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{{Short description|Canadian historian (1937–2019)}}
{{Infobox Military Person
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
| name = Desmond Dillon Paul Morton
{{Infobox person
| image = <!-- only free-content images are allowed for depicting living people - see [[WP:NONFREE]] -->
| name = Desmond Morton
| rank =
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|CD|FRSC|size=100%}}
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| birth_name = Desmond Dillon Paul Morton
| allegiance = [[Canada]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1937|9|10}}
| born = 1937
| placeofbirth = [[Calgary, Alberta]]
| birth_place = [[Calgary]], [[Alberta]], Canada
| death_date = {{death date and age|2019|9|4|1937|9|10}}
| placeofdeath =
| death_place = [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]], Canada
| serviceyears =
| party = [[New Democratic Party]]
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| spouse = {{ubl | {{marriage|Janet Smith|1967|1990|end=died}} | {{marriage|Gael Eakin|1999}}}}
| laterwork =
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| module = {{Infobox academic |child=yes
| alma_mater = {{ubl | [[Royal Military College of Canada]] | [[Keble College, Oxford]] | [[London School of Economics]]}}
| thesis_title = Authority and Policy in the Canadian Militia, 1868–1904
| thesis_year = 1968
| school_tradition =
| doctoral_advisor = [[Kenneth Bourne]]
| academic_advisors =
| influences = <!--must be referenced from a third-party source-->
| era =
| discipline = History
| sub_discipline = {{hlist | [[Canadian history]] | [[military history]] | [[political history]]}}
| workplaces = {{ubl | [[University of Toronto Mississauga|Erindale College, Toronto]] | [[McGill University]]}}
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| module2 = {{Infobox military person |embed=yes
'''Desmond Dillon Paul Morton''', [[Order of Canada|OC]], [[Royal Society of Canada|FRSC]] (born 1937) is a [[Canada|Canadian]] [[historian]] who specializes in the history of the [[Canadian military]], as well as the history of Canadian political and industrial relations.
| branch = [[Canadian Army]]
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| rank = [[Captain (armed forces)|Captain]] / Honorary [[Colonel (title)|Colonel]]
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'''Desmond Dillon Paul Morton''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|CD|FRSC}} (1937–2019) was a Canadian [[historian]] and political advisor who specialized in the history of the [[Canadian military]], as well as the history of Canadian political and industrial relations.


== Life and career ==
Born in [[Calgary]], [[Alberta]], Morton is a graduate of the [[Collège militaire royal de St-Jean]], the [[Royal Military College of Canada]], a [[Rhodes Scholar]], the [[University of Oxford]] (where he received his PhD), and the [[London School of Economics]]. He spent ten years in the [[Canadian Army]] prior to beginning his teaching career.
Born on September 10, 1937,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=phIQbS5U-TkC&q=Desmond+Morton+September+10,++1937|title=Contemporary Authors|isbn=9780810300354|last1=Evory|first1=Ann|date=April 1978}}</ref> in [[Calgary]], [[Alberta]], Morton was the son of a Brigadier General, and the grandson of General [[William Dillon Otter|Sir William Dillon Otter]]. A [[Rhodes Scholarship|Rhodes Scholar]] at [[Keble College, Oxford]], Morton was a graduate of the [[Collège militaire royal de St-Jean]], the [[Royal Military College of Canada]], and the [[London School of Economics]].<ref name="MISC Bio">{{cite web|year=2011|title=MISC Instructors: Desmond Morton|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/misc/undergraduate/cans/lecturers/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20111031013824/http://www.mcgill.ca/misc/undergraduate/cans/lecturers/|archive-date=2011-10-31|access-date=2011-10-30|work=McGill Institute for the Study of Canada|publisher=McGill University|location=Montreal}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Preston|first=Richard A.|title=To Serve Canada: A History of the Royal Military College Since the Second World War|publisher=University of Ottawa Press|year=1991|isbn=978-0-7766-0327-8|location=Oxford|page=65}}</ref> He received his doctorate from the [[University of London]].<ref name="McGill Bio">{{cite web|year=2011|title=Desmond Morton|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/history/faculty/staff/retired/morton|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814232405/http://www.mcgill.ca/history/faculty/staff/retired/morton|archive-date=2014-08-14|access-date=2011-10-30|work=History and Classical Studies|publisher=McGill University|location=Montreal}}</ref> He spent ten years in the [[Canadian Army]] (1954&ndash;1964 retiring as a Captain) prior to beginning his teaching career.<ref name="MISC Bio" /> He was named [[Colonel (Canada)#Honorary_ranks_and_appointments|Honorary Colonel]] of 8 Wing of the Canadian Air Force at [[CFB Trenton]] in 2002. He received the [[Canadian Forces' Decoration]] in 2004 for 12 years total military service.<ref name="MISC Bio" />


