1963
1965
Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Portrait, c. 1963 | |
| 14th Prime Minister of Canada | |
| In office 22 April 1963 – 20 April 1968 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governors General | |
| Preceded by | John Diefenbaker |
| Succeeded by | Pierre Trudeau |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 16 January 1958 – 22 April 1963 | |
| Preceded by | Louis St. Laurent |
| Succeeded by | John Diefenbaker |
| Leader of the Liberal Party | |
| In office 16 January 1958 – 6 April 1968 | |
| Preceded by | Louis St. Laurent |
| Succeeded by | Pierre Trudeau |
| 7th President of the United Nations General Assembly | |
| In office 14 October 1952 – 23 April 1953 | |
| Preceded by | Luis Padilla Nervo |
| Succeeded by | Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit |
| Secretary of State for External Affairs | |
| In office 10 September 1948 – 20 June 1957 | |
| Prime Minister |
|
| Preceded by | Louis St. Laurent |
| Succeeded by | John Diefenbaker |
| Member of Parliament for Algoma East | |
| In office 25 October 1948 – 25 June 1968 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Farquhar |
| Succeeded by | Riding dissolved |
| Canadian Ambassador to the United States | |
| In office July 1944 – September 1946 | |
| Prime Minister | W. L. Mackenzie King |
| Preceded by | Leighton McCarthy |
| Succeeded by | H. H. Wrong |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Lester Bowles Pearson 23 April 1897 |
| Died | 27 December 1972 (aged 75) |
| Resting place | Maclaren Cemetery, Wakefield, Quebec |
| Party | Liberal |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2, including Geoffrey |
| Education | |
| Profession |
|
Awards | Nobel Peace Prize (1957) |
| Signature |  |
| Nickname | Mike |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Canada |
| Branch/service | |
Years of service | 1915–1919 |
| Rank |
|
| Battles/wars | World War I |
Lester Bowles Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian politician, diplomat, and scholar who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. He also served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1958 to 1968 and as leader of the Official Opposition from 1958 to 1963.
Born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of Toronto), Pearson pursued a career in the Department of External Affairs and served as the Canadian ambassador to the United States from 1944 to 1946. He entered politics in 1948 as Secretary of State for External Affairs, serving in that position until 1957 under William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent. Pearson was the seventh president of the United Nations General Assembly from 1952 to 1953. In 1953, he was a candidate to become the secretary-general of the United Nations, but was vetoed by the Soviet Union. In 1957, Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize for proposing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Crisis, which brought him international recognition. After the Liberal Party was defeated in the 1957 federal election, Pearson won the leadership of the party the following year. Under Pearson, the Liberals were defeated by prime minister John Diefenbaker of the Progressive Conservative Party in the 1958 and 1962 federal elections. He challenged Diefenbaker for a third time in the 1963 federal election, and formed a minority government. Pearson led the Liberals to a second minority government in 1965.
During Pearson's tenure as prime minister, his government introduced social and economic programs and legislation, including the Canada Student Loan Program, the Canada Pension Plan, the Canada Assistance Plan, the Canada Labour Code, and universal health care. He established royal commissions on bilingualism and biculturalism and the status of women, oversaw the adoption of the Maple Leaf flag following the Great Canadian flag debate, and unified the Canadian Armed Forces. In 1967, Pearson presided over the Canadian Centennial celebrations. In foreign policy, Pearson's government signed the Auto Pact with the United States and declined to send Canadian combat troops to the Vietnam War. Under his government, Canada became the first country to implement a points-based immigration system for immigrant selection. After five years in power, Pearson resigned as prime minister and retired from politics.
Pearson's domestic policies and diplomatic work, including his role in resolving the Suez Crisis, have been subjects of historical assessments. He has placed highly in surveys ranking Canadian prime ministers.
