Lester Pearson :: essays research papers

Lester Pearson Lester B. Pearson lived from 1897-1972. He was born on April 23 1897, in Newtonbrooke Ontario (now part of Toronto). He died on December 27 1972. He was born the son of a Methodist parson. As a child he worked very hard in school, and he became one of the minority of high school graduates who went on to college. In his studies he went to Victoria College and the Methodist College inside the University of Toronto. In his free time he played hockey and baseball. He then became a medical doctor in the Royal Flying Corps. He was Private Pearson in the Canadian Army Medical Corps. This took him to numerous foreign countries from 1915-1917. When he returned he went to Oxford University under the guidance of the poet Robert Graves. When he graduated he enrolled for the assignment of the Royal Flying Corps. He then began taking flight training but as fate would have it he was hit by a London Transport Bus. He remained in the hospital until he revived in the spring of 1918. In November 1918 he enrolled in the University of Toronto again. On June 5 1919 he graduated. Like many other young veterans he was at a loss for something to do. Law was a respectable profession at the time so he ground away at the ungrateful task of articling for law. After a week he decided that business was more promising. He worked at a number of places but in the end he decided to teach at the University of Toronto. He taught history in the University of Toronto from 1924-1928. All his students said he was a very unique teacher. In March 1924 one of his students, Maryon Moody decided to ensure getting her degree by becoming engaged to her teacher. And it worked. On August 22, 1925 Lester Pearson and Maryon Moody got married in Winnipeg. From there on they lived just outside of Toronto. Later he signed up for a position in The Canadian External Affairs Department. The government officials at first thought he had some sort of mental disorder due to the way he dressed and acted. In 1928 he got a position in the Canadian Department of External Affairs despite their beliefs. At the time Pearson had a very important position because Canada had finally achieved a feeling of nationalism. Canada also had hardly any diplomatic relations with other countries because Great Britain still handled most of it's affairs. For that reason when Great Britain went to war with Germany, so did Canada.