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Ontario History

Mike: The Memoirs of the Rt. Hon. Lester B. Pearson, vols. I-III by Lester B. Pearson Donald Wright

Volume 109, Number 1, Spring 2017

URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1039210ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1039210ar

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Publisher(s) The Ontario Historical Society

ISSN 0030-2953 (print) 2371-4654 (digital)

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Cite this review Wright, D. (2017). Review of [Mike: The Memoirs of the Rt. Hon. Lester B. Pearson, vols. I-III by Lester B. Pearson]. Ontario History, 109(1), 152–155. https://doi.org/10.7202/1039210ar

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This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ 152 ONTARIO HISTORY

in a coda that linked historical to current to only hunger for action? Will they only racism? In any case, discussing in detail the gain insight by stealth? actual resonances between historical and It’s notable, in this respect, that the contemporary iterations of one movement current issue the book draws attention to or problem would have been more effective in connection with labour politics is the and instructive than the quick and general Harper government’s attacks on unions, gestures, however powerful they are as soli- bills C-377 and C-525. The Harper agen- darity gestures. da was destructive without a doubt, but it If there’s a criticism that can be levelled does little to explain the decline in effec- at the book, it’s that its institutional focus, tiveness and energy on the part of unions its attention to unions specifically as op- over the last many decades. Strikes like the posed to the wider working class culture of one described in Showdown are highly un- Hamilton in the period, feels a bit limited, a likely now because of changes in the cul- bit old-fashioned as labour history. There is ture of class, to say nothing of the state and some discussion of food, fun, and music, but the economy, not because of laws that af- it’s all pretty much connected to the success fect unions, most of which are unchanged. of the strike. Labour history is about more Ignoring culture, in fact, drives a teleologi- than unions, and while the story of how cal current in the book (signalled in the unions were made is important, changes in subtitle Making Modern Unions) that un- working class culture are probably more im- derlines what we have that the people in portant to understanding the current politi- the story lacked, rather than what we lack cal and social moment. And the institutional and they had: strong and effective bonds of focus raises the further question of whether class solidarity. comic readers are being condescended to: like undergraduates presented with all-kill- David Tough er-no-filler course options, are they assumed Trent University

Mike: The Memoirs of the Rt. Hon. Lester B. Pearson, vols. I-III by Lester B. Pearson

Toronto: Press, 2015. Volume I, 326 pages. $32.95 paper, ISBN 9781442615649. $32.95 ebook (EPUB format) ISBN 9781442668645. Volume II, 372 pages. $32.95 paper, ISBN 9781442615656. $32.95 ebook (EPUB format) ISBN 9781442668669. Volume III, 366 pages. $32.95 paper, ISBN 9781442615663. $32.95 ebook (EPUB format) ISBN 9781442668683.

onald Creighton never forgave “the worse, Canada’s fourteenth prime minister Dgiggling bow-tied bastard,” later con- accepted the premise of bilingualism when fessing to a journalist, “I feel positive hatred he appointed the Royal Commission on towards that man.” According to Creight- Bilingualism and Biculturalism. It cut both on’s historical calculus, Lester Pearson had ways because Pearson didn’t think much abandoned Great Britain during the Suez of Creighton. When Frank Underhill sent Crisis and later severed Canada’s symbolic him an offprint, he thanked him “for reduc- connection to what used to be called its ing some of Donald Creighton’s views to mother country when he insisted on the historical perspective and accuracy,” adding Maple Leaf over the Red Ensign. Even that he intended “to borrow from it shame-

