Louis St. Laurent

Louis Stephen St. Laurent (Saint-Laurent or St-Laurent in French, baptized Louis-Étienne St-Laurent; 1 February 1882 – 25 July 1973) was the 12th Prime Minister of Canada, from 15 November 1948 to 21 June 1957. He was a Liberal with a strong base in the Catholic francophone community, from which base he had long mobilised support to Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. His foreign policy initiatives transformed Canada from an isolationist ex-colony with little role in world affairs to an active "middle power". St. Laurent was an enthusiastic proponent of Canada's joining NATO in 1949 to fight Communist totalitarianism, overcoming opposition from some intellectuals, the Labor-Progressive Party, and many French Canadians. The contrast with Mackenzie King was not dramatic – they agreed on most policies. St. Laurent had more hatred of communism, and less fear of the United States. He was neither an idealist nor a bookish intellectual, but an "eminently moderate, cautious conservative man ... and a strong Canadian nationalist".

Early life, family, and education
Louis St. Laurent was born on 1 February 1882 in Compton, Quebec, a village in the Eastern Townships, to Jean-Baptiste-Moïse Saint-Laurent, a French-Canadian, and Mary Anne Broderick, an Irish-Canadian. He grew up fluently bilingual. His English had a noticeable Irish brogue, while his gestures (such as a hunch of the shoulders) were French.

He received degrees from Séminaire Saint-Charles-Borromée (B.A. 1902) and Université Laval (LL.L. 1905). He was offered, but declined, a Rhodes Scholarship upon this graduation from Laval in 1905. In 1908, he married Jeanne Renault (1886–1966), with whom he had two sons and three daughters, including Jean-Paul St. Laurent.

Prime Minister (1948–1957)
In 1948, King retired, and quietly persuaded his senior ministers to support St-Laurent's selection as the new Liberal leader at the Liberal leadership convention of August 1948. St-Laurent won, and was sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada on 15 November, making him Canada's second French-Canadian Prime Minister, after Wilfrid Laurier.

The Canadian economy was one of the strongest in the world in the period immediately following the end of the war. The prosperity lasted for more than a decade, significantly expanding the Canadian national infrastructure.

In the 1949 federal election that followed his ascension to the Liberal leadership, many wondered, including Liberal party insiders, if St-Laurent would appeal to the post-war populace of Canada. On the campaign trail, St-Laurent's image was developed into somewhat of a 'character' and what is considered to be the first 'media image' to be used in Canadian politics. St-Laurent chatted with children, gave speeches in his shirt sleeves, and had a 'common touch' that turned out to be appealing to voters. At one event during the 1949 election campaign, he disembarked his train and instead of approaching the assembled crowd of adults and reporters, gravitated to, and began chatting with, a group of children on the platform. A reporter submitted an article entitled "'Uncle Louis' can't lose!" which earned him the nickname "Uncle Louis" in the media (Papa Louis in Quebec). With this common touch and broad appeal, he subsequently led the party to victory in the election against the Progressive Conservative Party led by George Drew. The Liberals won 190 seats—the most in Canadian history at the time, and still a record for the party.

His reputation as Prime Minister was impressive. He demanded hard work of all of his MPs and Ministers, and worked hard himself. He was reputed to be as knowledgeable on some ministerial portfolios as the ministers responsible themselves. To that end, Jack Pickersgill (a minister in St-Laurent's cabinet) said as prime minister St-Laurent had: "as fine an intelligence as was ever applied to the problems of government in Canada. He left it a richer, a more generous and more united country than it had been before he became prime minister."

St-Laurent led the Liberals to another powerful majority in the 1953 federal election. While the Liberals lost several seats, they still had 111 more seats than the Tories, enabling them to dominate the House of Commons of Canada.