Lester Bowles Pearson

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Lester Bowles Pearson was born on April 23rd, 1897 in Newtonbrook, Ontario, now a part of Toronto. Pearson was the son of Edwin Arthur Pearson, a Methodist minister, and Anne Sarah Bowles Pearson. Pearson had two brothers. He was a star athlete and an excellent student. After finishing his high school, he entered the University of Toronto in 1913 to study general B.A. After two years he took a break from his studies. He served two years as a medical orderly in a military hospital in Salonika. In 1917 he requested a transfer. He returned to the University of Toronto to finish his B.A. and graduated in 1919. After a year in Chicago at a meat packing plant he was offered a scholarship to Oxford University. At Oxford he did his M.A. When he came back to Canada in 1925 he taught history at the University of Toronto and got married to Maryon Elspeth Moody on August 22nd, 1925. In 1928 he joined the Foreign Service. In 1927 he was invited to join the Department of External Affairs. Pearson’s political career began when he joined External Affairs as first Secretary in Ottawa on August 28, 1928. From 1935 to 1941, he served in the high office of the Commissioner for Canada in London, UK. In May 1941, he became the Assistant Undersecretary of State, External Affairs, in Ottawa. In June 1942, he was the Minister- Counsellor for Canadian Legation in Washington, D.C. In July of 1944, Pearson was promoted to Minister Plenipotentiary in the Canadian Legation in Washington, D.C. In 1945 he served as the Canadian ambassador to the U.S attending the conference which founded the United Nations. In 1948, he was appointed Secretary of State for External Affairs of Canada. From 1952 to 1953 he was the president of the UN General Assembly (seventh session). In 1957 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his skilful success in establishing an international police force to resolve the Suez

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