Editing John Buchan (section)

==Legacy==
When Buchan died in Canada in February 1940 as Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir, he was widely and deeply mourned throughout the English-speaking world and beyond, both as writer and statesman. His last role gave emphasis to him as statesman but it is as a writer of popular thrillers for which he is mostly remembered now. Novelist Graham Greene wrote, eleven years after Tweedsmuir's death, that the settings, pace and pursuits in ''The Thirty-Nine Steps'' "were to be a pattern for adventure-writers ever since."<ref>Greene, Graham, ''The Lost Childhood and other essays'', Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1951, p. 104.</ref> He and his brother Hugh co-authored ''The Spy's Bedside Book'' and dedicated it "To the Immortal Memory of Wm Le Queux and John Buchan."<ref>Greene, Graham G. and Hugh G., editors, ''The Spy’s Bedside Book'', Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1957.</ref> Fifty years after Buchan's death, historian David Stafford wrote that "his impact on the genre was profound, and he has left a mark that has remained strong to this day."<ref>Stafford, David, ''The Silent Game: The Real World of Imaginary Spies'', Lester & Orpen Dennys Limited, Toronto, Canada, 1988, p.53.</ref> [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] admired and was influenced by Buchan's adventure stories.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Resnick |first=Henry |year=1967 |title=An Interview with Tolkien |magazine=[[Niekas]] |pages=37–47}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lobdell |first=Jared C. |url=https://archive.org/details/worldofringslang0000lobd/page/5 |title=The World of the Rings: Language, Religion, and Adventure in Tolkien |publisher=Open Court |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8126-9569-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/worldofringslang0000lobd/page/5 5–6] |author-link=Jared Lobdell}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rogers |first1=William N. II |title=J. R. R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances: Views of Middle-earth |last2=Underwood |first2=Michael R. |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-313-30845-1 |editor-last=Clark |editor-first=George |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jrrtolkienhislit0000unse/page/121 121–132] |chapter=Gagool and Gollum: Exemplars of Degeneration in ''King Solomon's Mines'' and ''The Hobbit'' |editor-last2=Timmons |editor-first2=Daniel |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/jrrtolkienhislit0000unse/page/121}}</ref> And it continues. Distinguished military historian Sir John Keegan in 2004 wrote that Buchan "was a writer touched by genius."<ref>Keegan, Sir John, “The self-made Scot” in ''The New Criterion'', New York, October 2004.</ref> In a list of "The 100 best novels written in English, ''The Guardian newspaper'' in 2015 placed ''The Thirty-Nine Steps'' at 42nd.<ref>See: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/17/the-100-best-novels-written-in-english-the-full-list accessed 20 July 2024.</ref> 

Buchan's 100 works and more include nearly 30 novels, seven collections of short stories, and biographies of Sir [[Walter Scott]], [[Caesar Augustus]], and [[Oliver Cromwell]]. He was awarded the 1928 [[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for his biography of the [[James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose|Marquess of Montrose]].<ref>''Montrose – A History'' was a scholarly revision of ''The Marquis of Montrose'', published in 1913.</ref> The "last Buchan" (as [[Graham Greene]] entitled his appreciative review) was the 1941 novel ''Sick Heart River'' (American title: ''Mountain Meadow''), in which a dying protagonist confronts the questions of the meaning of life in the Canadian wilderness.

In Canada as Governor General, he founded the [[Governor General's Award#Governor General's Literary Awards|Governor General's Literary Awards]], which remain Canada's premier awards for literature.<ref name=GGBuch /> He and Lady Tweedsmuir established the first proper library at Rideau Hall. His grandchildren Ursula, David, [[James Buchan|James]] and [[Perdita Buchan]] also became journalists and/or writers. His granddaughter Ursula wrote a biography of him, ''Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan''  (2019).<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps |url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/beyond-the-thirtynine-steps-9781408870822/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240910185148/https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/beyond-the-thirtynine-steps-9781408870822/ |archive-date=2024-09-10 |access-date=2024-12-18 |website=Bloomsbury |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Massie |first=Allan |date=2019-04-17 |title=Was there no end to his talents? |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/was-there-no-end-to-his-talents/#comments-container |access-date=2024-12-18 |website=The Spectator |language=en-GB}}</ref>

