Same Road?

Beside Mackenzie King in the high-ceilinged old office in the East Block sat Lester Bowles Pearson, Canada's ace diplomat. For once he seemed ill at ease, like a modest football hero. Mackenzie King was ready to tell the press the week's top secret: from Louis St. Laurent, Prime Minister-to-be, "Mike" Pearson was taking over the job of Secretary of State for External Affairs.

After 20 years as a civil servant, two years as Under Secretary for External Affairs, Pearson was getting into politics. He took up his new cabinet post with a sense of mission. In his view, the chief hope of easing the continuing international tension lies in an Atlantic defensive union linking North America with Europe's Western Union. In Washington, U.S. and Canadian diplomats were already working on the problem. Pearson was sure that he had something to contribute.

In pulling Pearson into politics, the Liberal bigwigs had brought off the neatest coup that Ottawa has seen in many a day. At 51, Mike Pearson has an international reputation unrivaled among Canadians. In London and Washington (where he was ambassador in wartime) he has made more friends for Canada than any of his predecessors.

Bright & breezy with friends, free & easy with all comers (except subordinates, on whom he makes inordinate working demands), Pearson has a personality which would be worth thousands of votes to any politician. But he has long been loth to leave the safe berth of civil service. The cabinet post assured Pearson of a pay boost, from $15,000 to $19,000 when he gets elected to Parliament. It also assured him of a pay cut, to $6,000 as a mere M.P., should the Liberals lose control of the government, or to zero should he be defeated.

A skilled debater, with a ready wit that should serve him well in the rough & tumble of the House, Pearson steps at once into the front ranks of Liberal leadership. In this, he makes a striking parallel with his predecessor: St. Laurent was no politician when he entered the cabinet (as Minister of Justice) in 1941, and now he is moving into the Prime Ministry. Many politicians, citing the parallel, thought that Pearson might well travel the St. Laurent road.

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