Morton was the [[Hiram Mills]] Professor of History at [[McGill University]], as well as the founding director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, established in 1994, in [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]].<ref name="McGill Bio" /> Following his retirement, he continued to serve at McGill as a [[professor emeritus]].<ref name="McGill Bio" /> Prior to that, he was Principal of [[University of Toronto Mississauga|Erindale College]], [[University of Toronto]], from 1986 to 1994. He served as president of the [[Canadian Historical Association]] from 1978-1979.<ref>{{Cite web|title=CHA Presidents and Presidential Addresses|url=https://cha-shc.ca/english/about-the-cha/cha-presidential-addresses.html|access-date=2020-07-24|website=cha-shc.ca|language=en}}</ref>
He is the son of a Brigadier General, and the grandson of General Sir [[William Dillon Otter]].


Before beginning his teaching career, Morton served as an advisor to [[Tommy Douglas]] of the [[New Democratic Party of Canada|New Democratic Party]]. From 1964 to 1966, he served as assistant secretary of the [[Ontario New Democratic Party]]. After the success of the famous 1964 NDP [[Riverdale, Toronto##Provincial politics|Riverdale by-election]], Morton wrote and published ''The Riverdale Story'', which detailed how the party's organizing and canvassing changed the way campaigns in Canada are run. In the 1970s he worked with [[David Lewis (Canadian politician)|David Lewis]], [[Stephen Lewis]], and other party leaders to oppose [[The Waffle]], a left-wing faction within the NDP.<ref name="Unity">
Morton is the Hiram Mills professor of History at [[McGill University]], as well as the past director of the [[McGill Institute for the Study of Canada]], in [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]]. Prior to that, he was Principal of [[Erindale College]], [[University of Toronto]], from 1986 to 1994.
{{Cite news|date=1971-04-21|title=NDP 'Unity' Group Is Out to Crush Party's Waffler|page=10|newspaper=The Toronto Star}}</ref> In the 1980s he informally advised [[Brian Mulroney]] of the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservatives]].{{cn|date=March 2021}}


Morton was the author of over thirty-five books on Canada, including the popular ''A Short History of Canada''. In 1994 he won the [[C.P. Stacey Prize]] for his history of Canadian soldiers during the [[First World War]], ''When Your Number's Up''. He wrote prolifically about the First World War, considering it of great importance in Canadian history. He once wrote: "For Canadians, [[Vimy Ridge]] was a nation-building experience. For some, then and later, it symbolized the fact that the Great War was also Canada's war of independence".<ref>Desmond Morton, ''A Military History of Canada: From Champlain to Kosovo'', Canada, McClelland and Stewart, 1999 (1985), p.145.</ref>
Before beginning his teaching career, Morton served as an advisor to [[Tommy Douglas]] of the [[New Democratic Party]]. In the 1980s he informally advised [[Brian Mulroney]] of the Progressive Conservatives. From 1964 to 1966, he served as assistant secretary of the [[Ontario New Democratic Party]]. After the success of the famous 1964 NDP [[Riverdale, Toronto#1964 By-Election|Riverdale]] [[by-election]], Morton wrote and published ''The Riverdale Story'', which detailed how the party organizing and canvassing which changed the way campaigns in Canada are run. In the 1970s he worked with [[David Lewis (politician)|David Lewis]], [[Stephen Lewis]] and other party leaders to opposed [[The Waffle]], a left wing faction within the NDP.


In 1996, he was appointed an Officer of the [[Order of Canada]].<ref name="gg">{{cite web|year=2011|title=Desmond D.P. Morton, O.C., C.D., Ph.D. , F.R.S.C.|url=http://archive.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=2117|access-date=2011-10-30|work=It's an Honour, Order of Canada|publisher=Governor General of Canada}}</ref> Morton was elected a [[fellow of the Royal Society of Canada]] in 1985.<ref name="McGill Bio" />
Morton received his doctorate from the [[University of London]]. He is the author of over thirty-five books on Canada, including the popular ''A Short History of Canada'' ISBN 0-7710-6509-4.


