Home · War & Conflict · Cold War · Politics, Sex and Gerda Munsinger
Topic spans: 1966 - 2001
Politics, Sex and Gerda Munsinger
If Lucien Cardin had kept his mouth shut on March 4, 1966, the sensational political sex scandal may have never surfaced. But, fuelled by taunts, the Liberal minister implied that a German playgirl and alleged KGB spy had relationships with top ministers in Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's government. In the frenzied atmosphere of the Cold War, Cardin's allegations sent the country into a tizzy, sparking the first political sex scandal in Canadian history.
10 television clips
5 radio clips
Life after the affair
Broadcast Date: Nov. 20, 2001
Robert Reguly, the reporter who first tracked Gerda Munsinger down when the scandal broke, tells the CBC about a chance meeting with her years later.He was buying a magazine at a hotel in Munich when he noticed Munsinger manning the stand.
After the dust settled on Canada's first political sex scandal, Gerda Munsinger lived the rest of her life in relative obscurity.
She married a third time, changing her name to Gerda Merkt and died in 1998 in Munich.
Life after the affair
• The Munsinger affair inspired Canadian writer/director Brenda Longfellow to make a feature film called Gerda in 1992.• The song "Gerda" heard in this clip was by a Canadian band called The Brothers-In-Law. They were four police officers who specialized in taking satirical musical jabs at Canadian scandals and events.
Life after the affair
Medium: Television
Program: Disclosure
Broadcast Date: Nov. 20, 2001
Guest(s): Robert Reguly
Host: Diana Swain
Duration: 4:35
Last updated:
Dec. 7, 2003
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15 clips in this topic . page
Life after the affair.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: Dec. 7, 2003.
[Page consulted on Nov. 22, 2009.]