object of continued fighting with the Israeli army.
Dr. Maloney says Burns was the man who actually shaped UNEF and led it into the disputed canal zone.
It was the first large-scale UN operation of its kind, and the first to wear the now familiar blue helmets and UN insignia. It was also the first to include combat troops from a number of different nations, all of which became standard practice for future peacekeeping missions.
Mr. Pearson said Burns was an excellent choice as commander of the force, but was essentially carrying out the Pearson plan in creating UNEF. "Burns didn‘t authorize the force," he said. "He deserves a lot of the credit ... but he was a soldier, not a diplomat."
Since his death in 1972, Pearson has become a near-saint for promoters of peacekeeping and the United Nations.
The Department of Foreign Affairs main building in Ottawa is named after him, as is B.C.‘s Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific, which emphasizes "the cause of international understanding."
But Geoffrey Pearson, who retired from the diplomatic corps in 1985, says his father was a realist who would have had little time for the "soft power" advocates who often invoke his name.
"He wouldn‘t have agreed with the idea of soft power alone - he was a strong believer in deterrence," Mr. Pearson said.