Morton's widow Gael Eakin, to whom he was married for 20 years, announced that he died on September 4, 2019, six days short of his 82nd birthday.<ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/desmond-morton-historian-1.5271672 Desmond Morton, historian and McGill University professor, dead at 81]</ref>
In 1996, he was made an Officer of the [[Order of Canada]]. He is a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Canada]].

== Views on Social Memory of the First World War in Canada ==

Morton has addressed the issue of whether the [[First World War]] was indeed a war of independence of Canada. He once wrote: "For Canadians, [[Vimy Ridge]] was a nation building experience. For some, then and later, it symbolized the fact that the Great War was also Canada's war of independence...."<ref>Desmond Morton, ''A Military History of Canada. From Champlain to Kosovo'', Canada, McClelland and Stewart, 1999 (1985), p.145.</ref>

In 2008, however, he published the following remarks: "Canadians are now being told by their government and its friends that we achieved the same joyous state on a snowy April 9, 1917, when four Canadian divisions advanced to capture Vimy Ridge at a cost of about 10,000 dead and wounded – enough to bring on a nationally divisive crisis as the [[English-Canadian]] majority tried to conscript the French-speaking minority for a war [[Quebec]] had never embraced. This may be [[Stephen Harper]]'s version of history, learned in the schools of [[Ontario]]. But that would be selling ourselves short." Morton states that the abandonment of Canada by [[British people|British]] troops in 1871 was a much more important event in the emergence of Canada as a separate [[nationality]]. <ref> Desmond Morton, "Yes, think of November 11 – but 1871, not 1918" Globe and Mail, 10 November 2008</ref>

He is also known for jokingly defining a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] as "it means that you can read and write in a professional manner".

While Morton is widely regarded as an expert in all areas of Canadian history, he specializes in Canadian military and industrial history as well as [[Canadian nationalism|nationalisms]] in Canada. He is noted as one of the few remaining historians who personally interviewed and studied veterans from the [[militia]] sent to the [[North-West Rebellion]] of 1885.

Professor Morton continues to serve at McGill as a [[professor emeritus]].


