The "revolution of 1940" in Newfoundland

Stewart, Ian Malcolm (1974) The "revolution of 1940" in Newfoundland. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Canadian historians have viewed the Canadian-American defence agreement signed at Ogdensburg, New York on 17 August 1940 as an important turning point in modern Canadian history, an event significant enough to be described as the "revolution of 1940". For Newfoundland, too, 1940 was a fateful year: it saw the establishment of North American military forces on the island. Some Newfoundland historians have suggested that the American and Canadian troops introduced economic and cultural influences which were instrumental in shifting Newfoundland's political orientation from the United Kingdom to North America. However, an examination of Newfoundland's pre-war relations with Canada and the United States has shown that strong cultural and economic links already existed between the island and North America. Thus the arrival of North American military forces in 1940 did not initiate a revolutionary change in Newfoundland; it accelerated the pace of change already in progress. -- Although the cultural and economic changes which took place in Newfoundland during the Second World War were evolutionary, there was another new and "revolutionary" influence introduced in 1940. In that year both Canada and the United States concluded agreements which ensured that their military presence in Newfoundland would continue into the post-war era. The military and governmental links which were produced in Newfoundland by the "revolution of 1940" resulted in a significant change in the island's relations with Canada and the United States. Not only was Newfoundland's trans-Atlantic orientation weakened but her continental neighbours - Canada in particular - had become interested in the country's political future. Canada's newly developed concern with Newfoundland was a necessary condition for union between the two countries.

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