It is of course important to note that today is the birthday of Sir Mackenzie Bowell.  Canada's fifth Prime Minister was born on this date in 1823.  Happy birthday Sir Mackenzie! Sadly, however, this is also the date, in 1972, that Lester Pearson was summoned to the great UN General Assembly in the sky. As you all might have already guessed, I have always been particularly interested in the bilateral relations between all our Prime Ministers and US Presidents. So, to mark this sad day on the political history calendar, I thought I’d present the statement made by then US President Richard Nixon when he learned of Mr. Pearson’s death. “Lester B. Pearson, former Prime Minister of Canada, will be remembered as one of the 20th century's most untiring and effective workers in the cause of world peace. For four decades, as diplomat, statesman, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, he gave unstintingly of himself in the service of Canada and the world community,” Nixon said. “The record of his accomplishments as an outstanding postwar leader has few equals. Canada has lost a great leader. We in the United States have lost a firm friend. The world has lost a great statesman and a wise counselor. His life illustrates in a profound way how much one man, by virtue of hard work, high principle, and a sympathetic understanding of his fellow man, can accomplish in the cause of peace and freedom.” Nixon then went on to designate Vice President Spiro Agnew as his representative at Mr. Pearson’s funeral but the VP’s plane, due to winter weather, could not land in Ottawa. caption id="attachment_530486" align="alignnone" width="280" Lester B. Pearson/caption caption id="attachment_530484" align="alignnone" width="331" Sir Mackenzie Bowell/caption   Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also proudly served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.