The Making of a Diplomat: Lester B. Pearson at Canada House London, 1935 to 1941 by Gregory Scott Finney

Article Information

Published: 2024
Type: full article (7,000 – 10,000 words)
Author(s): Scott Finney
ISSN: 2977-3954
DOI: https://doi.org/10.60844/gnx0-3c88
Download: Full Article

Abstract

Canada House, in Trafalgar Square, London, is where the Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom has their diplomatic headquarters. Lester B. Pearson predominantly worked there from 1935 to 1941. Pearson was the only Canadian to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in resolving the Suez Crisis, in 1957, and was the Canadian Prime Minister from 1963 to 1968. This article argues that Pearson’s time working at Canada House focused his diplomatic skill set around managing Anglo-Canadian relations that respected both Canadian independence and conditional Canadian loyalty towards the British government; as opposed to behaving as a subordinate British colony. Pearson also learned to remain resolute in the face of seemingly impossible challenges, from the British collective approach to dealing with and managing World War II; a skill that would assist him through his political and diplomatic career. These events enabled him to develop some of the key characteristics of what the late diplomatic historian Harold Nicolson called the ideal diplomat: good temper, precision, calm, loyalty, and patience. As such, his time in Britain should be recognised for its significance to his future career and to Canada’s approach to world affairs as the country emerged from the shadow of the British Empire.

Keywords

Lester B. Pearson; Diplomacy; Canada House, London; Vincent Massey

Biography

Gregory has recently completed his first two years of six for his online PhD in History under thesis supervisor Dr. Cross. Gregory’s PhD thesis, ‘Friends Through Thick and Thin’, investigates Canadian personal diplomacy with the US and UK during the Suez Crisis of 1956. Gregory currently lives and works as a school teacher in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

For his research, Gregory had the opportunity to travel to Toronto and Ottawa in Canada; and Philadelphia, New York City, Abilene, Boise, and Tempe in the United States. Gregory delivered an online keynote presentation for the Dwight Eisenhower Presidential Museum and Library on April 11, 2023, that focused on Dwight Eisenhower’s decision not to support the United Kingdom’s military operation during the Suez Crisis of 1956.