Lester B. Pearson and Bonhomme at the Quebec Winter Carnival around 1960. 📸Marcel Laforce/L'Action

On this day in 1972, Lester B. Pearson died. Let's learn about our 14th, and IMO, best Prime Minister! Lester B. Pearson was born on April 23, 1897 in Newtonbrook, Ontario. His family soon moved to Aurora, Ontario, where he spent most of his youth. In university, Pearson excelled at sports, especially hockey, rugby, baseball, lacrosse and basketball. During the First World War, Pearson enlisted with the Canadian Army Medical Corps as a stretcher-bearer. He eventually reached the rank of lieutenant and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. His instructor felt Lester was too mild of a name for a pilot, so he called him Mike. That became his nickname among friends for the rest of his life. On his first flight, he crashed his plane. Then in 1918, he was hit by a bus in London and returned home to Canada. After the war, he attended Oxford, where he played for the Oxford Hockey Team. In 1927, after earning top marks in the Canadian foreign service entry exam, he joined the Department of External Affairs. Pearson quickly moved up the ranks. In 1935, he was appointed to the High Commission of Canada to the United Kingdom, and worked at Canada House from 1939 to 1942. He also played a role in founding the United Nations and NATO. Pearson was nearly chosen as the first Secretary-General of the United Nations but it was vetoed by the Soviet Union. In 1953, he was again nearly chosen but the Soviets vetoed that too. In 1948, Pearson became the Secretary of State for External Affairs and entered Parliament. In 1956, he helped resolve the Suez Crisis through the creation of a peacekeeping force. That earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957. In 1958, Pearson became the leader of the Liberal Party and led the party into the 1958 election. The Liberals lost half their seats but Pearson rebuilt the party over the coming years. In 1963, he became the Prime Minister of Canada. Over the next five years, with two minority governments, he did the following: - Introduced a discrimination-free immigration points-based system (Canada was the first to do this). - Oversaw the Canadian Centennial - Launched the Royal Commission on the Status of Women and Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. - Established universal health care with Tommy Douglas. - Set up the Canada Pension Plan and Canada Student Loans. - Instituted a new national flag, the Maple Leaf flag. - Established a 40-hour work week, new minimum wage and two-weeks vacation time. - Didn't send Canadian troops to Vietnam. - Established the Order of Canada On Dec. 14, 1967, Pearson announced he was retiring form politics. In 1968, he was succeeded by Pierre Elliott Trudeau. In 1970, his right eye was removed to remove a tumor. Two years later, his cancer had spread to his liver, and he passed away at 11:40 p.m. on Dec. 27, 1972. You can learn more about Pearson in my episode about him here: canadaehx.com/2021/03/19/les… If you enjoy my Canadian history content, you can support my work with a donation at buymeacoffee.com/craigU