:Lester B. Pearson

File:Birthplace of Lester B. Pearson plaque (photo by Djuradj Vujcic).jpg

Pearson was born in Newtonbrook (now a part of Toronto) in the township of York, Ontario, the son of Annie Sarah (née Bowles) and Edwin Arthur Pearson, a Methodist (later United Church of Canada) minister. Lester was the brother of Vaughan Whitier Pearson and Marmaduke "Duke" Pearson.{{cite DCB |url=https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/pearson_lester_bowles_20E.html |title= Pearson, Lester Bowles |volume=20 |first=John |last=English |access-date= 13 June 2011}} When Pearson was one month old, his family moved to 1984 Yonge Street. Lester Pearson's father moved the young family north of Toronto to Aurora, Ontario, where he was the 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.

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. Just as Norman Jewison, E. J. Pratt, Northrop Frye and his student Margaret Atwood would, Pearson participated in the sophomore theatrical tradition of The Bob Comedy Revue.[http://www.thenewspaper.ca/the-arts/despite-cuts-and-critics-bob-carries O'Grady, Conner] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616103915/http://www.thenewspaper.ca/the-arts/despite-cuts-and-critics-bob-carries |date=16 June 2018 }} "Despite cuts and critics, Bob carries on"; the newspaper; University of Toronto; 18 December 2013. After Victoria College, Pearson won a scholarship to study at St John's College, Oxford, from 1921 to 1923.

At the University of Toronto, Pearson became a noted athlete, excelling in rugby union and also playing basketball. He later also played for the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club while on a scholarship at the University of Oxford, a team that won the first Spengler Cup in 1923. Pearson also excelled in baseball and lacrosse as a youth. His baseball talents as an infielder were strong enough for a summer of semi-pro play with the Guelph Maple Leafs of the Ontario Intercounty Baseball League. Pearson toured North America with a combined Oxford and Cambridge Universities lacrosse team in 1923. 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 played golf and tennis to high standards as an adult.English (1989–1992), Volume I

File:Pearson in World War One.jpg]]

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 this period of service, he spent nearly two years in southern Europe, being shipped to Egypt and thereafter served on the Salonika front. He also served alongside the Serbian Army as a medical orderly.{{cite web|url=https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/62701/Najstarija-plomba-na-svetu|last1=Bukvić|first1=Dimitrije|last2=Dimitrijević |first2=Marijan |agency=Politika |title=Najstarija plomba na svetu |date=15 November 2008 |access-date=1 July 2012 |language=sr |trans-title=The Oldest Filling in the World}} On 2 August 1917, Pearson was commissioned a temporary lieutenant.{{London Gazette|issue=30237|supp=y|page=8512|date=17 August 1917}} 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. As a pilot, he received the nickname of "Mike", given to him by a flight instructor who felt that "Lester" was too mild a name for an airman: "That’s a sissy’s name. You’re Mike," the instructor said.{{cite web|url= https://parli.ca/mike-pearson/?_thumbnail_id=1565 |title= 'Mike' Pearson|work= The Dictionary of Canadian Politics|publisher= Parli|year= 2021|access-date= 2 April 2021}} Thereafter, Pearson would use the name "Lester" on official documents and in public life, but was always addressed as Mike by friends and family.{{cite web|url= http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1957/pearson-bio.html |title= Biography|work= The Nobel Peace Prize 1957 – Lester Bowles Pearson|publisher= Nobel Foundation|year= 1957|access-date= 13 October 2008}}

Pearson learned to fly at an air training school in Hendon, England. He survived an airplane crash during his first flight.{{cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lester-bowles-pearson|title= Lester B. Pearson|publisher= The Canadian Encyclopedia}}[https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/100-stories/Pages/pearson.aspx Lester Bowles Pearson] at Library and Archives Canada[https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/canada-first-world-war/Pages/pearson.aspx Lester Bowles Pearson (1897–1972)], Canada and the First World War at Library and Archives Canada In 1918, Pearson was hit by a bus in London during a citywide blackout and was sent home to recuperate before being discharged from the service.

File:Ice hockey 1922.jpg, 1922. Future Canadian prime minister Lester Pearson is at right front. His nickname from the Swiss was "Herr Zig-Zag".]]

After the war, he returned to school, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree (BA) from the University of Toronto in 1919.{{cite book | last=Tucker | first=S.C. | title=The Cold War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection [5 volumes] | publisher=ABC-CLIO | year=2020 | isbn=978-1-4408-6076-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YBAFEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1285 | page=1285}} He was able to complete his degree after one more term, under a ruling in force at the time, since he had served in the military during the war. He and his brother Duke then spent a year working in Hamilton, Ontario, and in Chicago, in the meat-packing industry at Armour and Company (whose president at the time, Frank Edson White, was his uncle through marriage to Lillian Sophia Pearson White),{{cite web | url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1957/pearson/biographical/ | title=The Nobel Peace Prize 1957 }} which he did not enjoy.

