Henry Evans

Henry Evans was the Minister of Agriculture in the Cabinet of Governor-General Douglas Watson in the early 1930s. It is possible that Evans was also a member of Henderson Dewey's Cabinet during the 1920s, although Sobel makes no mention of it.

During Watson's special Cabinet meeting of 8 May 1933, Evans questioned whether Watson's description of the threat posed to the Confederation of North America by the Germanic Confederation was exaggerated. "After all, Mr. Governor, the Germans are thousands of miles away. I can understand French and Dutch fears fears of an armed Germany, but need we worry unduly?" Evans went on to suggest that "it would even be cheaper to purchase Mexican oil than to defend the Turks. We should give this matter a great deal of thought."

Watson responded by bringing Marshall Gipson, the North American ambassador to Mexico, into the meeting, where he revealed an impending alliance between Germany and Mexico. When Evans pointed out that Germany and Mexico were competing for markets in Africa and South America, and that Kramer Associates faced strong German competition in global petroleum markets, Gipson stated that he believed the rumors had substance. In spite of Evans' protests, the Cabinet voted to support Watson's proposal to increase military spending and negotiate an alliance with Great Britain.

Watson asked the Grand Council to increase military spending on 1 August 1933. The following month, Evans resigned from the Cabinet, announcing that he would "work for peace," and if that meant leaving the Liberal Party, "so be it."

Evans does not have an entry in Sobel's index.

Sobel's sources for Henry Evans' career as a Cabinet minister are Jeffrey Martin's The Secret History of the Watson Administration (New York, 1944); and Benjamin Williamson's Watson Against the World: The Crisis of 1934 (New York, 1955). Sobel admits that Martin's work is undoubtedly exaggerated, and that its speeches were probably fabricated. He further notes that Martin was active in the peace movement in 1934, so his accuracy is even more suspect.