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lessly” in future speaking engagements. of family, faith, education, hard work, tem- And in a thinly veiled reference to Canada’s perance, and service. In Pearson’s words, his leading historian, he cited “the weakness of boyhood was “a cycle of home, church, and professors of history when they start min- school.” (I, 9) When the Duke and Duchess gling with contemporary events.” of York travelled by train through Aurora, On the one hand, the disagreement Ontario in 1902, the Pearsons joined the between Creighton and Pearson was silly large crowd of well-wishers and rubber- and petty, especially on Creighton’s part. neckers anxious to catch a glimpse of their But on the other hand, it points to what future king and queen. At Victoria College, José Igartua called the a young Pearson lived in Other Quiet Revolution: Burwash Hall, studied that still-not-fully under- history, got good grades, stood transformation of and played a ton of sports. English Canada from an But when ethnically British nation started in his sophomore to a bilingual and eventu- year, he felt an obligation ally multicultural nation to serve. “I had a normal premised on equality. patriotic instinct—more Like any revolution, the British, I suppose, at this Other Quiet Revolution time than Canadian— had winners and losers, and based on conven- or Pearsons and Creight- tional impressions from ons. God knows, I have the kind of history I had spent long enough with been taught. War was still Donald Creighton on the a romantic adventure.” (I, assumption that histori- 17) In the spring of 1915 ans “have a peculiar duty he wrote his exams and towards losers, not out of promptly enlisted. mere perversity, but because much is to be According to Pearson, the war’s “point- learned from them,” to quote Syd Wise. less sacrifice” and “senseless slaughter” disil- This review, therefore, represents an op- lusioned him. “King and country? Freedom portunity to spend time with a man whose and democracy? These words sounded hol- remarkable diplomatic and political career low in 1918 and we increasingly rebelled led Maclean’s Magazine in 2016 to rank against their hypocrisy.” (I, 36) him as Canada’s fifth best prime minister, . Not exactly, according to his biog- just behind Pierre Trudeau. rapher. Contemporary sources tell a dif- “God was in His heaven and Queen ferent story, revealing a young man who Victoria on her throne”: it’s a great open- supported conscription and Great Brit- ing hook, capturing the key assumptions of ain. Memoirs are tricky things: sometimes Lester Pearson’s childhood and adolescence self-serving, they can be misleading. But in small-town Ontario. (I, 3) His father if handled with care, and checked against was a Methodist minister; his mother was other sources, they can be utterly revealing. a minister’s wife, an important role in both In any event, Pearson’s war ended when he the church and in the larger community; was hit by a bus during a blackout. Later di- and together they emphasized the virtues agnosed with neurasthenia, he never made

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it to the front. had won the 1957 Nobel Prize for Peace, he After the war, he returned to Vic, grad- responded with “Gosh!” (II, 275) uating in 1919. After working for a couple The world of diplomacy can be intrac- of years, he went to Oxford in 1921 where table but the world of elected politics can be he fell under what he once called its “spell” vicious. It can also be capricious. The Diefen- and where he played lacrosse and hockey baker upset of 1957 followed by the Diefen- but somehow earned a respectable sec- baker sweep of 1958 sent the Liberals and ond. In 1923 he returned to the University their new leader into the wilderness of oppo- Toronto where he taught history. He and sition. Watching the 1958 returns, Maryon Creighton even overlapped each other in broke down: “We’ve lost everything; we’ve Baldwin House in 1927-28. Although the even won our own constituency!” (III, 37) imperative of “research and scholarly pro- Of course, it turned out to be a blessing in duction as the first requirement for prestige disguise because it allowed Pearson and the and promotion had not descended on us,” Liberal Party to re-think . “The Pearson began research for a book on the five years in opposition were, strangely Loyalists. (I, 51) It wasn’t for him. More enough, a most productive, rewarding, and interested in the present than in the past, stimulating time.” (III, 38) In an effort to re- he wrote his exams for the Department invent the party Pearson reached out, asking of External Affairs, finished first, and was Liberals, non-Liberals, and even anti-Liber- offered an appointment as first secretary als for their advice. Arthur Lower reminded with a generous salary of $3,900 and “good him of the importance of civil liberties and opportunity for promotion.” (I, 59) told him to look out for a young Quebec in- Surely he meant that as an understate- tellectual named Pierre Trudeau: “Here is a ment: his salary wasn’t the only thing in new Quebec, a realistic young Quebec that the “stratosphere,” to use his word, so too has outgrown chauvinist nationalism and was his career path. (I, 59) Successful post- parochial clericalism both.” ings in Ottawa, London, and Washington The Study Conference on National brought him back to Ottawa in 1946 as Problems, better known as the Thinkers under-secretary of state for external affairs. Conference, held at Queen’s University in Two years later, he entered politics and was 1960 confirmed for Pearson that the Lib- appointed to cabinet as secretary of state for eral Party had to tack left: progressive re- external affairs where he would remain for forms, including a national healthcare plan the next eleven years and where he would and a national pension plan, were the order be recognized as one of the most important of the day. “We could not be successful un- diplomats in the world. His wife Maryon less we were a truly liberal party, progressive once joked that behind every great man enough to attract people who might oth- was a surprised woman. Maybe. But Pear- erwise turn to the New Democratic Party.” son brought what today might be called an (III, 54) Two elections and three years later, impressive skill-set to every table he ever Pearson began the final stretch of what he sat at: smart, focused, and hardworking, he called his “long road”: “I should have slept was a quick study who knew how to navi- long and happily on election night 1963. gate the corridors of power and who un- But I did not.” (III, 333, 84) There was too derstood the art and science of diplomacy. much to think about: health plans, pension In short, people liked and respected him. plans, the Quiet Revolution, federalism, When a reporter called to tell him that he and a new flag. Looking back, it is amazing