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 degree with second-class honours in modern history in 1923, and the M.A. in 1925.{{cite book |last1=Sillery |first1=A. |last2=Sillery |first2=V. |title=St. John's College Biographical Register 1919-1975 |volume=3 |publisher=Oxford: St. John’s College |year=1975 |pages=56–57}} After Oxford, he returned to Canada and taught history at the University of Toronto.

File:John Ross Mclean.jpg, Vincent Massey and Georges Vanier on 1 January 1938 at Canada House, London]]

In 1925, he married Maryon Moody, from Winnipeg, who had been one of his students at the University of Toronto. Together, they had one son, Geoffrey, and one daughter, Patricia. Maryon was confident and outspoken, supporting her husband in all his political endeavours.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zN79XJJaIhUC&q=mary+greey+canada&pg=PT288|title=The Worldly Years: Life of Lester Pearson 1949–1972|last=English|first=John|date=14 September 2011|publisher=Knopf Canada|isbn=9780307375391|language=en}}

In 1927, after scoring top marks on the Canadian foreign service entry exam, he then embarked on a career in the Department of External Affairs. Prime minister R. B. Bennett was a noted talent spotter. He took note of, and encouraged, the young Pearson in the early 1930s, and appointed Pearson to significant roles on two major government inquiries: the 1931 Royal Commission on Grain Futures, and the 1934 Royal Commission on Price Spreads. Bennett saw that Pearson was recognized with an OBE after he shone in that work, arranged a bonus of {{CAD|1,800}}, and invited him to a London conference. Pearson was assigned to the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom in 1935.

File:Lester Bowles Pearson presiding at a plenary session of the founding conference of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.jpg in 1945.]]

Pearson continued to serve at Canada House during World War II from 1939 through 1942 as the second-in-command, where he coordinated military supply and refugee problems, serving under high commissioner Vincent Massey.

Pearson returned to Ottawa for a few months, where he was an assistant under secretary from 1941 through 1942.EncyclopediaCanadiana (1972) 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 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 had an important part in founding both the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).The Canadian Encyclopedia (1972). "He attended many international conferences and was active in the U.N. from its inception." and "He signed the North Atlantic Treaty for Canada in 1949 and represented his country at subsequent NATO Council meetings, acting as the chairman in 1951–52."

Pearson nearly became the first secretary-general of the United Nations in 1946, but was vetoed by the Soviet Union. He was also the leading candidate for secretary-general in the 1953 selection, when the British conducted a vigorous campaign on his behalf. He placed first with 10 out of 11 votes in the Security Council, but the lone negative vote was another Soviet veto.{{cite news | last1=Hamilton | first1=Thomas J. | title=Soviet Veto Blocks Pearson U.N. Boom; Romulo Also Fails | work=The New York Times | page=1 | date=13 March 1953|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/03/14/archives/soviet-veto-blocks-pearson-u-n-boom-romulo-also-fails-u-s-backs.html}}{{cite web|title=Selecting the UN Secretary-General: Vetoes, Timing and Regional Rotation|url=http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/images/homepage/September%202015%20Insert.pdf|publisher=Security Council Report|access-date=30 December 2016|date=20 September 2015}} The Security Council instead settled on Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden; all UN secretaries-general would come from neutral countries for the rest of the Cold War.

The 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 due to his personal dislike of King's poor personal style and political methods.Hutchison (1964) Pearson did not make the move into politics until a few years later, after King had announced his retirement as prime minister.

File:StLaurnet Pearson and Churchill.jpg (far left) and Pearson (far right) welcome UK prime minister Sir Winston Churchill and foreign secretary Sir Anthony Eden at Rockcliffe Airport, Ottawa, on 29 June 1954.]]

