University of Alberta Press, Edmonton, 2013 330 pp., illus., $34.95 paperback
Fifty years ago, diplomat Chester Ronning was a Canadian celebrity, a fixture in campus “teach-ins” on the Vietnam War, and the subject of an NFB television documentary. Surprisingly, no English biography of Ronning has previously been published — although a Chinese biography appeared in 1999.
Brian Evans, a former diplomat and respected scholar at the University of Alberta, has written a portrait of Ronning that is both personal and professional. Evans draws from family letters, official records, interviews, and academic comments. He has assessed Ronning’s life with care, avoiding excessive claims but giving credit for substantial contributions.
Chester Ronning was born in Fancheng (Hubei), China, in 1896, the son of Lutheran missionaries. He lived in China until he was twelve years old, when his family left to farm on their homestead near Camrose, Alberta. After attending university, he decided to return to China as a teacher.
Ronning was appalled by the poverty and violence in Chinese daily life during the 1920s. He openly expressed to students his sympathy for their nationalism and radicalism, but, when conditions for Western teachers and missionaries became too perilous, he and his young family returned to Alberta.
In 1927, Ronning was appointed principal of Camrose Lutheran College. He emerged as a political activist and was elected to the Alberta legislature. He allied himself with the new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, attending the historic 1933 Regina Manifesto convention and serving as the CCF’s Alberta leader for several years.
The Second World War changed Ronning’s life trajectory from education to diplomacy. While stationed in Ottawa on a code-breaking team, his command of Chinese and his knowledge of the country attracted attention from Canada’s small diplomatic service. In 1945, when he was nearly fifty-one years old, Ronning was recruited to Canada’s embassy in China.
He shone in this new role. Tasked with establishing better connections in the civil war that pitted Chinese nationalists against the Communists, he routinely met senior people from all parties, developing close relations with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, among others.
Ronning was supposed to be on a oneyear assignment, but it lasted for five years and ended only when Canada decided against establishing diplomatic relations with the new People’s Republic. Ronning made no secret of his disappointment.
Ronning was now a professional diplomat, receiving two solid promotions that could have capped his career (ambassador in Oslo, Norway, and High Commissioner in New Delhi, India). But his expertise on East Asia was well regarded, and he frequently joined the Canadian delegations negotiating Indochinese issues.
The most public phase of his life lay ahead. Shortly after he retired in 1964, Ronning was contacted by Paul Martin Sr., Canada’s minister for external affairs. The Vietnam War was in full fury, raising fears of wider conflicts. Martin believed that Ronning could use his personal contacts in Vietnam and China to “sound out” possibilities for peace discussions.
It was a difficult situation. The Americans felt that Ronning was pro-Communist. The North Vietnamese respected him but felt Canada was wholly aligned with America. Ronning persevered. After high-level meetings in Hanoi, Vietnam, he reported on a possible conciliatory Vietnamese proposal. He shared this information with U.S. authorities, but it did not lead anywhere.
Ronning’s role in Canada’s quixotic Vietnam initiative added to his reputation. He was sought out as an expert on Vietnam and on Chinese issues. His clear, well-tempered explanations were reported in American and Canadian media, helping to change a climate of opinion. He relished this public role of “unofficial ambassador,” which continued in various ways until his death, in 1984, at the age of ninety.
While Evans’ book is a biography, it presents a succinct overview of the political movements that reshaped China during the past century. Evans writes with clarity and authority, providing a fascinating study for students of Canadian diplomacy and for readers interested in modern China.
— Victor Rabinovitch (Read bio)
Victor Rabinovitch former president of the Canadian Museum of Civilization (now the Canadian Museum of History), chair of Ottawa's Opera Lyra company, and an adjunct professor at Queen's University.