The legendary Sir Charles Tupper became Prime Minister on this date in 1896.  Tupper, a medical doctor who had gone on to serve as premier of Nova Scotia and had led his province into Confederation, ascended to the office of Prime Minister after Mackenzie Bowell resigned in the face of a cabinet revolt against his leadership.  Tupper had been serving as Secretary of State in Mackenzie Bowell's Conservative government.  (Prior to being called to serve in Bowell's cabinet, Tupper had served for 13 years as Canada's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.) A few weeks after becoming PM, Tupper led his Conservatives into electoral battle, facing off  against the Liberal Party under the leadership of Wilfrid Laurier.  Though he and his party won more of the popular vote than the Liberals, Tupper lost the election – and Laurier became Prime Minister. Though Tupper's 69-day term as PM stands as the shortest in Canadian history, his lengthy political career was not yet over.  Known as the Warhorse of Cumberland County, old Dr. Tupper carried on for another five years.  This Father of Confederation led his party into one more campaign – in 1901 – before finally stepping aside at the age of 79. caption id="attachment_555547" align="aligncenter" width="204" Sir Charles Tupper/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 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.