Here’s Howe

Many readers know about Gifford Pinchot, the forestry official who served under Theodore Roosevelt, and about the labour leader Sidney Hillman and the businessman Bernard Baruch, who were part of America’s wartime efforts and Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. These were “dollar-a-year men,” celebrated for their selfless and indispensable service to government, each with an annual salary of a single greenback note. As with so much, the Canadian equivalents — the group of lawyers, engineers, and executives who rushed to Ottawa’s aid in a time of crisis and need, just as selfless as their Yankee counterparts, just as indispensable, maybe more so — have received far less attention.

With The Dollar a Year Men, Allan Levine casts new light on the forty-plus Canadians (including two women) who, operating under the stern guidance of the formidable and indefatigable Clarence Decatur Howe, helped Canada mobilize for the Second World War, reorient its manufacturing base...