Early life, family, and education
.jpg)
Pearson was born in Newtonbrook (now part of Toronto) in the township of York, Ontario, to Annie Sarah (née Bowles) and Edwin Arthur Pearson, a Methodist minister who later joined the United Church of Canada. His brothers were Vaughan Whitier Pearson and Marmaduke "Duke" Pearson. Edwin Arthur was the son of Irish immigrant Marmaduke Louis Pearson and United Empire Loyalist descendant Hester Ann Marsh, while both of his maternal grandparents were children of Irish immigrants. When Pearson was one month old, his family moved to 1984 Yonge Street. In 1900, the family moved to Aurora, Ontario, north of Toronto, where his father served as minister at Aurora Methodist Church on Yonge Street. Lester spent his early years in Aurora and attended the public school on Church Street. The family lived at 39 Catherine Avenue. Pearson was a member of the Aurora Rugby team. From 1903 to 1907, Pearson lived at 697 Dovercourt Road in Toronto, where his father served at the neighbouring Centennial Methodist Church. Pearson attended Dewson Street Public School. From 1907 to 1910, Pearson lived on Water Street in Peterborough, where he attended Central Public School until 1908 and Peterborough Collegiate Institute from 1908 to 1910.
Pearson graduated from Hamilton Collegiate Institute in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1913 at the age of 16. Later that same year, he entered Victoria College at the University of Toronto, where he lived in residence in Gate House and shared a room with his brother Duke. He was later elected to the Pi Gamma Mu social sciences honour society's chapter at the University of Toronto for his outstanding scholastic performance in history and psychology. Pearson participated in the sophomore theatrical tradition of The Bob Comedy Revue, as did later participants Norman Jewison, E. J. Pratt, Northrop Frye and Frye's student Margaret Atwood. After attending Victoria College, Pearson received a scholarship to study at St John's College, Oxford, from 1921 to 1923.
Sporting interests
At the University of Toronto, Pearson played several sports, including rugby union and basketball. While studying at the University of Oxford, he played for the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club, which won the first Spengler Cup in 1923. Pearson also excelled in baseball and lacrosse as a youth. He played one summer of semi-professional baseball as an infielder with the Guelph Maple Leafs of the Ontario Intercounty Baseball League. In 1923, Pearson toured North America with a combined Oxford and Cambridge universities lacrosse team. After he joined the University of Toronto's History Department as an instructor, he helped to coach the U of T's football and ice hockey teams. He also played golf and tennis as an adult.
First World War
During World War I, Pearson volunteered for service as a medical orderly with the University of Toronto hospital unit. In 1915, he entered overseas service with the Canadian Army Medical Corps as a stretcher-bearer with the rank of private, and was subsequently promoted to corporal. During nearly two years of overseas service, he was posted to Egypt and later served on the Salonika front. He also served as a medical orderly alongside the Serbian Army. On 2 August 1917, Pearson was commissioned a temporary lieutenant. The Royal Canadian Air Force did not exist at that time, so Pearson transferred to Britain's Royal Flying Corps, where he served as a flying officer. During his training, a flight instructor gave him the nickname "Mike" because he felt that "Lester" was too mild a name for an airman: "That’s a sissy’s name. You’re Mike," the instructor said. Pearson continued to use "Lester" in official documents and public life, while friends and family called him Mike.
Pearson learned to fly at an air training school in Hendon, England. He survived an airplane crash during his first flight. In 1918, Pearson was hit by a bus in London during a citywide blackout and was sent home to recover. He was demobilised on 11 April 1919.
Inter-war years
After the war, he returned to school, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree (BA) from the University of Toronto in 1919. Because of a provision for wartime military service, he was able to complete his degree after one additional term. He and his brother Duke then spent a year working in the meat-packing industry at Armour and Company in Hamilton, Ontario, and Chicago, a job Pearson did not enjoy. The company's president at the time, Frank Edson White, was his uncle by marriage to Lillian Sophia Pearson White.
Oxford
Upon receiving a scholarship from the Massey Foundation, he studied for two years at St John's College at the University of Oxford, where he received a BA with second-class honours in modern history in 1923 and an MA in 1925. After Oxford, he returned to Canada and taught history at the University of Toronto.
Marriage and family
In 1925, he married Maryon Moody, from Winnipeg, who had been one of his students at the University of Toronto. They had a son, Geoffrey, and a daughter, Patricia. Maryon was described as outspoken and supported her husband throughout his political career.