File:LevesqueinterviewsPearsoninMoscow.jpg interviews Pearson in Moscow, 1955]]

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.{{cite web|url=https://lop.parl.ca/About/Parliament/FederalRidingsHistory/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Det&Include=Y&rid=10|title=History of Federal Ridings since 1867|website=lop.parl.ca}} Pearson then served as Secretary of State for External Affairs for prime minister Louis St. Laurent, until the defeat of the St. Laurent government in 1957.{{cite book | last=Mojzes | first=P.B. | title=North American Churches and the Cold War | publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-4674-5057-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=48qAEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT42 | page=42|quote=Pearson served in the Department of External Affairs. He was later elected to Parliament, where he was appointed secretary of state for external affairs under Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent. }}

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. This came one week after Stalin's death but before Khrushchev's rise to power. Pearson was the only candidate to receive the required majority, but he was vetoed by the Soviet Union.{{cite news |last1=Hamilton |first1=Thomas J. |title=Soviet Veto Blocks Pearson U.N. Boom; Romulo Also Fails |work=The New York Times |page=1 |date=13 March 1953}}{{cite news|last1=Hamilton|first1=Thomas J.|title=Mme. Pandit Loses in Vote for Lie Post |work=The New York Times |page=4 |date=20 March 1953}}

In 1957, for his role in resolving the Suez Crisis through the United Nations one year earlier, Pearson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1957/pearson/facts/|title=Nobel peace Prize 1957 Lester Bowles Pearson|website=Norwegian Nobel Institute}} The selection committee argued that Pearson had "saved the world", but critics accused him of betraying the motherland and Canada's ties with the UK. Pearson and UN secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld are considered the fathers of the modern concept of peacekeeping. Together, they organized the United Nations Emergency Force by way of a five-day fly-around in early November 1956 after the First emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly. His Nobel medal was on permanent display in the front lobby of the Lester B. Pearson Building, the headquarters of Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa until 2017 when the medal was loaned to the Canadian Museum of History, to be displayed in the 'Canadian History Hall'.{{cite news |last1=History |first1=Canadian Museum of |title=Pearson's Nobel Peace Prize loaned to Canadian Museum of History |url=https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/pearsons-nobel-peace-prize-loaned-to-canadian-museum-of-history-603031446.html |access-date=16 June 2021 |work=www.newswire.ca |date=25 November 2016 |language=en}}

File:Lester Pearson at election campaign event (50540638661).jpg in Peel during the 1962 Federal election]]

St. Laurent was defeated by the Progressive Conservatives under John Diefenbaker in the election of 1957. After just a few months as Leader of the Opposition, St. Laurent retired, and he endorsed Pearson as his successor. Pearson was elected leader of the Liberal Party at its leadership convention of 1958, defeating his chief rival, former cabinet minister Paul Martin Sr.

At his first parliamentary session as opposition leader, Pearson asked Diefenbaker to give power back to the Liberals without an election, because of a recent economic downturn. This strategy backfired when Diefenbaker showed a classified Liberal document saying that the economy would face a downturn in that year. This contrasted heavily with the Liberal campaign promises of 1957.

Consequently, Pearson's party was routed in the federal election of 1958. Diefenbaker's Conservatives won the largest majority ever seen in Canada to that point (208 of 265 seats). The Liberals lost over half their seats and were cut down to only 48 seats, the fewest in their history at the time. Furthermore, the election cost the Liberals their stronghold in Quebec. This province had voted largely Liberal in federal elections since the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but Quebec had no favourite son leader, as it had had since 1948.

Pearson convened a significant "Thinkers' Conference" at Kingston, Ontario in 1960. This event developed many of the ideas later implemented when he became the prime minister.{{Cite book|last= English|first= John|author-link= John English (Canadian politician)|title= Citizen of the World: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau|volume= I, 1919–1968|year= 2006|location= Toronto|publisher= Alfred A. Knopf Canada|isbn= 978-0-676-97521-5|oclc= 670444001}}

In the federal election of 1962, the Liberals, led by Pearson, recovered much of what they had lost in their severe defeat four years earlier. Liberal gains and the surprise election of 30 Social Credit MPs deprived the Tories of their majority. As a consequence, Diefenbaker now had to preside over a minority government.

Not long after the election, Pearson capitalized on the Conservatives' indecision 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. On the next day, the government lost two non-confidence motions on the issue, forcing a national election for a House only a year old. The Liberals raced out to a large lead in opinion polling, and for a time the only question was how large Pearson's majority would be. However, Pearson was forced off the hustings for a time due to ill health. Additionally, when the United States Department of Defense leaked documents detailing the proposed missile defences, the Tories claimed a Liberal government would let Canada be a decoy in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviets.

By election day, the Liberals had recovered their momentum and took 129 seats to the Tories' 95. The Liberals won 41 percent of the vote, normally enough for a majority. 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,{{cite news|title=Pearson Offered Majority|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19630413&id=ks5RAAAAIBAJ&pg=7097,2070462|agency=Pittsburgh Post Gazette|date=13 April 1963}} Pearson was able to guarantee stable government to the governor general. Rather than face certain defeat in the Commons, 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.{{cite book | last=Kay | first=Z. | title=The Diplomacy of Impartiality: Canada and Israel, 1958-1968 | publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-55458-283-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MvfAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT138| page=138}} While the créditistes repudiated this statement days later, Pearson was able to stay in office with the support of the New Democratic Party.

