World leaders, including Canada’s Lester Pearson, were gathered in Washington on this date in 1963 for the funeral of the slain President John F. Kennedy. On the margins of the fallen President’s funeral, Prime Minister Pearson and Secretary of State for External Affairs, Paul Martin Sr., held talks with the new President, Lyndon Johnson of Texas. An American note-taker later filed a report on the discussion.
“The President said he could see no reason why problems between Canada and the United States could not be resolved and that he believed that relations between the two countries were on a fundamentally sound basis,” the report read. “The Prime Minister generally agreed but insisted that there were more bilateral problems than was generally supposed. Likewise, he pointed out that Canadian sensitivities were not always understood. However, the Prime Minister said the Canadian Government would be straightforward with the U.S. Government and would support it on the big issues.”
You can read the official State Department account of the Pearson-Johnson meeting at this link.
