Future Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson was in Washington, D.C. on this date in 1962. He had traveled to the American capital to attend a dinner for all Nobel Laurette’s from the hemisphere that had been organized by President John F. Kennedy. At a breakfast meeting during his trip, JFK’s Special Assistant, Walt Rostow, presented the distinguished Canadian visitor with a bound copy of Kennedy’s 1960 campaign speeches. In presenting the gift, Rostow said he hoped Pearson might find it helpful next time he finds himself fighting an election. Back in Ottawa, Kennedy’s nemesis, our own John Diefenbaker, was far from pleased with the reception received by Pearson that week in D.C.
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.