Pearson campaigned during the 1963 election promising "60 Days of Decision" and supported the Bomarc surface-to-air missile program. Pearson never had a majority in the House of Commons, but he brought in many of Canada's major updated social programs, including universal health care (though that credit should be shared with Tommy Douglas, who as premier of Saskatchewan had introduced the country's first medicare system), the Canada Pension Plan, and Canada Student Loans. Pearson instituted a new national flag, the Maple Leaf flag, after a national debate known as the Great Canadian flag debate. He also instituted the 40-hour work week, two weeks vacation time, and a new minimum wage for workers in federally-regulated areas.

In hopes of winning an outright majority, Pearson called an election for November 1965, three years before it was due. Ultimately, the Liberals were only able to pick up three more seats, leaving them two short of a majority. As in 1963, the Liberals were almost nonexistent in the Prairies, winning only one seat there, that of Veterans Affairs minister Roger Teillet.

Pearson also started a number of royal commissions, including the Royal Commission on the Status of Women and the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. These suggested changes that helped create legal equality for women and brought official bilingualism into being. After Pearson's term in office, French was made an official language, and the Canadian government provided services in both English and French. Pearson hoped to be the last unilingual prime minister of Canada, and fluency in both English and French became an unofficial requirement for candidates for prime minister after Pearson left office.

In 1967, Pearson's government introduced a discrimination-free points-based system which encouraged immigration to Canada, the first country to do so.

Pearson oversaw Canada's centennial celebrations in 1967 before retiring. The Canadian news agency, The Canadian Press, named him "Newsmaker of the Year", citing his leadership during the centennial celebrations, which brought the Centennial Flame to Parliament Hill.

File:Trudeau, Turner, Chretien, and Pearson.jpg, John Turner, Jean Chrétien, and Pearson.]]

On 15 January 1964, Pearson became the first Canadian prime minister to make an official state visit to France.{{cite web|url= http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/politics/international-politics/general-23/first-state-visit-to-france-by-a-canadian-pm.html |title= On This Day – Jan. 15, 1964 – First state visit to France by a Canadian PM|work= CBC Digital Archives|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=14 January 2011}}

In 1967, French president Charles de Gaulle made a visit to Quebec. A staunch advocate of Quebec separatism, de Gaulle went so far as to say that his procession in Montreal reminded him of his return to Paris after it was freed from the Nazis during the Second World War. President de Gaulle also gave his "Vive le Québec libre" speech during the visit. Given Canada's efforts in aiding France during both world wars, Pearson was enraged. He rebuked de Gaulle in a speech the following day, remarking that "Canadians do not need to be liberated", and made it clear that de Gaulle was no longer welcome in Canada.

Pearson signed the Canada–United States Automotive Agreement (or Auto Pact) in January 1965, and unemployment fell to its lowest rate in over a decade.{{cite web|url= http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/economy-business/trade-agreements/the-auto-pact-en-route-to-free-trade/the-end-of-an-era.html |title= The Auto Pact: En Route to Free Trade|work= CBC Digital Archives|publisher= Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date= 29 August 2011}}

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, so that a diplomatic solution to the crisis might unfold. To president Lyndon B. Johnson, this criticism of American foreign policy on American soil was intolerable. Before Pearson had finished his speech, he was invited to Camp David, Maryland, to meet with Johnson the next day. Johnson, who was notorious for his personal touch in politics, reportedly grabbed Pearson by the lapels and shouted, "You pissed on my rug!"{{cite magazine|url= http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-2286782/The-Week.html|title= The Week|magazine= National Review|date= 23 December 2002|access-date= 4 February 2009|archive-date= 8 January 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100108032454/http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-2286782/The-Week.html|url-status= dead}}{{cite news|url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43737-2004Aug5.html |last= FitzGerald|first= Frances|title= The View From Out There|newspaper= The Washington Post|date= 8 August 2004|access-date= 29 August 2011}} A book review of {{cite book|last1= Lindaman|first1= Dana|last2= Ward|first2= Kyle Roy|title= History lessons : how textbooks from around the world portray U.S. history|year= 2004|location= New York City|publisher= The New Press|isbn= 978-1-56584-894-8|oclc= 54096924}} Text of his Philadelphia speech, however, showed that Pearson in fact supported president Johnson's policy in Vietnam, even stating "The government and great majority of people of my country have supported wholeheartedly the US peacekeeping and peacemaking policies in Vietnam."{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J3_FBQAAQBAJ&q=The+government+and+great+majority+of+people+of+my+country+have+supported+wholeheartedly+the+US+peacekeeping+and+peacemaking+policies+in+Vietnam+lester+pearson&pg=PT86|title=The Globalization of NATO: Intervention, Security and Identity|first=Veronica M.|last=Kitchen|access-date=5 October 2019|isbn=9781136955679|date=13 April 2010|publisher=Routledge }}{{Cite web | url=https://yvesengler.com/2016/03/15/why-does-mainstream-keep-repeating-lies-about-lester-pearson/ |title = Why does mainstream media keep repeating lies about Lester Pearson?|date = 15 March 2016}}{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9g4Xd12rIGYC&q=Linda+McQuaig++contributed+to+ending+the+U.S.+war+effort+in+Vietnam.&pg=PT88|title=Holding the Bully's Coat: Canada and the U.S. Empire|first=Linda|last=McQuaig|date=4 June 2010|publisher=Doubleday Canada |isbn=9780385672979|access-date=5 October 2019}}

