bout de papier, Vol. 26, No. 4 (2012) — Summer 2012 // Été 2012, pp. 39–40
Readers of bout de papier need no introduction to John Wendell Holmes, who was long associated with the Department of External Affairs and whose official correspondence has graced the pages of Documents on Canadian External Relations as well as those of bout. Holmes was an elegant, thoughtful and witty author and speaker whose contributions enhanced any project with which he was involved. When he left DEA, he was only 50 years old and an Assistant Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs. That abrupt departure was explained to former colleagues by references to fatigue and stress, though Holmes was actually a victim of the “gay purges” conducted by the Security Service of the RCMP under the authority of the Security Panel. This subject is discussed in my article “Purged… from memory, The Department of External Affairs and John Holmes,” which was published in the International Journal in its Spring 2004 issue (Volume LIX, Number 2, 375-86).
The Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs, Norman Robertson, who had known and often worked closely with Holmes for nearly two decades, helped to arrange an academic appointment for Holmes at Duke University (while still on the payroll of DEA) before he formally resigned and returned to the organization with which he had worked (as National Secretary) before joining DEA in wartime, the Canadian Institute of International Affairs. After his return to the CIIA, Holmes boosted its credibility with his well-informed and articulate commentary on world affairs from a Canadian perspective (his biographer, Adam Chapnick, dubbed him “the voice of Canada”) and he also played an invaluable role for DEA as a liaison with the scholarly community in Canada. Holmes was also a distinguished scholar and teacher. When he died, he was still serving as the chairman of the editorial board for the official history of the department, the first volume of which was appropriately dedicated to his memory by the author, John Hilliker.
Throughout the difficult and stressful process, Holmes understandably made no reference to the reason for his departure from the public service and consequently there was later speculation about why his career was terminated at its peak. Undoubtedly the personal toll taken by this episode lent credibility to the story that his health was responsible for his decision to leave.
As Professor Chapnick and others who have examined his papers can attest, John Holmes was better at keeping incoming correspondence than his own letters. Those reproduced below, his formal letter of resignation from the department and a note to one of his closest friends in DEA, both come from the Historical Personnel Records preserved at Library and Archives Canada. Robertson certainly knew why Holmes was obliged to resign and it is possible that his good friend Charles “McGuff” McGaughey knew as well, so that there is a special poignancy to these letters.
As so often, we are indebted to the dedicated archivists at Library and Archives Canada, whose work not only preserves the essential documentation of our past but also makes it available to scholars, students and others with an interest in Canadian history. In this instance, we would particularly like to thank Paulette Dozois and Brian Beaven, who were characteristically helpful.
J. W. Holmes to N. A. Robertson, 23 March 1960
Room 408, Library Duke University Durham, N.C. March 23, 1960
Mr. N. A: Robertson, Undersecretary of State for External Affairs, Ottawa.
Dear Mr. Robertson,
As I informed you some weeks ago, I have been offered an appointment as President of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs. After long deliberation, I have decided to accept the appointment and to request you, therefore, to accept my resignation from the Department of External Affairs.
For me this will mean a return to an institution with which I was associated before joining the Deapartment [sic] and in the work of which I have maintained a continuing interest. It presents, I believe, a challenging opportunity for service in the field of international affairs complementary — to the work of the Department of External Affairs. As you are aware, there are also reasons of health and family obligations which have affected my decision to take an appointment in Toronto.
I hope you will understand, nevertheless, the deep regret I feel on leaving a service to which I owe so much in rich experience and in the friendship of a remarkable company of men and women. It is reassuring on departing to realize that there are so many of this company brilliantly qualified to carry on the work in which I was engaged. I was proud to be a member of the company, and I shall watch with confidence and pride the growing strength of the Department.
I have been asked to take over my new duties at the end of June. As my health is improving steadily in North Carolina, I would like to remain at Duke University until the end of the term in late May as I have been invited to do by the Commonwealth Studies Centre. The date when my resignation should become effective I am happy to leave to the convenience of the Department.
Would you be good enough to convey to my colleagues my great regret at leaving them, my gratitude for their constant help and companionship, and my hope that our association and collaboration may continue in my new work. To you personally I acknowledge a special debt of gratitude and my rare good fortune in the many years of association with you in the service.
Yours sincerely, John Holmes [J. W. Holmes]
J. W. Holmes to C. E. McGaughey, 21 April 1960 [handwritten]
Dear McGuff,
Thank you for your kind words. I shall miss my colleagues in the Department more than I can say, and no one more than you. You have cheered my life and lightened the burden, and you have been awfully good to lean on. And that goes for Jessie and the boys. However, I have no intention of cutting my ties, and I see no reason why I should not see more of you — all from Toronto than I ever would from my postings in Lagos or Ulan Bator.
My new job does attract me very much. It allows me to settle down in Canada but to travel a good deal, an arrangement which suits this temperament better than permanent residence abroad de luxe. I shall be near enough to London to fulfil some family responsibilities I have been neglecting and close to a flock of nieces and nephews in whom I have
– faute de mieux – an increasing avuncular interest. The Institute does provide a very good opportunity for me to carry on in the chosen field without the constant crises which ground me down. I don’t suppose it is a job which would appeal to most ambassadors-to-be, but I have always considered ambassadorship a game I could never learn to enjoy. I hope my departure will not cause any discouragement in the ranks or be interpreted as dissatisfaction with the regime or working conditions or failure to get the post in Helsinki. If so, I hope you will point out that my reasons were personal and had much to do with my family obligations and my disinclination to inhabit embassies. Thank you for your very satisfactory explanation of the satisfactory arrangements for leave and superannuation. I have already had a letter from Fred Roger about it. I plan to stick out the term here, if the heat isn’t too much for me, and take over the new job in late June. In between I shall be in Ottawa settling my effects and seeing old friends such as you.
Thanks for everything, AS ever, John [J. W. Holmes]
View the original scanned pages →
Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 26, No. 4 (2012) — Summer 2012 // Été 2012, pp. 39–40. Read the rest of this issue →
