Oscar Douglas Skelton (July 13, 1878 – January 28, 1941) was a Canadian political economist and civil servant. Skelton was a loyal member of the Liberal Party, an expert on international affairs, and a nationalist who encouraged Canadians to pursue autonomy from the British Empire, and to take on what he proclaimed was "the work of the world." Born on July 13, 1878, in Orangeville, Ontario, Skelton went on to gain a scholarship to Queen's University in 1896 and studied classics. His education in classical languages helped him to pass the examinations for entry into Britain’s Indian Civil Service (ICS), but he failed the medical test. In 1899 he earned a Master of Arts degree and audited classes of Adam Shortt, a political scientist. He worked in Philadelphia for The Booklover's Magazine and in 1904 married Isabel Murphy. He then took up the study of political economy at the University of Chicago and followed the lectures of Thorstein Veblen, whom he admired for his "stock of science and of philosophy & of first-hand knowledge of business affairs." Skelton later became Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs, replacing an aging Sir Joseph Pope in 1925. He became one of Mackenzie King's most trusted advisors during the inter-war era. He served as the principal adviser to the Prime Minister and was sometimes called the "deputy prime minister". King's choice of Skelton to succeed Pope was influenced in part by an address which Skelton gave to the Canadian Club in Ottawa in 1922, praising King's decision for neutrality during the Chanak crisis and stated that Canada should not issue "blank cheques" to Britain as in 1914 when Canada considered itself automatically at war with Germany because Britain had declared war. He served for more than 15 years in this capacity. Skelton was described by one historian as the most powerful civil servant in Canada of his time. Less