As Governor General and statesman, he helped strengthen relations between Britain and America, via his position in Canada as a prominent member of the British Commonwealth, at a critical period in world history. His breadth of experience, interests, knowledge and vision allowed him to be an interpreter of Britain, Canada, and the United States to each other. His contribution to Canada, reflecting his accomplishments and character, were recognized when the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada designated John Buchan, Lord Tweedsmuir, as a "person of national historic significance" in 2010.<ref>See: https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=12534  (accessed 31 July 2024).</ref> He left a living legacy in that at least four of his Canadian successors admired or took inspiration from his approach to the role of Governor General: Vincent Massey (1952-1959);<ref>Massey, Vincent, ''What’s Past Is Prologue: The Memoirs of Vincent Massey'', Macmillan Company of Canada, Toronto, 1963. Massey wrote: “I greatly admired his work as governor general and learnt much from it. No one among my predecessors had a clearer insight into Canadian life. He travelled as widely as he could and with imagination and courage.” p. 328.</ref> General Georges Vanier (1959-1967);<ref>Speaight, Robert, ''Vanier'', Collins, Toronto, 1970, p.488. Vanier had many traits in common with Tweedsmuir, including a strong Christian belief, military experience, loyalty to the Crown, belief in the importance of history, love of physical activity and the outdoors. See especially “Chapter 24: Themes of Office”, p. 439 where Vanier is referenced as quoting Tweedsmuir.</ref> Adrienne Clarkson (1999-2005);<ref>Clarkson, Adrienne, ''Heart Matters'', Viking Canada, Toronto, 2006.  Clarkson wrote at p. 217: “I always felt close to Buchan, who had become Lord Tweedsmuir, because he was a writer, because he began the Governor General’s Literary Awards, and because he truly loved Canada and travelled all over the North and the West.”  At page 206, she refers to Buchan’s approach as a basis for her own time as Governor General: “… Lord Tweedsmuir called on Canada ‘to make her own music,’ and that was an unquestioned and firmly established part of the vice-regal function while held the office.” </ref> and David Johnston (2010-2017).<ref>Johnston wrote he “has been drawn to John Buchan … a man of many parts and I think he was a quiet man … who derived his joy from serving well.” This was quoted from an article by Aaron Wherry in ''Maclean’s'' magazine, 10 October 2011, p. 19.</ref>

Tweedsmuir Provincial Park in British Columbia is now divided into [[Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park]] and [[Tweedsmuir North Provincial Park and Protected Area]]. It was created in 1938 to commemorate Buchan's 1937 visit to the [[Rainbow Range (Chilcotin Plateau)|Rainbow Range]] and other nearby areas by horseback and floatplane. He wrote in the foreword to a booklet published to commemorate his visit: "I have now travelled over most of Canada and have seen many wonderful things, but I have seen nothing more beautiful and more wonderful than the great park which British Columbia has done me the honour to call by my name".<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/tweeds_s/nat_cul.html#History| last=Ministry of the Environment| title=BC Parks > Find a Park > Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park > History| publisher=Queen's Printer for British Columbia| access-date=27 May 2009| archive-date=19 December 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219175934/http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/tweeds_s/nat_cul.html#History| url-status=dead}}</ref>

Canadian history professor Roger Hall noted in a book review that "a great deal of [Buchan's] success resulted from the extraordinary person he was, adding that "[n]ot many of our contemporary [Governor General] candidates come with those credentials" and "[I]n the end it is Buchan's role as a moral compass that seems most worthy."<ref>Hall, Roger, “Complicated Ghosts” in the Literary Review of Canada, January-February 2014. See: https://reviewcanada.ca/about-us/#history (accessed 31 July 2024). Some of the “credentials Hall lists are: “the influence and connections that he had fashioned through his long career as a lawyer, businessman, high-level civil servant, influential writer over a huge range (100 books!), member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, and his vast and well-placed international acquaintanceship.”</ref> Buchan's moral certainty was, as historian Sir John Keegan wrote, "one of his strengths as a writer [giving] him the power to achieve something particularly elusive: moral atmosphere."<ref>Keegan, Sir John, “The self-made Scot”, in The New Criterion, New York, October 2004.</ref> 

John Buchan was and is an “inspiring example of a life lived for others”, as Ursula Buchan has written, from humble origins “without money or family influence, he nevertheless carved out a hugely successful writing and public career … His strengths, underpinned by a sincere and unwavering Christian faith, were his intelligence, humanity, clarity of thought, wit, moral and physical courage, a capacity to get on with everybody, from monarchs to miners, and an elegant prose style that appealed to a very wide readership.”<ref>See Ursula Buchan, on the John Buchan Society website: https://johnbuchansociety.co.uk/john-buchan/  accessed on 20 July 2024.</ref>