Diplomatic and public service career
In 1927, after receiving top marks on the Canadian foreign service entrance examination, Pearson began a career in the Department of External Affairs. In the early 1930s, prime minister R. B. Bennett encouraged Pearson's career and appointed him to roles on two government inquiries: the 1931 Royal Commission on Grain Futures and the 1934 Royal Commission on Price Spreads. Following Pearson's work on the inquiries, Bennett arranged for him to receive an OBE, a bonus of CA$1,800, and an invitation to a conference in London. Pearson was assigned to the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom in 1935.
World War II and aftermath
Pearson continued to serve at Canada House as second-in-command during World War II, from 1939 to 1942. He coordinated military supplies and refugee matters under high commissioner Vincent Massey.
Pearson returned to Ottawa for a few months, where he was an assistant under-secretary from 1941 through 1942. In June 1942, he was posted to the Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C., as a ministerial counsellor. He served as second-in-command for nearly two years. Promoted to minister plenipotentiary in 1944, he became the second Canadian ambassador to the United States on 1 January 1945. He remained in this position through September 1946.
Pearson played a role in the establishment of both the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Pearson nearly became the first secretary-general of the United Nations in 1946, but was vetoed by the Soviet Union. He was again a candidate for secretary-general in the 1953 selection of the Seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly, with support from the United Kingdom. He placed first with 10 out of 11 votes in the Security Council, but the lone negative vote was another Soviet veto. The Security Council ultimately selected Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden; all UN secretaries-general would come from neutral countries for the rest of the Cold War.
Canadian prime minister Mackenzie King tried to recruit Pearson into his government as the war wound down. Pearson felt honoured by King's approach, but resisted because he disliked King's personal style and political methods. Pearson did not enter electoral politics until several years later, after King had announced his retirement as prime minister.
Secretary of State for External Affairs (1948–1957)
In 1948, before his retirement, Prime Minister King appointed Pearson Secretary of State for External Affairs in the Liberal government. Shortly afterward, Pearson won a seat in the House of Commons for the federal riding of Algoma East in Northern Ontario. Pearson then served as Secretary of State for External Affairs under Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent until the defeat of the St. Laurent government in 1957.
Vetoed by the Soviet Union
On 10 November 1952, Trygve Lie announced his resignation as secretary-general of the United Nations. Several months of negotiations ensued between the Western powers and the Soviet Union without reaching an agreement on his successor. On 13 and 19 March 1953, the Security Council voted on four candidates. The first vote took place one week after Stalin's death, before Khrushchev's rise to power. Pearson was the only candidate to receive the required majority, but he was vetoed by the Soviet Union.
Suez Crisis and Nobel Peace Prize
In 1957, Pearson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in responding to the Suez Crisis through the United Nations in 1956. His proposal was controversial among those concerned about Canada's relations with the United Kingdom. Pearson and UN secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld contributed to the development of modern United Nations peacekeeping. Together, they helped organize the United Nations Emergency Force in early November 1956 following the First emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly. His Nobel medal was displayed in the lobby of the Lester B. Pearson Building, the headquarters of Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa, until it was loaned to the Canadian Museum of History for display in the Canadian History Hall in 2017.
Opposition leader (1958–1963)
.jpg)
St. Laurent was defeated by the Progressive Conservatives under John Diefenbaker in the election of 1957. After several months as Leader of the Opposition, St. Laurent retired and endorsed Pearson as his successor. Pearson was elected leader of the Liberal Party at its leadership convention of 1958, defeating former cabinet minister Paul Martin Sr..
At his first parliamentary session as opposition leader, Pearson asked Diefenbaker to resign and allow the Liberals to form a government without an election, citing a recent economic downturn. Diefenbaker responded by producing a confidential Liberal document forecasting an economic downturn that year, contrasting with the party's 1957 election promises.
Consequently, Pearson's party was heavily defeated in the federal election of 1958. Diefenbaker's Conservatives won the largest parliamentary majority in Canadian history to that point (208 of 265 seats). The Liberals lost over half their seats and won 48 seats, the fewest in their history at the time. The Liberals also lost considerable support in Quebec. This province had voted largely Liberal in federal elections since the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but the party no longer had a leader from the province.