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to consider what his minority governments and Duchess of York in a “great display of accomplished in just five years. imperial patriotism.” (I, 11) What made Pearson a great prime Pearson also understood the impor- minister? His ability to read the future, tance of recognizing and advancing the especially on the subject of Quebec and political careers of French , in- national unity. Growing up and coming cluding a young Jean Chrétien, “the son of of age in small-town Ontario meant that a factory machinist from French-speaking, “Quebec was virtually a foreign part which Roman Catholic Quebec.” (I, v) Warm and we read about in terms of Madeleine de generous, Chrétien’s foreword includes a Verchères and the Battle of the Plains of handful of anecdotes about Pearson and Abraham.” (I, 15) But as a civil servant, his personal charm. Whatever. It’s too bad cabinet minister, party leader, and prime Chrétien wasn’t pushed, or if he was that minister, he outgrew his stereotypical un- he ignored it, because his foreword repre- derstanding of Quebec and came to realize sents a missed opportunity for a former that the country needed to change in order prime minister to reflect on Pearsonianism to accommodate the urgency of the Quiet and how it shaped or didn’t shape his for- Revolution. The opting-out formula went eign policy agenda. Likewise, it represents a long way. So too did the new flag. He was a missed chance for the man who led the even prepared to make Canada a republic if country during its near-death experience that was the price of Confederation, once in 1995 to think about Pearson’s answers broaching the subject with “Her Majesty to questions of Quebec’s constitutional sta- and her three corgis” during a private meet- tus and, again, how they shaped or didn’t ing at Buckingham Palace. (III, 301) It’s shape his answers to similar questions. too bad the republican option wasn’t real- “I Like Mike” was a common election ized because Canada continues to endure slogan. Indeed, it’s still hard not to like the the constitutional absurdity of a foreign guy, making his memoirs a real treat and head of state and the indignity of watching confirming why Donald Creighton’s “gig- otherwise rational people become light- gling bow-tied bastard” got my vote for headed servile toadies during royal visits. Canada’s greatest prime minister in the Still, Pearson’s inchoate republicanism was Maclean’s survey. a measure of how far he had travelled from the Aurora train station where, perched on Donald Wright his dad’s shoulders, he welcomed the Duke University of New Brunswick Separate Beds: A History of Indian Hospitals in Canada, 1920s-1980s by Maureen K. Lux

Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016. 273 pages. $32.95 paper ISBN 9781442613867, $65.00 cloth ISBN 9781442645578, $32.95 ebook (EPUB format) ISBN 9781442663121. he recent release of Canada’s Truth ‘94 Calls to Action’. I would suggest that Tand Reconciliation Commission’s fi- it came as no surprise to experts within nal report documents the history and leg- the field of Indigenous history that many acy of residential schools and recommends of those calls to action highlighted the

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