bout de papier, Volume 5, Issue No. 1, 1987
bout de papier, Volume 5, Issue No. 3, 1987
The Traitor Who Wasn’t
Herbert Norman was a senior and respected Canadian diplomat hounded to his suicide, in Cairo in 1957, by American McCarthyites seizing on his dalliance with the ideas of communism. Norman was interested in Marxist thought, and probably remained a moderate socialist throughout his life… but he was not a life-long communist and did not betray […]
From Nihon to Nasser: Herbert Norman’s Diplomacy During the Suez Crisis
FROM TOKYO TO CAIRO Much has been written about Herbert Norman in the context of his contributions to our understanding of Japanese history and the extended anti-Communist witch hunt in the United States that eventually caused him to take his own life.…
A Tribute to Herbert Norman
Jeremy Kinsman, then Canada’s Ambassador to Italy, spoke at the tribute to Herbert Norman. The text follows:
The Honours List: Sylvia Ostry and Genji Okubo
Members of the Canadian foreign service have, over the years, received many honours national and international. In the following articles, we look at two persons recently honoured in two different ways. Mark Schacter prepared a piece on Sylvia Ostry on the occasion…
The Norman Conundrum
Herbert Norman, missionary son, one time Communist, distinguished foreign service officer, important advisor to SCAP on Japanese constitutional reconstruction, and protégé of Lester Pearson, has become an object of Canadian attention 30 years after his death by suicide. Two recent books, one…
An Interview with James Barros
James Barros is the author of a controversial book, No Sense of Evil, on Herbert Norman. He lives in a row house on a cobble-stone street that looks more Bostonian than Toronto. These past couple of years he has immersed himself in…
Herbert Norman
Born in Japan, the son of missionaries, Herbert Norman joined the Canadian Foreign Service in 1939 and served in Tokyo, Wellington and Cairo, in the latter two posts as Canadian High Commissioner and Ambassador respectively. While posted to Cairo he commited suicide…
Letters to the Editor
Editor, Bout de papier
