Article

Robert Alexander MacKay

Published Online December 2, 2007

Last Edited December 14, 2013

Robert Alexander MacKay, political scientist, diplomat (b in Victoria County, Ont 2 Jan 1894; d at Ottawa 25 Nov 1979). MacKay served overseas in WWI and studied at the University of Toronto and Princeton.

MacKay, Robert Alexander

Robert Alexander MacKay, political scientist, diplomat (b in Victoria County, Ont 2 Jan 1894; d at Ottawa 25 Nov 1979). MacKay served overseas in WWI and studied at the University of Toronto and Princeton. Professor of government and political science at Dalhousie 1927-47, he also served on the Rowell-Sirois Commission on Federal-Provincial Relations. Wartime assistant in the Department of External Affairs, he rejoined the department in 1947.

In addition to his work as a negotiator of union with Newfoundland, he was deputy undersecretary, permanent representative to the UN (1955-58) and ambassador to Norway (1958-61). He taught political science at Carleton 1961-72. His publications include The Unreformed Senate of Canada (1926); with E.B. Rogers, Canada Looks Abroad (1939); and Documents on Canadian Foreign Policy 1945-1954 (1971).