- MacKinnon is largely responsible for defin-
ing and conceptualizing sexual harassment.
Rundblad, Georganne. “Gender, Power, and Sexual
Harassment.” InGender Mosaics: Social Perspectives,
edited by Dana Vannoy. Los Angeles: Roxbury, - Analysis of sexual harassment emphasizing
the extent to which it expresses social power
struggles rather than (or alongside) sexual de-
sire.
Mar y Welek Atwell
See also Feminism;Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson;
Supreme Court decisions; Women in the workforce;
Women’s rights.
Shamrock Summit
The Event A meeting between U.S. president
Ronald Reagan and Canadian prime minister
Brian Mulroney
Date March 17, 1985
Place Quebec City, Canada
The amicable meeting between President Reagan and Prime
Minister Mulroney underscored the growing closeness be-
tween their two North American countries.
During the ministry of Prime Minister Pierre Tru-
deau, which ended in 1984, Canada had often been
at loggerheads with its neighbor and closest ally, the
United States. When Brian Mulroney was voted into
office on September 4, 1984, this situation changed.
Mulroney firmly aligned Canada with the United
States in geopolitical terms, abandoning Trudeau’s
fitful attempt to stake out a neutralist position be-
tween the Americans and the Soviet Union. Mul-
roney also redirected Trudeau’s interest in develop-
ing countries to reaffirm economic and political ties
with Canada’s large, industrialized trading partners.
Though Mulroney did not have a total ideological
affinity with the conservative Ronald Reagan—he
was much further to the left on issues concerning
the welfare state and the environment, for instance—
the meeting between the two leaders scheduled for
March 17, 1985, in Quebec City was anticipated to be
a positive one, and it exceeded expectations in this
regard.
The two leaders not only found common ground
on policy positions but also formed a close per-
sonal bond. The fact that March 17 was Saint Pat-
rick’s Day, dedicated to the patron saint of Ireland
(whose symbol was the shamrock), underscored the
two men’s ethnic origins in the Irish diaspora. When
Reagan and Mulroney joined in a duet of the song
“When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” it was not only a mo-
ment of joviality but also a sense of shared identity, a
solidarity of both ethnicity and moral temperament
that welded the leaders in an affirmation of mutual
beliefs. The meeting was also important for Mul-
roney’s international image, as it was the first time
most casual observers of world politics had heard
of him.
The Shamrock Summit, however, was not popular
among many Canadian media commentators and
those in the general population who held a strongly
Canadian nationalist ideology. They believed that
Mulroney had capitulated to the colossus to their
south and had relinquished Canada’s idealistic and
peace-seeking approach to the international situa-
tion, as well as the nation’s economic independence
and the quality of life of its populace.Impact Many observers, remembering that previ-
ous Canadian prime ministers such as Sir Wilfrid
Laurier had involuntarily left office because they
were perceived to be too pro-American, waited for
the meeting to damage Mulroney’s political viability.
This, however, did not occur. Partially ballasted by
Canada’s economic boom in the 1980’s, Mulroney
remained popular enough to lead his party to vic-
tory in the next election, retaining the prime minis-
try in the process. The meeting also helped Reagan
at a time when he was beginning to encounter some
unusual political difficulties in the wake of his over-
whelming reelection the year before, such as the
controversy over his visit to the Nazi graves at Bitburg,
Germany, two months later.Further Reading
Martin, Lawrence.Pledge of Allegiance: The American-
ization of Canada in the Mulroney Years. Toronto:
McClelland and Stewart, 1993.
Simpson, Jeffrey.The Anxious Years: Politics in the Age
of Mulroney and Chrétien. Toronto: Lester, 1996.
Nicholas BirnsSee also Canada and the United States; Canada-
United States Free Trade Agreement; Mulroney,
Brian; Reagan, Ronald.870 Shamrock Summit The Eighties in America