After this incident, Johnson and Pearson did have further contacts, including two more meetings together, both times in Canada.{{cite web|url= http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/holdings/Findingaids/WHCF/COLIST.asp|title= Presidential visits with heads of state and chiefs of government|publisher= Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum|access-date= 29 August 2011|archive-url= http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20011116110318/http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/holdings/findingaids/whcf/colist.asp|archive-date= 16 November 2001|url-status= dead|df= dmy-all}} Canada's exported raw materials and resources helped fuel and sustain American efforts in the Vietnam War.{{cite book|editor1-last= Daume|editor1-first= Daphne|editor2-last= Watson|editor2-first= Louise|title= Britannica Book of the Year 1967|year= 1967|location= Chicago|publisher= Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.|page= 191|quote= Strong exports to the United States resulting from the mounting demands of the war in Vietnam, combined with a booming domestic market, made 1966 a year of impressive economic growth for Canada.|oclc= 42780089}} Also {{OCLC|19056858}}.

Pearson's government endured significant controversy in Canada's military services throughout the mid-1960s, following the tabling of the White Paper on Defence in March 1964. This document laid out a plan 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.

File:Lester Pearson statue Ottawa.jpg

Pearson chose the following jurists to be 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)

After his 14 December 1967 announcement that he was retiring from politics, a leadership convention was held. Pearson's successor was Pierre Trudeau, whom Pearson had recruited and made justice minister in his cabinet. Two other cabinet ministers Pearson had recruited, John Turner and Jean Chrétien, served as prime ministers following Trudeau's retirement.

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 had planned to write a three-volume set of memoirs with the title "Mike: The Memoirs of the Rt. Hon. Lester B. Pearson". The first volume was published in 1972. The other two volumes were published posthumously in 1973 and 1975, but are tainted with the biases of their ghostwriters.{{cite book | author=John Ralston Saul, Andrew Cohen| title=Extraordinary Canadians Lester B Pearson | publisher=Penguin Canada | year=2008 | isbn=978-0-14-317269-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JyBrNgMJELIC&pg=PT111 | quote=The remaining volumes were published posthumously in 1973 and 1975 but lack the authenticity of the first. | page=111}}{{cite book | author=Andrew Cohen | title=Lester B. Pearson | publisher=Penguin | series=Extraordinary Canadians | year=2008 | isbn=978-0-670-06738-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A_YMAQAAMAAJ | page=200}}{{cite web | last=Cohen | first=Andrew | title=SYMPOSIUM: PRIME MINISTERIAL AND PRESIDENTIAL MEMOIRS | website=The Globe and Mail | date=27 October 2007 | url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/symposium-prime-ministerial-and-presidential-memoirs/article963937/ | quote=Only the first of three volumes is his. Editors assembled the others from his papers after his death. Like Diefenbaker, both Mulroney and Chrétien carry their grudges into prose. It makes their accounts human and often affecting, even when they revise or ignore history.}}

File:Lester B Pearson Gravestone WakefieldQC.JPG]]

In 1970, Pearson underwent surgery to have his right eye removed to remove a tumor in that area.{{cite news |url=http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/series/primeministers/stories/cancer-LBP.html |title=Pearson hovers near death as cancer spreads to his liver |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=28 December 1972 |access-date=17 September 2014 |archive-date=14 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814161820/http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/series/primeministers/stories/cancer-LBP.html |url-status=dead }}