Pearson convened a "Thinkers' Conference" at Kingston, Ontario in 1960. Participants discussed ideas that were later implemented during his premiership.
In the federal election of 1962, the Liberals, led by Pearson, regained many of the seats they had lost four years earlier. Liberal gains and the election of 30 Social Credit MPs deprived the Tories of their majority. Consequently, Diefenbaker headed a minority government.
Not long after the election, Pearson challenged the Conservatives' position on accepting American nuclear warheads on Canadian BOMARC missiles. Defence minister Douglas Harkness resigned from cabinet on 4 February 1963, because of Diefenbaker's opposition to accepting the warheads. The following day, the government lost two non-confidence motions on the issue, leading to the 1963 federal election less than a year after the previous one. The Liberals initially held a substantial lead in opinion polls. However, Pearson temporarily suspended campaigning because of ill health. After the United States Department of Defense leaked documents detailing the proposed missile defences, the Conservatives alleged that a Liberal government would make Canada a decoy in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviets.
The Liberals won 129 seats to the Tories' 95. The Liberals received 41 per cent of the popular vote but did not secure a majority of seats. However, their gains were heavily concentrated in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic. Winning only three seats in the Prairies, they were five short of a majority. After six Social Credit MPs from Quebec announced their support for the Liberals, Pearson informed the governor general that he could form a government capable of retaining the confidence of the House. Diefenbaker resigned, allowing Pearson to form a minority government. He was sworn in as prime minister on 22 April, a day before his 66th birthday. Although the créditistes withdrew their support days later, Pearson was able to stay in office with the support of the New Democratic Party.
Prime minister (1963–1968)
Ternary plots of election results during Pearson's premiership
Domestic policy and events
Pearson campaigned during the 1963 election promising "60 Days of Decision" and supported the Bomarc surface-to-air missile program. Although Pearson never held a majority in the House of Commons, his government introduced programs including the Canada Pension Plan, Canada Student Loans and federal legislation supporting universal health care. Tommy Douglas, as premier of Saskatchewan, had previously introduced the country's first provincial medicare system. Pearson's government adopted a new national flag, the Maple Leaf flag, after a national debate known as the Great Canadian flag debate. His government also established a 40-hour workweek, two weeks of vacation and a new minimum wage for workers in federally regulated industries.
Seeking a majority, Pearson called an election for November 1965, three years before it was due. Ultimately, the Liberals were gained three seats, leaving them two short of a majority. As in 1963, the Liberals won few seats in the Prairies, winning only one seat there, that of Veterans Affairs minister Roger Teillet.
Pearson also established royal commissions, including the Royal Commission on the Status of Women and the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. Their recommendations informed later reforms relating to women's rights and official bilingualism. After Pearson left office, federal legislation recognized English and French as official languages and expanded bilingual government services. Pearson expressed the hope that he would be Canada's last unilingual prime minister, and fluency in both English and French became an unofficial requirement for candidates for prime minister after Pearson left office.
In 1966, the government introduced the Canada Assistance Plan, through which the federal government contributed to provincial social assistance costs (including half the cost of certain health services for people in need, such as eyeglasses, dental care and prescription drugs) and (as noted by one study) “required the provinces to provide assistance to those in need.”
In 1967, Pearson's government introduced the world's first points-based immigration system for immigrant selection, using criteria that did not explicitly discriminate by race or country of origin.
Pearson oversaw Canada's centennial celebrations in 1967. The Canadian news agency, The Canadian Press, named him "Newsmaker of the Year", citing his role in the centennial celebrations, which included the lighting of the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill.
Other reforms introduced during Pearson's premiership concerned social security, housing, and agriculture.
Foreign policy
On 15 January 1964, Pearson became the first Canadian prime minister to make an official state visit to France.
In 1967, French president Charles de Gaulle visited Quebec. De Gaulle, who supported the Quebec sovereignty movement, compared his procession through Montreal to his return to Paris after its liberation from Nazi occupation during the Second World War. President de Gaulle also gave his "Vive le Québec libre" speech during the visit. Pearson criticized de Gaulle's remarks in a speech the following day, stating that "Canadians do not need to be liberated" and indicating that de Gaulle was no longer welcome in Canada.
