Unbuttoned: A History of Mackenzie King's Secret Life

by Christopher Dummitt

When Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King died in 1950, the public knew little about his eccentric private life. In his final will King ordered the destruction of his private diaries, seemingly securing his privacy for good. Yet twenty-five years after King's death, the public was bombarded with stories about "Weird Willie," the prime minister who communed with ghosts and cavorted with prostitutes. Unbuttoned traces the transformation of the public’s knowledge and opinion of King's character, offering a compelling look at the changing way Canadians saw themselves and measured the importance of their leaders’ personal lives. Christopher Dummitt relates the strange posthumous tale of King's diary and details the specific decisions of King's literary executors. Along the way we learn about a thief in the public archives, stolen copies of King's diaries being sold on the black market, and an RCMP hunt for a missing diary linked to the search for Russian spies at the highest levels of the Canadian government. Analyzing writing and reporting about King, Dummitt concludes that the increasingly irreverent views of King can be explained by a fundamental historical transformation that occurred in the era in which King's diaries were released, when the rights revolution, Freud, 1960s activism, and investigative journalism were making self-revelation a cultural preoccupation. Presenting extensive archival research in a captivating narrative, Unbuttoned traces the rise of a political culture that privileged the individual as the ultimate source of truth, and made Canadians rethink what they wanted to know about politicians.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Canada

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2017

Reviews

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are picking up this book to read the salacious details of the private life of William Lyon Mackenzie King, set it back on the shelf. There are precious few details about our 10th Prime Minister’s dabbling in spiritualism or his probable visits to prostitutes. Instead, this is an analysis of the way Canadians have viewed/judged/responded to these revelations about WLMK.

It’s an examination of our changing attitudes towards politicians, about the limitations of privacy, and what is acceptable behavior in Canadian society. Basically, the psychological changes as we moved from Victorian to modern sensibilities. Much of the text deals with the history of the voluminous diaries kept by WLMK and how they were a thorn in the side of his executors. King was notorious for doing just enough to get through a crisis and not another thing more—so of course he had wanted certain excerpts of his diary available to historians and the rest destroyed. However, he never got around to specifying which parts were which. The upshot is that all of his diary is now available for perusal and today you can search them online through Library and Archives Canada. His executors only destroyed the binders which detailed séances WLMK attended.

Looking backward from the 21st century, King’s foibles seem pretty tame, but they caused a sensation when they were first revealed to the public after King’s death. With no social media to out him, he was able to conduct his psychic research without penalty during his time in office. I’m not sure that Canadians are interested in more than the broad strokes of their politicians’ lives and beliefs even yet. We are much more likely to leave them alone when we encounter them in the community, because we respect private life, even if we don’t respect the politician his/her self.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here it is -- my ideal history book: something that examines history itself, as well as the changing nature of history & historical scholarship, all spinning around fascinating subject matter...in this case, Canada's longest serving and most eccentric Prime Minister. With a concise manner, a smooth prose style, and a broad range of analysed items that never out-stay their welcome, this was a book I simply couldn't put down. Thank you, Christopher Dummit, for adding to my collection of tools that I can use in teaching my own history classes...as well as providing me with an engrossing, enjoyable & illuminating read.

[Adrian]

Scholar tracks the change in how PM King was received through the books written about him after his death. There is also the case of King's personal diary and how King's literary executors managed it, tried to conceal what was in it and released it in dribs and drabs over thirty years. What they were trying to keep from the public were details of his personal life but these were fully exposed in 1976 through C. P. Stacey's book 'A Very Double Life' which revealed King's early whoring, his dependence on séances to direct his life and a weird obsession with his dogs. Dummit shows how the changes in Canadian society from the 1950s to 1970s played a part in the reaction to these discoveries. No one expected politicians to be flawless by the mid-1970s and the staid attitude towards sex and relationships in the 1950s was gone by 1976. Interesting nook of historiography.

[Tom Axworthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many historians regard Mackenzie King as Canada's greatest prime minister but as his famous diary reveals, he led a double life seeking solace in spiritualism and possibly prostitutes.Christopher Dummitt has written a history about how Canadian historians and journalists have treated that double life since King's death in 1950 and he uses this frame to explore how Canadian culture has evolved from Victorian certainty to today's individualism, lack of deference, and questioning of authority .The history of a diary seems an unlikely subject of cultural relevance but Dummitt is successful in making the case that King's secrets and how different generations reacted to them tell us as much about ourselves as they do about a long- gone prime minister.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reg Whitaker, a political scientist, referred to King as " the dingbat in the Canadian belfry". But many people believe Mackenzie King was Canada's greatest Prime Minister, party leader, and politician. The man who coined, "conscription if necessary, but not necessarily conscription". His biographers used those words to reveal a secret of his life, "prostitution if necessary, but not necessarily prostitution". Dummitt's book about "Weird Willie" is a really enlightening read. The controversy over how the world comes to know the contents of King's diary is a bit of a slog, but the book is all in all a great reading experience.

[George Hodgson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The trick is to survive" is one of the better political quotes I've read lately. Mackenzie King was undoubtedly more than a little weird; however he was one of Canada's most successful political leaders. This book does do a good job of analyzing his oddities as well and perhaps more importantly, public response to his personal life. A good read.

[David Akin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific. As Chris describes it, this “historical case study of the decline of deference” is a great extended essay about how Canada sees itself and its leaders.

[Susanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not terribly exciting but an interesting story.

[Chuck Slack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the book I was expecting.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of histories. Very good. Really great way of looking at the Canadian shift in analyzing our public figures.

[Jrwest · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. It wasn't really a biography of McKenzie King but rather it looked at how biographers had over time changed how they wrote about the prime minister. Initially treated with great deference after his death, this was slowly altered as people started examining his character from the perspective of Freudian psychology. Society also changed after his death such that people became much more distrustful and suspicious of the government and politicians. Finally with the opening of his diaries to the public, greater access allowed for greater scrutiny. It was also generated by the populace's naivity in believing that a great politician may be different from the persona they present to the public.

Different biographers have also liked to spin their own angle on their biographies. Liberal leaning biographers are much more forgiving than conservative biographers. Some biographers merely had a personal vendetta against King. Finally some biographers realized that dirt and titillation do well in selling books. Depending on the writer one could get a totally different perspective on the life of King.

The one thing I hoped to learn from the book was how much Kings spiritualism and eccentric behavior detracted from his running the country. He was an unusual individual but did that really make any difference.