Before official bilingualism was established in 1969, francophones were scarce in the Canadian public service. Marcel Cadieux was one of the few, becoming arguably the most important francophone diplomat and civil servant in Canadian history.

Brendan Kelly’s insightful, entertaining biography draws on extensive archival research and interviews to reveal a complex figure. Cadieux held the nationalist views of many young French Canadians in the 1930s, yet he made the distinctly unconventional decision to join the Department of External Affairs in 1941. Public service became the vocation of this blunt, funny, strong-minded, and sometimes undiplomatic diplomat. Against the backdrop of rising Quebec separatism and the Cold War, he headed the department from 1964 to 1970 and served as Canada’s first francophone ambassador to the United States from 1970 to 1975. Cadieux’s profound belief in the dignity of service speaks eloquently to readers today, when professionalism and expertise are often undervalued.