Pearson Still Restless On Political Stage

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30107, 16 April 1963, Page 11

Pearson Still Restless On Political Stage

(N .Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, April 14. Mr Lester Pearson, who this week is expected to become Prime Minister of Canada, is a diplomat turned politician. He is, at 65, still restless and uncomfortable on Canada’s political stage and was rejected in bids for the Premiership in 1958 and 1962.

A former history professor and baseball player, he was described by a Canadian magazine this week as “possibly the most misunderstood of all modern Canadian political leaders.”

Born in Toronto in 1897, Mr Pearson was educated at the University of Toronto and at Oxford In World War I he served in the Medical Corps and as an airman.

Tn 1928. he was chosen as one of the first officers of Canada’s fledgling External Affairs Department. He was posted to London as a diplomat and stayed on to serve m London during the blitz in World War 11. In 1945, he was appointed Ambassador to the United States.

In 1948 he was persuaded to resign from the civil ser-

vice and run for Parliament, which he entered as a Liberal in 1948. He was made External Affairs Minftfer and held the post until the Liberals were defeated in the 1957 General Election Mr Pearson has won his main acclaim outside Canada He played a leading part in

shaping the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and in raising Canada's international influence.

In 1953, he was president of the United Nations General Assembly, and in 1957 won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in solving the Suez crisis.

Political observers say he is not a good speaker in the accepted sense. His voice is generally pitched too high and he has a slight lisp. He admitted recently that what he called “the circus part" of politics still made him blush. Mr Pearson is married, with two children and eight grandchildren.