CHANCERIESTHE DIPLOMATIC ATLAS

Leighton McCarthy

Leighton Goldie McCarthy came to diplomacy after a career in law and business. He chaired a 1921 shareholders' meeting of the Johnson Temperature Regulating Company of Canada, whose legal affairs he advised during the 1920s and 1930s. He also became a trustee of the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation. In 1932 the foundation leased Roosevelt's former cottage for life to McCarthy and his son. 1, 2

McCarthy represented Canada in Washington during the Second World War. He attended the Pacific War Council on 25 June 1942 with Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Mackenzie King, and other Allied representatives. He had also met Roosevelt at Warm Springs in November 1941. 3, 1

Washington Appointments

Archival Sources

Archival references used in this account; descriptions and access vary by repository.

Sources

  1. McCarthy, Canadian Ambassador to the US

    Company meeting minutes, 6 April1921; photograph November1941

  2. Photograph of an exterior view of McCarthy Cottage

    Record rws00260; description

  3. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at a meeting of the Pacific War Council

    FDR Library Photograph Collection NPx48-22:3868(742)

  4. Leighton McCarthy — mission record (1944)
  5. Canadian ambassadors to the United States: roster

    Tenure chronology; pre-1989 appointments belong to earlier chancery buildings.

  6. Canada Year Book 1943-44: Diplomatic representation abroad

    Agreement to exchange ambassadors announced 11 November 1943; Atherton credentials in Ottawa on 19 November. Page scan visually inspected 1 November 2026.

  7. Canada Year Book 1946: Representatives in foreign countries

    McCarthy presented ambassadorial credentials on 12 January 1944 and resigned on 31 December 1944. Page scan visually inspected 1 November 2026.

  8. FRUS 1943, General, volume I, document 805

    Canadian Minister McCarthy correspondence; Lester Pearson signed for the Minister. Contradicts a January 1943 change to ambassadorial credentials.

  9. Leighton McCarthy — mission record (1941–1943)

Biography checked 2026-10-28.

Cite or Reuse This Biography

Leighton McCarthy. Chanceries Diplopedia. Biography reviewed 2026-10-28. Record 62361bc18b4943d5. https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/leighton-mccarthy-9604e8f486/

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Biography: Leighton McCarthy