In 1927 Canada was elected to the Council of the League of Nations, the highest body of that organization. This picture shows Mackenzie King (front row, second from right) attending the fall 1928 session of the League Council. The prime minister had been against acceptance of Canadian membership on the Council (he had given in when Lapointe insisted) and he was an inveterate opponent of the coercive aspects of the League. But the late 1920s were peaceful years, and years of great technical achievement for the League. Canada played a helpful role in helping the League's specialized agencies and commissions to work effectively in areas such as child welfare and the suppression of drug trafficking. Although the League inspired Canadian internationalists with a vision of world government, it failed to catch the imagination of the public. To most of King's countrymen, the League remained, like the surroundings in this picture, shadowy and drab.