In November 1972, it was reported that he was admitted to the hospital for further unspecified treatment, but the prognosis was poor. He tried to write at this juncture the story of his prime ministerial career, but his condition, which was already precarious, deteriorated rapidly by Christmas Eve.{{harvnb|Pearson|Munro|Inglis|1973|p=i}}

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 pm ET on 27 December 1972 in his Ottawa home.{{cite news |url=http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/series/primeministers/stories/obit-LBP.html |title=Lester Pearson dies in Ottawa |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=28 December 1972 |access-date=17 September 2014 |archive-date=22 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622024840/http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/series/primeministers/stories/obit-LBP.html |url-status=dead }}

Pearson is buried at Maclaren Cemetery in Wakefield, Quebec{{cite web | url=http://www.pc.gc.ca/clmhc-hsmbc/Sepulture-gravesiteindx/listesepulture-listgravesite/pearson.aspx | title=Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada – Former Prime Ministers and Their Grave Sites – The Right Honourable Lester Bowles Pearson | author= | date=20 December 2010 | website=Parks Canada | publisher=Government of Canada | access-date=27 February 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208235743/http://www.pc.gc.ca/clmhc-hsmbc/Sepulture-gravesiteindx/listesepulture-listgravesite/pearson.aspx | archive-date=8 February 2013 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }}, next to his close External Affairs colleagues H. H. Wrong and Norman Robertson.

File:Lester B. Pearson's Medals (3543380417).jpg

• Elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1957.{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter P|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterP.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=15 April 2011}}
• The Canadian Press named Pearson "Newsmaker of the Year" nine times, a record he held until his successor, Pierre Trudeau, surpassed it in 2000. He was also only one of two prime ministers to have received the honour both before and when prime minister (the other being Brian Mulroney).
• Pearson was inducted into the Canadian Peace Hall of Fame in 2000.{{cite web|url= http://www.peace.ca/CanadianPeaceHallOfFame.htm|title= Canadian Peace Hall of Fame|publisher= Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace|access-date= 29 August 2011|archive-date= 27 September 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110927074218/http://www.peace.ca/CanadianPeaceHallOfFame.htm|url-status= dead}}
• The Pearson Medal of Peace, first awarded in 1979, is an award given out annually by the United Nations Association in Canada to recognize an individual Canadian's "contribution to international service".
• A plaque, placed by the Ontario Heritage Trust, is on the grounds of Newtonbrook United Church, the successor congregation to the one that owned the manse.{{cite web|url= http://torontoplaques.com/Pages/Right_Honourable_Lester_Pearson.html|last= Brown|first= Alan L|title= The Right Honourable Lester Bowles Pearson, 1897–1972|publisher= Toronto's Historical Plaques|access-date= 17 January 2018|archive-date= 18 January 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180118183126/http://torontoplaques.com/Pages/Right_Honourable_Lester_Pearson.html|url-status= dead}}{{cite web|url= http://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/Resources---Learning/Online-Plaque-Guide/Plaque-Information.aspx?searchtext=432|title= Right Honourable Lester Bowles Pearson 1897–1972, The|work= Plaque Information|publisher= Ontario Heritage Trust|access-date= 29 August 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120724085406/http://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/Resources---Learning/Online-Plaque-Guide/Plaque-Information.aspx?searchtext=432|archive-date= 24 July 2012|url-status= dead|df= dmy-all}}
• In a survey by Canadian historians of the first 20 prime ministers through Jean Chrétien, Pearson ranked No. 6.Hilmer, Granatstein (1999)
• In a survey by Canadian historians of the Canadian prime ministers who served after World War II, Pearson was ranked first "by a landslide".

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.

File:LPB quote on Peacekeeping Monument.jpg]]

• The Lester B. Pearson United World College, opened in 1974 as the second United World College, near Victoria, British Columbia.{{cite web|url=http://www.pearsoncollege.ca/history |title=History |publisher=Lester B. Pearson College |access-date=29 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831132929/http://www.pearsoncollege.ca/history |archive-date=31 August 2011 }}
• The Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, established in 1994, is 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.{{cite web|url= http://www.lbpsb.qc.ca/isp/About%20Us |title= The Lester B. Pearson School Board|publisher= Lester B. Pearson School Board|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080930143328/http://www.lbpsb.qc.ca/isp/About%20Us |archive-date=30 September 2008 |access-date= 29 August 2011}} The majority of the schools of the Lester B. Pearson School Board are located on the western half of the island of Montreal, while a few of its schools located off the island.
• Lester B. Pearson High School lists five so-named 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 of his estate.{{cite web|url=http://gsacarleton.ca/mikes-place/|title=Mike's Place|date=13 July 2014}}
• The Lester B. Pearson International Student Scholarship is the most prestigious scholarship for international students at the University of Toronto. It covers the tuition, books, incidental fees, and full residence support.{{Cite web |title=The Lester B. Pearson International Scholarships |url=https://future.utoronto.ca/pearson/about/ |access-date=6 August 2023 |website=Future Students. University of Toronto |language=en-CA}}