==Published works==
==Published works==
* [https://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/viewFile/40514/36697 "French Canada and the Canadian militia, 1868–1914"], ''Histoire sociale / Social History'' 3 (June 1969): 32–50, {{ISSN|0018-2257}}
* ''Ministers and Generals: Politics and the Canadian Militia, 1868–1904'' ISBN 0-8020-5228-2, (1970)
* ''The Last War Drum:The North West Campaign of 1885'' (1972)
* "Des Canadiens Errants: French Canadian Troops in the North-West Campaign of 1885," ''[[Journal of Canadian Studies]]'' 5, no. 3 (Aug. 1970): 28–39
* "Aid to the Civil Power: The Canadian Militia in Support of Social Order, 1867–1914," ''[[Canadian Historical Review]]'' 52, no. 4 (Dec. 1970): 407–25.
* ''Ministers and Generals: Politics and the Canadian Militia, 1868–1904'', {{ISBN|0-8020-5228-2}}, (1970)
* ''The Last War Drum: The North West Campaign of 1885'' (1972)
* with R.H. Roy, eds., ''Telegrams of the North-West Campaign of 1885'' (Toronto: [[Champlain Society]], 1972).
* "The Supreme Penalty: Canadian Deaths by Firing Squad in the First World War," ''[[Queen’s Quarterly]],'' 79, no. 2 (Autumn 1972): 345–52
* ''Mayor Howland: The Citizens' Candidate'' (1973)
* ''Mayor Howland: The Citizens' Candidate'' (1973)
* ''The Canadian General Sir William Otter'' (1974)
* ''The Canadian General Sir [[William Dillon Otter|William Otter]]'' (1974)
* ''NDP The Dream of Power'' (1974)
* ''NDP The Dream of Power'' (1974)
* ''The Queen Versus Louis Riel'' ISBN 0-8020-6232-6, (1974)
* ''The Queen Versus Louis Riel'', {{ISBN|0-8020-6232-6}}, (1974)
* ''Critical Years 1857–1873'' (1977)
* ''Critical Years 1857–1873'' (1977)
* "Kicking and Complaining: Demobilization Riots in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1918–1919," ''Canadian Historical Review'' 61, no. 3 (Sept. 1980): 334–60
* ''Rebellions in Canada'' ISBN 0-531-00449-X (1980)
* ''Rebellions in Canada'', {{ISBN|0-531-00449-X}} (1980)
* ''The Supreme Penalty: Canadian Deaths by Firing Squad in the First World War'' (1980)
* ''The Supreme Penalty: Canadian Deaths by Firing Squad in the First World War'' (1980)
* ''Canada and War: A Military and Political History'' ISBN 0-409-85240-6, (1981)
* ''Canada and War: A Military and Political History'', {{ISBN|0-409-85240-6}}, (1981)
* ''Labour in Canada'' (1982)
* ''Labour in Canada'' (1982)
* ''A Peculiar Kind of Politics: Canada's Overseas Ministry in the First World War'' ISBN 0-8020-5586-9, (1982)
* ''A Peculiar Kind of Politics: Canada's Overseas Ministry in the First World War'', {{ISBN|0-8020-5586-9}}, (1982)
* ''Years of Conflict: 1911–1921'' (1983)
* ''Years of Conflict: 1911–1921'' (1983)
* ''New France and War'' ISBN 0-531-04804-7, (1984)
* ''New France and War'', {{ISBN|0-531-04804-7}}, (1984)
* ''Working People'' ISBN 0-88879-040-6, (1980) ''(rev. 1984, 1990, 2003)''
* ''Working People'', {{ISBN|0-88879-040-6}}, (1980) ''(rev. 1984, 1990, 2003)''
* ''The New Democrats 1961–1986: The Politics of Change'' (1986)
* ''The New Democrats 1961–1986: The Politics of Change'' (1986)
* ''Winning the Second Battle: Canadian Veterans and the Return to Civilian Life, 1915–30'' ISBN 0-8020-6634-8, (1987) (with Glenn T. Wright)
* ''Winning the Second Battle: Canadian Veterans and the Return to Civilian Life, 1915–30'', {{ISBN|0-8020-6634-8}}, (1987) (with Glenn T. Wright)
* ''Towards Tomorrow: Canada in a Changing World History'' ISBN 0-7747-1281-3, (1988)
* ''Towards Tomorrow: Canada in a Changing World History'', {{ISBN|0-7747-1281-3}}, (1988)
* ''Marching to Armageddon: Canadians and the Great War 1914–1919 ISBN 0-88619-211-0, (1989) ''(2nd Ed 1992)'' (With [[J. L. Granatstein]])
* ''Marching to Armageddon: Canadians and the Great War 1914–1919, {{ISBN|0-88619-211-0}}, (1989) ''(2nd Ed 1992)'' (With [[J. L. Granatstein]])
* ''A Military History of Canada'' ISBN 0-7710-6515-9, (1992) ''(2nd Ed. 1999)''
* ''A Military History of Canada'', {{ISBN|0-7710-6515-9}}, (1992) ''(2nd Ed. 1999)''
* ''Morgentaler vs Borowski'' ISBN 0-7710-6513-2, (1992)
* ''Morgentaler vs Borowski'', {{ISBN|0-7710-6513-2}}, (1992)
* ''Silent Battle: Canadian Prisoners of War in Germany, 1914–1919'' ISBN 1-895555-17-5, (1992)
* ''Silent Battle: Canadian Prisoners of War in Germany, 1914–1919'', {{ISBN|1-895555-17-5}}, (1992)
* ''When Your Number's Up: The Canadian Soldier in the First World War'' ISBN 0-394-22388-8, (1994)
* ''When Your Number's Up: The Canadian Soldier in the First World War'', {{ISBN|0-394-22388-8}}, (1994)
* ''Shaping a Nation: A Short History of Canada's Constitution'' ISBN 1-895642-10-8, (1996)
* ''Shaping a Nation: A Short History of Canada's Constitution'', {{ISBN|1-895642-10-8}}, (1996)
* ''The United Nations: Its History and the Canadians Who Shaped It'' ISBN 1-55074-222-1, (1995)
* ''The United Nations: Its History and the Canadians Who Shaped It'', {{ISBN|1-55074-222-1}}, (1995)
* ''Our Canada: The Heritage of Her People'' 0-8886-6643-8, (1996)
* ''Our Canada: The Heritage of Her People'' 0-8886-6643-8, (1996)
* ''Victory 1945: Canadians from War to Peace'' ISBN 0-00-255069-5, (1996) (with [[J. L. Granatstein]])
* ''Victory 1945: Canadians from War to Peace'', {{ISBN|0-00-255069-5}}, (1996) (with [[J. L. Granatstein]])
* ''Wheels:The Car in Canada'' ISBN 1-895642-03-5, (1998)
* ''Wheels:The Car in Canada'', {{ISBN|1-895642-03-5}}, (1998)
* ''Who Speaks for Canada?'' ISBN 0-7710-6502-7, (1998) ''(2nd Ed. 2001)'' (with [[Morton Weinfeld]])
* ''Who Speaks for Canada?'', {{ISBN|0-7710-6502-7}}, (1998) ''(2nd Ed. 2001)'' (with [[Morton Weinfeld]])
* ''Working People: An Illustrated History of the Canadian Labour Movement'' (1998)
* ''Working People: An Illustrated History of the Canadian Labour Movement'' (1998)
* ''Canada: A Millennium Portrait'' ISBN 0-88866-647-0, (1999)
* ''Canada: A Millennium Portrait'', {{ISBN|0-88866-647-0}}, (1999)
* ''Understanding Canadian Defence'' (2000)
* ''Understanding Canadian Defence'' (2000)
* ''A Short History of Canada'' ISBN 0-7710-6509-4,(2001)
* ''A Short History of Canada'', {{ISBN|0-7710-6509-4}},(2001)
* ''Bloody Victory : Canadians And The D-Day Campaign 1944'' ISBN 1-895555-56-6, (2002)
* ''Bloody Victory: Canadians and the D-Day Campaign 1944'', {{ISBN|1-895555-56-6}}, (2002)
* ''They Were So Young: Montrealers Remember WWII'' (2002)
* ''They Were So Young: Montrealers Remember WWII'' (2002)
* ''Canada and the Two World Wars'' ISBN 1-55263-509-0, (2003) (with [[J.L. Granatstein]])
* ''Canada and the Two World Wars'', {{ISBN|1-55263-509-0}}, (2003) (with [[J.L. Granatstein]])
* ''Understanding Canadian Defence'' (2003)
* ''Understanding Canadian Defence'' (2003)
* ''Fight or Pay''' ISBN 0-7748-1108-0, (2004)
* ''Fight or Pay'', {{ISBN|0-7748-1108-0}}, (2004)
* ''The Mystery of Frankenberg's Canadian Airman'' ISBN 1-55028-884-9, (2005)
* ''The Mystery of Frankenberg's Canadian Airman'', {{ISBN|1-55028-884-9}}, (2005)
* ''Billet Pour le Front'' ''(Ticket for the Front)'' ISBN 2-922865-40-1, (2005) (French)
* ''Billet Pour le Front'' ''(Ticket for the Front)'', {{ISBN|2-922865-40-1}}, (2005) (French)
* "Is History Another Word for Experience? Morton's Confessions," ''The Canadian Historical Review'' Volume 92, Number 4, December 2011 [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/canadian_historical_review/v092/92.4.morton.html in Project MUSE]


