Lester Bowles Pearson
 | |
| Ran: | 14th |
| Date of Birth: | April 23, 1897 |
| Place of Birth: | Newtonbrook, Ontario |
| Spouse: | Maryon Moody |
| Profession: | Politician |
| Political Party: | Liberal |
The Right Honourable Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson (April 23, 1897 - December 27, 1972) was the fourteenth Prime Minister of Canada from April 22, 1963, to April 20, 1968.
He was born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of Toronto), the son of a Methodist preacher. He entered Victoria College at the University of Toronto in 1914, where he lived in residence in Gate House and shared a room with his brother Duke. While at the university he became a noted athlete, excelling at both ice hockey and rugby. His studies were interrupted, however, when in 1916 he decided to enlist in the Canadian air force and fight in the First World War. After the war, he returned to school receiving his B.A. from the University of Toronto in 1919. He went on to Oxford University, where he received a B.A. in modern history in 1923 and an M.A. in 1925. In 1925 he also married Maryon Moody (1902-1991), with whom he had one daughter and one son.
After Oxford he returned to Canada and taught history at the University of Toronto before embarking on a career in the Department of External Affairs. He ran for office in 1948 and was made foreign minister in the government of Liberal Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent. In 1957, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in defusing the Suez Crisis through the United Nations. The United Nations Peacekeeping Force was Pearson's creation and he is considered the father of the modern concept of peacekeeping.
He was elected leader of the party at the 1958 Liberal leadership convention, but his party was badly routed in the election of that year. In 1962, his party reduced the Conservatives to a minority. Pearson was elected Prime Minister as a result of the 1963 general election as leader of a minority government. Pearson never had a majority in the House of Commons, but he introduced important social programs (including universal health care, the Canada Pension Plan, and Canada Student Loans), the maple leaf flag, and new initiatives in French-English relations. He also oversaw Canada's 1967 centennial celebrations before retiring, and resisted American pressure to enter the Vietnam war. Pearson spoke at Temple University in 1965 and voiced his support for a negotiated settlement to the war. When he visited US President Lyndon Baines Johnson at his Texas ranch hours later, Johnson reportedly grabbed Pearson by the lapels and shook him in frustration.
The Pearson cabinet contained many young men who would go on to become prominent figures in the Liberal Party. In particular, cabinet ministers Pierre Trudeau, John Turner, and Jean Chretien all would serve as Prime Minister in the years following Pearson's retirement. His administration instituted the modern welfare state with the creation of the Canada Pension Plan, the adoption of universal publicly funded health care in the form of medicare, as well as student loans.
Pearson died in Ottawa on December 27, 1972, and was buried in the nearby Gatineau Hills in the MacLaren Cemetery, Wakefield, Quebec. His successor Pierre Elliott Trudeau renamed Toronto International Airport in Toronto, Ontario, to Pearson International Airport in his honor.
Pearson is also honored by a United World College, the Lester B. Pearson College in Victoria, British Columbia, the Lester B. Pearson Schoolboard in Montreal, and the National Hockey League's Lester B. Pearson Award to the most valuable player as judged by his peers.
| Preceded by: John Diefenbaker 1957-1963 |
Prime Minister of Canada 1963-1968 |
Followed by: Pierre Trudeau 1968-1979 |
| Preceded by: Louis St. Laurent |
Liberal Leaders | Followed by: Pierre Trudeau |