Lester B. Pearson
Prime Minister of Canada, Nobel Peace Prize 1957
Born 1897 · Died 1972
Photo: ABC Television · Public domain
«The grim fact is that we prepare for war like precocious giants and for peace like retarded pygmies.»
Lester Pearson proposed the first United Nations peacekeeping force to resolve the 1956 Suez crisis, an invention that has shaped international conflict management ever since. He later became prime minister and introduced Canada's universal healthcare and its maple leaf flag.
Key achievements
- Nobel Peace Prize, 1957, for inventing UN peacekeeping
- Prime Minister of Canada, 1963–1968
- Introduced universal healthcare and the maple leaf flag
Universities
Toronto, Ontario
Studied history at Victoria College, interrupting his degree to serve in the First World War, and later taught history there.
Oxford, England
Studied at St John's College on a scholarship and played ice hockey for the university.
Facts
- He played ice hockey and lacrosse at Oxford and was good enough to play for a Swiss club during a holiday.
- Toronto's largest international airport is named after him, as is the university's flagship international scholarship.
- He served as a stretcher bearer and then a pilot in the First World War, and was hit by a bus in London during training.
Photographs
Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences; the author and licence are shown on each image.