When it comes to Canadian Prime Ministers, few accomplished so much in so little time as Lester B Pearson. During his five years in office Pearson oversaw the introduction of the Canada Pension Plan, a national system of universal Medicare, the Commission on bilingualism and biculturalism, and the Maple Leaf Flag. And, he did it all without ever winning a majority government.
In addition to his two terms as Canada's 14 th prime minister, Pearson was Canada's foremost statesman in a distinguished 20-year career with the Department of External Affairs. His crowning achievement was winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his creation of the United Nations peacekeeping force during the 1956 Suez Crisis.
Through it all Lester Pearson - or "Mike" as he preferred to be called - maintained a self-effacing manner and wry wit that endeared him to a generation of Canadians during the tumultuous 1960s. Although Pearson never took himself too seriously, he took what he believed in very, very seriously, and turned those beliefs into action and achievement, again and again.
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