6. Mackenzie King believed that, in his role as Canadian Prime Minister, he was destined to work with Hitler to preserve peace in Europe.
In 1937, the Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King paid an official visit to Nazi Germany. Like many world leaders before him, he was determined to suss Adolf Hitler out. What’s more, King was convinced that he could work with the dictator to ensure Europe would not be plunged into another war. By all accounts, King was impressed by what he saw in Berlin. Even though the racism and ant-Semitism of the Nazi regime was pretty much common knowledge by 1937, the Canadian premiere left with a favorable impression of the Fuhrer – and of himself.
According to one account, King felt that it was his destiny to play a role in bringing a lasting peace to a fractured continent. Indeed, he noted in his diaries that he felt his meeting with Hitler was “the day for which I was born”. The issues of racism or violence or looming war never came up in the brief meeting. Rather, King tried to stress the links between Canada and Germany. He even praised Hitler’s “knowing smile”, his good health and his love of nature. Despite his optimism, however, King could not deter the Nazis from pursuing an aggressive foreign policy and within a few years, the PM was resigned to the fact that, not only was a war inevitable, but that Canada would be forced to fight in it.