Pearson signed the Canada–United States Automotive Agreement (or Auto Pact) in January 1965, during a period when unemployment fell to its lowest rate in more than a decade.
While in office, Pearson declined U.S. requests to send Canadian combat troops into the Vietnam War. Pearson spoke at Temple University in Philadelphia on 2 April 1965 and voiced his support for a pause in the American bombing of North Vietnam, to encourage a diplomatic resolution of the conflict. U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson objected to this criticism of American foreign policy delivered in the United States. Pearson was invited to Camp David, Maryland, to meet Johnson the following day. According to accounts of the meeting, Johnson grabbed Pearson by the lapels and said, "You pissed on my rug!" In the same speech, Pearson also expressed support for aspects of Johnson's policy in Vietnam, stating: "The government and great majority of people of my country have supported wholeheartedly the US peacekeeping and peacemaking policies in Vietnam."
Johnson and Pearson remained in contact and met twice more, both times in Canada. Canadian exports of raw materials and other resources contributed to the U.S. war effort in Vietnam.
Military
Pearson's government faced controversy within Canada's military services throughout the mid-1960s, following the tabling of the White Paper on Defence in March 1964. The document proposed to merge the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the Canadian Army to form a single service called the Canadian Forces. Military unification took effect on 1 February 1968, when The Canadian Forces Reorganization Act received royal assent.
Supreme Court appointments
During Pearson's premiership, the following jurists were appointed as justices of the Supreme Court of Canada by the governor general:
- Robert Taschereau (as chief justice, 22 April 1963 – 1 September 1967; appointed a puisne justice under Prime Minister King, 9 February 1940)
- Wishart Flett Spence (30 May 1963 – 29 December 1978)
- John Robert Cartwright (as chief justice, 1 September 1967 – 23 March 1970; appointed a puisne justice under Prime Minister St. Laurent, 22 December 1949)
- Louis-Philippe Pigeon (21 September 1967 – 8 February 1980)
Retirement
After Pearson announced on 14 December 1967 that he would retire from politics, the party held a leadership convention. Pierre Trudeau succeeded Pearson as prime minister. Pearson had recruited Trudeau and appointed him justice minister in his cabinet. Two other ministers recruited by Pearson, John Turner and Jean Chrétien, later served as prime ministers.
After politics
From 1968 to 1969, Pearson served as chairman of the Pearson Commission on International Development, which was sponsored by the World Bank. Following his retirement, he lectured at Carleton University in Ottawa while writing his memoirs. From 1970 to 1972, he was the first chairman of the board of governors of the International Development Research Centre. From 1969 until his death in 1972, he was chancellor of Carleton University.
Pearson planned a three-volume memoir titled Mike: The Memoirs of the Rt. Hon. Lester B. Pearson. The first volume was published in 1972. The other two volumes were compiled by editors from his papers and published posthumously in 1973 and 1975. Commentators have noted that the later volumes do not fully reflect Pearson's own voice.
Illness and death
In 1970, Pearson underwent surgery to remove his right eye because of a tumour.
In November 1972, Pearson was admitted to hospital for further treatment, although details of the treatment were not reported and his prognosis was poor. He attempted to continue writing about his years as prime minister, but his condition deteriorated rapidly by Christmas Eve.
On 27 December 1972, it was announced that the cancer had spread to the liver and Pearson had lapsed into a coma. He died at 11:40 p.m. ET on 27 December 1972 at his home in Ottawa.
Pearson is buried at Maclaren Cemetery in Wakefield, Quebec, next to his close External Affairs colleagues H. H. Wrong and Norman Robertson.
Honours and awards
.jpg)
_ribbon.svg){kind=small}
_ribbon_bar.svg){kind=small}
| Ribbon | Description | Notes |
| Order of Merit (OM) |
|
| Companion of the Order of Canada (CC) |
|
| Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) |
|
| 1914–15 Star |
|
| British War Medal |
|
 | Victory Medal (United Kingdom) |
|
| Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal |
|
| Centennial Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal |
|
- Elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1957.