File:Tribute to Lester Bowles Pearson (50218610328).jpg

• Toronto Pearson International Airport, first opened in 1939 and renamed with its current name in 1984, is Canada's busiest airport.{{cite web|title=What's in an eponym? Celebrity airports – could there be a commercial benefit in naming?|url=http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/whats-in-an-eponym-could-there-be-a-financial-or-other-benefit-in-celebrity-airport-naming-215965|publisher=Centre for Aviation}}
• The Lester B. Pearson Building, completed in 1973, is the headquarters for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, a tribute to his service as external affairs minister.
• Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre{{cite web|url= http://www.cityofelliotlake.com/en/recleisure/civiccentre.asp |title= Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre|publisher= City of Elliot Lake|access-date=15 October 2010}} in Elliot Lake, Ontario was heavily damaged in February 2019.{{cite web |url=https://www.elliotlaketoday.com/local-news/civic-centre-future-in-limbo-1264664 |title=Civic centre future in limbo |website=www.elliotlaketoday.com |date=27 February 2019 |access-date=27 March 2019}}
• Lester B. Pearson Garden for Peace and Understanding, E.J. Pratt Library in the University of Toronto, completed in 2004 {{cite web|url= http://library.vicu.utoronto.ca/about_us/library_floor_plans/lester_b_pearson_garden_peace_and_understanding |title= Lester B. Pearson Garden for Peace and Understanding|year= 2015|publisher= E.J. Pratt Library|access-date= 12 November 2015}}
• Lester B. Pearson Place, completed in 2006, is a four-storey affordable housing building in Newtonbrook, Toronto, near his place of birth, and adjacent to Newtonbrook United Church.{{cite web|url=http://www.newtonbrookunitedchurch.ca/nuc-ministry/pearson-place/ |title=Lester B. Pearson Place: A Project of NUC-TUCT Non-Profit Homes Corporation |publisher=Newtonbrook United Church |access-date=29 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926204346/http://www.newtonbrookunitedchurch.ca/nuc-ministry/pearson-place/ |archive-date=26 September 2011 }}
• Lester B. Pearson Park in St. Catharines, Ontario.{{cite web|url= http://www.stcatharines.ca/en/playin/LesterBPearsonPark.asp|title= Lester B. Pearson Park|year= 2010|publisher= Corporation of the City of St. Catharines|access-date= 29 August 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110830082944/http://www.stcatharines.ca/en/playin/LesterBPearsonPark.asp|archive-date= 30 August 2011|url-status= dead|df= dmy-all}}
• Pearson Avenue is located near Highway 407 and Yonge Street in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada; less than five miles from his place of birth.
• Pearson Way is an arterial access road located in a new subdivision in Milton, Ontario; many ex-prime ministers are being honoured in this growing community, including prime ministers Pierre Trudeau and Wilfrid Laurier.
• Pearson Plaza, a mall being developed in Elliot Lake to replace the Algo Centre Mall.
• Pearson Park, a playground built in 2013 in Wesleyville, Newfoundland.

• 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.{{cite web|url= http://www.varsityblues.ca/hof.aspx?hof=10|title= Lester B. Pearson, Class of 1919|work= Hall of Fame – Induction Class of 1987|publisher= University of Toronto Intercollegiate Athletics|access-date= 29 August 2011}}
• Pearson was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.{{cite web|url=http://www.baseballhalloffame.ca/inductees.html |title=Inductees |publisher=Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame |date=20 June 2009 |access-date=29 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826025904/http://www.baseballhalloffame.ca/inductees.html |archive-date=26 August 2011 }}
• The Pearson Cup was a baseball competition between the Toronto Blue Jays and Montreal Expos. Pearson also served as Expo's Honorary Club President from 1969 to 1972.

File:Lester B. Pearson (cropped).jpg

;Honorary Degrees

{{Incomplete list|date=May 2018}}

• 1967: London{{cite web|url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/lester-pearson-honoured|title=Lester Pearson Honoured|first=British|last=Pathé|access-date=5 March 2017}}

{{Main|Electoral history of Lester B. Pearson}}

{{see also|List of books about Prime Ministers of Canada}}

; Archives

[http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=105124&lang=eng Lester B. Pearson fonds] at Library and Archives Canada

; Works by Pearson

Pearson published one memoir in his lifetime. The other two were written after his death by ghostwriters and they lack the authenticity.