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Archival records|title=Desmond Morton fonds}}
* [https://discoverarchives.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/desmond-morton-fonds Desmond Morton archival papers] held at the [https://utarms.library.utoronto.ca/ University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services]

{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, Desmond}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, Desmond}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:2019 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics]]
[[Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics]]
[[Category:Canadian Anglicans]]
[[Category:Canadian Anglicans]]
[[Category:Canadian historians]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian historians]]
[[Category:Canadian military historians]]
[[Category:Canadian military historians]]
[[Category:Canadian Rhodes scholars]]
[[Category:Canadian male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Canadian Rhodes Scholars]]
[[Category:Canadian socialists]]
[[Category:Canadian socialists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada]]
[[Category:McGill University faculty]]
[[Category:Academic staff of McGill University]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Royal Military College of Canada people]]
[[Category:Royal Military College of Canada alumni]]
[[Category:University of Toronto faculty]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Toronto]]
[[Category:New Democratic Party activists]]
[[Category:Royal Military College Saint-Jean alumni]]
[[Category:Historians of Canada]]
[[fr:Desmond Morton (historien)]]
[[Category:Writers from Calgary]]
[[Category:Canadian Army officers]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Calgary]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Canadian Historical Association]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian historians]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian military personnel]]

Latest revision as of 21:00, 20 April 2024

Desmond Morton
OC CD FRSC
Born
Desmond Dillon Paul Morton

(1937-09-10)September 10, 1937
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
DiedSeptember 4, 2019(2019-09-04) (aged 81)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Political partyNew Democratic Party
Spouses
  • Janet Smith
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1967; died 1990)​
  • Gael Eakin
    ​
    (m. 1999)​
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisAuthority and Policy in the Canadian Militia, 1868–1904 (1968)
Doctoral advisorKenneth Bourne
Academic work
DisciplineHistory
Sub-discipline
Institutions
Military career
ServiceCanadian Army
Years of service1954–1964
RankCaptain / Honorary Colonel

Desmond Dillon Paul Morton OC CD FRSC (1937–2019) was a Canadian historian and political advisor who specialized in the history of the Canadian military, as well as the history of Canadian political and industrial relations.

