Lester B. Pearson: Canadian Prime Minister Essay, Research Paper

Lester Pearson

Lester B. Pearson lived from 1897-1972. He was born on April 23 1897, in

Newtonbrooke Ontario ( now portion of Toronto ) . He died on December 27 1972. He

was born the boy of a Methodist curate. As a kid he worked really hard in

school, and he became one of the minority of high school alumnuss who went on

to college.

In his surveies he went to Victoria College and the Methodist College inside the

University of Toronto. In his free clip he played hockey and baseball. He so

became a medical physician in the Royal Flying Corps. He was Private Pearson in

the Canadian Army Medical Corps. This took him to legion foreign states

from 1915-1917. When he returned he went to Oxford University under the

counsel of the poet Robert Graves. When he graduated he enrolled for the

assignment of the Royal Flying Corps. He so began taking flight preparation but

as destiny would hold it he was hit by a London Transport Bus. He remained in the

infirmary until he revived in the spring of 1918. In November 1918 he enrolled in

the University of Toronto once more. On June 5 1919 he graduated. Like many other

immature veterans he was at a loss for something to make. Law was a respectable

profession at the clip so he anchor off at the thankless undertaking of articling for

jurisprudence. After a hebdomad he decided that concern was more promising. He worked at a

figure of topographic points but in the terminal he decided to learn at the University of Toronto.

He taught history in the University of Toronto from 1924-1928. All his pupils

said he was a really alone instructor. In March 1924 one of his pupils, Maryon

Moody decided to guarantee acquiring her grade by going engaged to her instructor.

And it worked. On August 22, 1925 Lester Pearson and Maryon Moody got married

in Winnipeg. From there on they lived merely outside of Toronto. Subsequently he signed

up for a place in The Canadian External Affairs Department. The authorities

functionaries at first idea he had some kind of mental upset due to the manner he

dressed and acted. In 1928 he got a place in the Canadian Department of

External Affairs despite their beliefs. At the clip Pearson had a really of import

place because Canada had eventually achieved a feeling of patriotism. Canada

besides had barely any diplomatic dealingss with other states because Great

Britain still handled most of it & # 8217 ; s personal businesss. For that ground when Great Britain

went to war with Germany, so did Canada. In 1948 he was named Secretary of

State for external personal businesss. He promoted proposals for western confederation tied in

with the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) . He was the

president of the NATO undertaking at the clip of the Korean War. He sat on a three

adult male commission that negotiated the Korean armistice. In 1952-1953 he was the

president of the UN general assembly.

In 1957 he won the Nobel Peace award. It was chiefly for making the United nations

exigency force which helped settle the Suez Canal crisis of 1956. When the

Conservative Party under John Diefenbaker defeated The Liberals in 1957 Pearson

was out of public office for the first clip in about 30 old ages. In 1958 Pearson

replace St. Laurent as caput of the Liberal Party and became leader of the

resistance in the house of parks. As Leader of the Opposition he advocated

close dealingss between Canada and the US. When Diefenbaker refused to accept

atomic payloads from the US it caused the autumn of his authorities in 1963. In

1968 the Liberals won 129 seats, four short of a bulk. The conservativists 95,

the Socreds 24, and NDP 19 which made Pearson Canada & # 8217 ; s 14th Prime Minister.

Peoples knew he would make a good occupation and they besides thought the Liberals would

bring vitamin E

conomic stableness.

Pearson & # 8217 ; s first move was to reconstruct dealingss with US and Great Britain that

Diefenbaker had destroyed. Pearson became good friends with John F. Kennedy

while seeking to decide the atomic arms issue.

One of Pearson & # 8217 ; s major moves was the Canada Pension Plan. The Canada Pension

Plan was available to anyone with a occupation. It had to be decided on by all the

states. The lone 1 who gave problem was Quebec. They said that the money

should be used to profit their states. In 1965 Quebec eventually agreed.

The motto? Sixty Days of Decision? had created the semblance that the Liberals

would transform the state during their first 2 months in power where in

world they hadn & # 8217 ; t. Pearson & # 8217 ; s authorities eventually became cognizant of Quebec

patriotism and segregation jobs when Gallic terrorists in Quebec metropolis

planted bombs in public edifices and letter boxs. The most dramatic indicant

was when the Queen visited Montreal and was confronted by a big rabble. The

intervention towards the Queen from Quebec shocked Pearson and the remainder of the

authorities. Pearson started to worry about a full graduated table revolution in Quebec.

Pearson & # 8217 ; s merely error was to take power right after WW II because that was the

clip the states needed gross the most. While Pearson was in authorities

Quebec announced that it didn & # 8217 ; t want to be run by a English authorities. They

said that they needed a Gallic authorities for the? awakened? Quebec. Pearson

said that this job could merely be resolved by cooperation. During his first

twelvemonth and a half Pearson called more meetings than Diefenbaker had in his six

twelvemonth reign. Even though Pearson & # 8217 ; s knowledge ballad largely in external affairs he

had small clip devoted to foreign personal businesss in his clip of Prime Minister.

In May 1964, Pearson put a maple foliage on the Canadian Flag without any consent

with the cabinet members. Peoples criticized the new flag greatly. Some said

that they liked the old flag because it was the 1 that they had fought under

during the war. Others said that it was a despairing effort to pacify Quebec.

Pearson & # 8217 ; s original design was three maple foliage on a white background with a

bluish strip on either side to stand for the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. When an

sentiment canvass was taken it showed that merely 44 % of all Canadians liked the flag.

Pearson said that the new flag would demo Canada & # 8217 ; s independency and national

integrity. Diefenbaker said that it would destruct Canada & # 8217 ; s integrity. Pearson answered

by stating that it was clip Canada got a new flag that could be easy identified

and non misidentify for another states. Besides the Union Jack should still be

flown in Canada as a symbol of Canada & # 8217 ; s rank in the commonwealth and of

its trueness to the Crown, but merely non as the national flag. Despite his

statement that the credence of the new flag didn & # 8217 ; t connote any discourtesy to the

Union Jack or to Canada & # 8217 ; s history. Pearson was about drowned out by hoots and

abuses.

When Pearson was traveling to retire he had to take person to win himself.

His first pick was Jean Marchand because in his head a French-Canadian

campaigner was perfectly indispensable to keep the credibleness of the Liberal

Party as a bi-racial establishment, but Marchand refused. However he, suggested

Pierre Trudeau. Pearson was surprised when Marchand mentioned Trudeau as a

possible leading campaigner. Until so there had been small treatment of

him in interior political circles, although there was a forlorn hope outside.

Pearson met Trudeau and conferred a qualified approval on him, but he would hold

to acquire elected foremost. Trudeau won and win Pearson. Pearson accomplished

many things in his life and was really good known and liked by people across

Canada.