- The Canadian Press named Pearson "Newsmaker of the Year" nine times, a record that was surpassed by his successor, Pierre Trudeau, in 2000. He and Brian Mulroney were the only prime ministers to receive the honour both before and during their premierships.
- Pearson was inducted into the Canadian Peace Hall of Fame in 2000.
- The Pearson Medal of Peace, first awarded in 1979, is awarded annually by the United Nations Association in Canada to recognize an individual Canadian's "contribution to international service".
- A plaque installed by the Ontario Heritage Trust stands on the grounds of Newtonbrook United Church, the successor to the congregation that owned the manse where Pearson was born.
- In a survey by Canadian historians of the first 20 prime ministers through Jean Chrétien, Pearson ranked No. 6.
- In a 2003 survey by Canadian historians of the Canadian prime ministers who served after World War II, Pearson was ranked first.
Order of Canada citation
Pearson was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada on 28 June 1968. His citation reads:
"Former Prime Minister of Canada. For his services to Canada at home and abroad."
Educational and academic institutions
- The Lester B. Pearson United World College opened near Victoria, British Columbia, in 1974 as the second United World College.
- The Pearson Peacekeeping Centre was established in 1994 as an independent not-for-profit institution providing research and training on all aspects of peace operations.
- The Lester B. Pearson School Board is the largest English-language school board in Quebec. Most of its schools are on the western half of the island of Montreal, while a few are off the island.
- Lester B. Pearson High School is the name of schools in Burlington, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto.
- There are Lester B. Pearson elementary schools in Ajax, Ontario; Aurora, Ontario; Brampton, Ontario; London, Ontario; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Waterloo, Ontario, and Wesleyville, Newfoundland.
- Mike's Place, the graduate student pub at Carleton University, was named in 1973 in honour of Lester B. Pearson, with permission from his estate.
- The Lester B. Pearson International Student Scholarship is a scholarship for international students at the University of Toronto. It covers tuition, books, incidental fees and residence costs.
Civic and civil infrastructure
.jpg)
- Toronto Pearson International Airport, which opened in 1939 and received its current name in 1984, is Canada's busiest airport.
- The Lester B. Pearson Building, completed in 1973, was named in recognition of his service as external affairs minister and serves as the headquarters of Global Affairs Canada.
- The Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre in Elliot Lake, Ontario, was heavily damaged in February 2019.
- The Lester B. Pearson Garden for Peace and Understanding at the E. J. Pratt Library, University of Toronto, was completed in 2004.
- Lester B. Pearson Place, completed in 2006, is a four-storey affordable housing building in Newtonbrook, Toronto, near his birthplace and adjacent to Newtonbrook United Church.
- Lester B. Pearson Park in St. Catharines, Ontario.
- Pearson Avenue is located near Highway 407 and Yonge Street in Richmond Hill, Ontario, less than eight kilometres from his birthplace.
- Pearson Way is an arterial access road located in a new subdivision in Milton, Ontario; other former prime ministers honoured in the community include Pierre Trudeau and Wilfrid Laurier.
- Pearson Plaza is a shopping centre in Elliot Lake developed to replace the Algo Centre Mall.
- Pearson Park, a playground built in 2013 in Wesleyville, Newfoundland.
Sports
- The award for the best National Hockey League player as voted by members of the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) was known as the Lester B. Pearson Award from its inception in 1971 to 2010, when its name was changed to the Ted Lindsay Award to honour one of the union's pioneers.
- Pearson was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame at the University of Toronto in 1987.
- Pearson was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.
- The Pearson Cup was a baseball competition between the Toronto Blue Jays and Montreal Expos. Pearson also served as the Expos' honorary club president from 1969 to 1972.
Honorary degrees
.jpg)
- Honorary degrees
 |
Freedom of the city
- 1967: London
Electoral record
See also
- Canada and the United Nations
- Canada and the Vietnam War
- Great Canadian Flag Debate – Debate in Canada from 1963 to 1964 over the design of a new national flag
- Landon Pearson – Canadian politician, author, and children's rights advocate (1930–2023)
- List of prime ministers of Canada
Lester B. Pearson at Wikipedia's sister projects
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Data from Wikidata
.svg){kind=small}