Life and career

[edit]

Born on September 10, 1937,[1] in Calgary, Alberta, Morton was the son of a Brigadier General, and the grandson of General Sir William Dillon Otter. A Rhodes Scholar at Keble College, Oxford, Morton was a graduate of the Collège militaire royal de St-Jean, the Royal Military College of Canada, and the London School of Economics.[2][3] He received his doctorate from the University of London.[4] He spent ten years in the Canadian Army (1954–1964 retiring as a Captain) prior to beginning his teaching career.[2] He was named Honorary Colonel of 8 Wing of the Canadian Air Force at CFB Trenton in 2002. He received the Canadian Forces' Decoration in 2004 for 12 years total military service.[2]

Morton was the Hiram Mills Professor of History at McGill University, as well as the founding director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, established in 1994, in Montreal, Quebec.[4] Following his retirement, he continued to serve at McGill as a professor emeritus.[4] Prior to that, he was Principal of Erindale College, University of Toronto, from 1986 to 1994. He served as president of the Canadian Historical Association from 1978-1979.[5]

Before beginning his teaching career, Morton served as an advisor to Tommy Douglas of the New Democratic Party. From 1964 to 1966, he served as assistant secretary of the Ontario New Democratic Party. After the success of the famous 1964 NDP Riverdale by-election, Morton wrote and published The Riverdale Story, which detailed how the party's organizing and canvassing changed the way campaigns in Canada are run. In the 1970s he worked with David Lewis, Stephen Lewis, and other party leaders to oppose The Waffle, a left-wing faction within the NDP.[6] In the 1980s he informally advised Brian Mulroney of the Progressive Conservatives.[citation needed]

Morton was the author of over thirty-five books on Canada, including the popular A Short History of Canada. In 1994 he won the C.P. Stacey Prize for his history of Canadian soldiers during the First World War, When Your Number's Up. He wrote prolifically about the First World War, considering it of great importance in Canadian history. He once wrote: "For Canadians, Vimy Ridge was a nation-building experience. For some, then and later, it symbolized the fact that the Great War was also Canada's war of independence".[7]

In 1996, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.[8] Morton was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1985.[4]

Morton's widow Gael Eakin, to whom he was married for 20 years, announced that he died on September 4, 2019, six days short of his 82nd birthday.[9]