• {{cite book

|title=Mike: The Memoirs of the Rt. Hon. Lester B. Pearson

|publisher=University of Toronto Press

|first=Lester B. |last=Pearson

|volume=1

|date=1972

}}

• {{cite book

|title=Mike: The Memoirs of the Rt. Hon. Lester B. Pearson: 1948–1957

|publisher=University of Toronto Press

|first1=Lester B. |last1=Pearson

|first2=John A. |last2=Munro

|first3=Alexander I. |last3=Inglis

|volume=2

|date=1973

}}[https://archive.org/details/mikememoirsofthe00pear online free]

• Mike: The Memoirs of the Rt. Hon. Lester B. Pearson: 1957–1968 vol 3 [https://archive.org/details/mikememoirsofthe03pear_0 online free]

;Works about Pearson

• Bothwell, R. Pearson (1978)
• Canadian Encyclopedia. "Lester B. Pearson" (2015)[http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lester-bowles-pearson/ online]
• English, John. Shadow of heaven : the life of Lester Pearson: Volume 1 1897–1948 (1990) [https://archive.org/details/shadowofheavenli01engl online free]
• {{cite book|author=John English|title=The Worldly Years: vol. 2: Life of Lester Pearson 1949–1972|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zN79XJJaIhUC&pg=PP1|year=2011|publisher=Random House Digital, Inc.|isbn=978-0-307-37539-1}}
• {{cite book|last= Ferguson|first= Will|author-link= Will Ferguson|title= Bastards and Boneheads: Canada's Glorious Leaders, Past and Present|year= 1999|location= Vancouver|publisher= Douglas & McIntyre|isbn= 978-1-55054-737-5|oclc= 44883908|url= https://archive.org/details/bastardsbonehead00ferg}}
• {{cite book|last1= Pearson|first1= Lester B|last2= Fry|first2= Michael G|title= "Freedom and change" : essays in honour of Lester B. Pearson|location= Toronto|year= 1975|publisher= McClelland & Stewart|isbn= 978-0-7710-3187-8|oclc= 2692327|url= https://archive.org/details/freedomchangeess00pear}} Also {{OCLC|463535217}} and {{OCLC|300360332}} [https://archive.org/details/freedomchangeess00pear online free].
• {{Cite book|last1= Hillmer|first1= Norman|author-link1= Norman Hillmer|last2= Granatstein|first2= J L|author-link2= Jack Granatstein|title= Prime ministers: ranking Canada's leaders|year= 1999|location= Toronto|publisher= HarperCollins|isbn= 978-0-00-200027-7|oclc= 41432030|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/primeministersra0000gran}} Also {{ISBN|978-0-00-638563-9}}.
• {{cite book|last= Hutchison|first= Bruce|author-link= Bruce Hutchison|title= Mr. Prime Minister 1867–1964|url= https://archive.org/details/mrprimeministe100hutc|url-access= registration|year= 1964|location= Don Mills, Ont|publisher= Longmans Canada|oclc= 5024890}} Also {{OCLC|422290909}}.
• Lester Pearson's Peacekeeping: The Truth May Hurt by Yves Engler Publication Date: Feb 2012 Pages: 160
• {{cite book

|first=Geoffrey A.H. |last=Pearson

|title=Seize the Day: Lester B. Pearson and Crisis Diplomacy

|url=https://archive.org/details/seizedaylesterbp0000pear |url-access=registration |date=1993

|publisher=Carleton University Press

|isbn=9780773573840

|place=Ottawa

}}

• List of prime ministers of Canada
• Canada and the Vietnam War
• Great Canadian Flag Debate
• Landon Pearson
• Canada and the United Nations

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{Sister project links|d=Q213812|commonscat=yes|species=no|voy=no|v=no|b=no|s=no|wikt=no|n=no}}

• {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture* on 11 December 1957 The Four Faces of Peace
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050307185746/http://collections.ic.gc.ca/discourspm/anglais/lbp/bio.html Biography] at the Library and Archives Canada
• {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=531}}
• [http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/war-conflict/peacekeeping/peacekeepers-and-peacemakers-canadas-diplomatic-contribution/pearson-wins-nobel-peace-prize.html Lester B. Pearson: From Peacemaker to Prime Minister] at the CBC Digital Archives
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080324111439/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0006175 Lester Bowles Pearson] at The Canadian Encyclopedia
• [http://www.suezcrisis.ca An in-depth exploration of Pearson’s diplomacy during the Suez Crisis of 1956], created by National Dream Productions in conjunction with The Historica Dominion Institute

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