Lester Bowles Pearson (1897-1972)

• Canadian prime minister and Nobel laureate
• born April 23, 1897, in Newtonbrook (now part of Toronto), Ontario
• died in Ottawa on December 27, 1972
• educated at the University of Toronto and the University of Oxford
• in 1928 he joined the Canadian department of external affairs as first secretary
• foreign assignments took him to London and to Washington, D.C., where he was ambassador from 1945 to 1946
• he returned to Canada in 1946 and became undersecretary of state for external affairs
• in 1948 he was named secretary of state for external affairs
• advanced early proposals for a Western alliance, which culminated in the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
• a member of the Canadian delegation to the United Nations from 1948 to 1957, Pearson was president of the Seventh UN General Assembly (1952-53)
• Pearson was awarded the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for his formulation of international policy in the post-World War II period, especially for his plan that led to the establishment of a UN emergency force in the Suez Canal area in 1956
• in 1958 he was selected to lead the Liberal party of Canada
• in the elections of 1963 the Liberal party won a majority, and Pearson became prime minister
• he retired in April 1968 and was succeeded by Pierre Elliot Trudeau
• also in1968 Pearson was appointed to head a commission sponsored by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to review and chart the future of economic aid to developing countries
• writings include:
  • Democracy in World Politics (1955)
  • Diplomacy in the Nuclear Age (1959)
  • Peace in the Family of Man (1969), a collection of lectures on international relations
  • The Crisis of Development (1970)
  • Mike : the memoirs of the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson (1972)
• books:
  • Pearson of Canada (1964) by John Robinson Beal
  • Les trois vies de Pearson (1968) by John R. Beal and Jean-Marc Poliquin
  • Lester Pearson and the American dilemma (1980) by Peter Stursberg
  • Lester Pearson and the dream of unity (1978) by Peter Stursberg
  • Pearson, his life and world (1978) Robert Bothwell
  • Shadow of heaven : the life of Lester Pearson, volume I, 1897-1948 (1989) by John English
  • The worldly years : the life of Lester Pearson, volume II, 1949-1972 (1992) by John English

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