Published works

[edit]
  • "French Canada and the Canadian militia, 1868–1914", Histoire sociale / Social History 3 (June 1969): 32–50, ISSN 0018-2257
  • "Des Canadiens Errants: French Canadian Troops in the North-West Campaign of 1885," Journal of Canadian Studies 5, no. 3 (Aug. 1970): 28–39
  • "Aid to the Civil Power: The Canadian Militia in Support of Social Order, 1867–1914," Canadian Historical Review 52, no. 4 (Dec. 1970): 407–25.
  • Ministers and Generals: Politics and the Canadian Militia, 1868–1904, ISBN 0-8020-5228-2, (1970)
  • The Last War Drum: The North West Campaign of 1885 (1972)
  • with R.H. Roy, eds., Telegrams of the North-West Campaign of 1885 (Toronto: Champlain Society, 1972).
  • "The Supreme Penalty: Canadian Deaths by Firing Squad in the First World War," Queen’s Quarterly, 79, no. 2 (Autumn 1972): 345–52
  • Mayor Howland: The Citizens' Candidate (1973)
  • The Canadian General Sir William Otter (1974)
  • NDP The Dream of Power (1974)
  • The Queen Versus Louis Riel, ISBN 0-8020-6232-6, (1974)
  • Critical Years 1857–1873 (1977)
  • "Kicking and Complaining: Demobilization Riots in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1918–1919," Canadian Historical Review 61, no. 3 (Sept. 1980): 334–60
  • Rebellions in Canada, ISBN 0-531-00449-X (1980)
  • The Supreme Penalty: Canadian Deaths by Firing Squad in the First World War (1980)
  • Canada and War: A Military and Political History, ISBN 0-409-85240-6, (1981)
  • Labour in Canada (1982)
  • A Peculiar Kind of Politics: Canada's Overseas Ministry in the First World War, ISBN 0-8020-5586-9, (1982)
  • Years of Conflict: 1911–1921 (1983)
  • New France and War, ISBN 0-531-04804-7, (1984)
  • Working People, ISBN 0-88879-040-6, (1980) (rev. 1984, 1990, 2003)
  • The New Democrats 1961–1986: The Politics of Change (1986)
  • Winning the Second Battle: Canadian Veterans and the Return to Civilian Life, 1915–30, ISBN 0-8020-6634-8, (1987) (with Glenn T. Wright)
  • Towards Tomorrow: Canada in a Changing World History, ISBN 0-7747-1281-3, (1988)
  • Marching to Armageddon: Canadians and the Great War 1914–1919, ISBN 0-88619-211-0, (1989) (2nd Ed 1992) (With J. L. Granatstein)
  • A Military History of Canada, ISBN 0-7710-6515-9, (1992) (2nd Ed. 1999)
  • Morgentaler vs Borowski, ISBN 0-7710-6513-2, (1992)
  • Silent Battle: Canadian Prisoners of War in Germany, 1914–1919, ISBN 1-895555-17-5, (1992)
  • When Your Number's Up: The Canadian Soldier in the First World War, ISBN 0-394-22388-8, (1994)
  • Shaping a Nation: A Short History of Canada's Constitution, ISBN 1-895642-10-8, (1996)
  • The United Nations: Its History and the Canadians Who Shaped It, ISBN 1-55074-222-1, (1995)
  • Our Canada: The Heritage of Her People 0-8886-6643-8, (1996)
  • Victory 1945: Canadians from War to Peace, ISBN 0-00-255069-5, (1996) (with J. L. Granatstein)
  • Wheels:The Car in Canada, ISBN 1-895642-03-5, (1998)
  • Who Speaks for Canada?, ISBN 0-7710-6502-7, (1998) (2nd Ed. 2001) (with Morton Weinfeld)
  • Working People: An Illustrated History of the Canadian Labour Movement (1998)
  • Canada: A Millennium Portrait, ISBN 0-88866-647-0, (1999)
  • Understanding Canadian Defence (2000)
  • A Short History of Canada, ISBN 0-7710-6509-4,(2001)
  • Bloody Victory: Canadians and the D-Day Campaign 1944, ISBN 1-895555-56-6, (2002)
  • They Were So Young: Montrealers Remember WWII (2002)
  • Canada and the Two World Wars, ISBN 1-55263-509-0, (2003) (with J.L. Granatstein)
  • Understanding Canadian Defence (2003)
  • Fight or Pay, ISBN 0-7748-1108-0, (2004)
  • The Mystery of Frankenberg's Canadian Airman, ISBN 1-55028-884-9, (2005)
  • Billet Pour le Front (Ticket for the Front), ISBN 2-922865-40-1, (2005) (French)
  • "Is History Another Word for Experience? Morton's Confessions," The Canadian Historical Review Volume 92, Number 4, December 2011 in Project MUSE

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Evory, Ann (April 1978). Contemporary Authors. ISBN 9780810300354.
  2. ^ a b c "MISC Instructors: Desmond Morton". McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. Montreal: McGill University. 2011. Archived from the original on 31 October 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  3. ^ Preston, Richard A. (1991). To Serve Canada: A History of the Royal Military College Since the Second World War. Oxford: University of Ottawa Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-7766-0327-8.
  4. ^ a b c d "Desmond Morton". History and Classical Studies. Montreal: McGill University. 2011. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  5. ^ "CHA Presidents and Presidential Addresses". cha-shc.ca. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  6. ^ "NDP 'Unity' Group Is Out to Crush Party's Waffler". The Toronto Star. 21 April 1971. p. 10.
  7. ^ Desmond Morton, A Military History of Canada: From Champlain to Kosovo, Canada, McClelland and Stewart, 1999 (1985), p.145.
  8. ^ "Desmond D.P. Morton, O.C., C.D., Ph.D. , F.R.S.C." It's an Honour, Order of Canada. Governor General of Canada. 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  9. ^ Desmond Morton, historian and McGill University professor, dead at 81
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