We are grateful to the Diefenbaker Canada Center for this brief biography of John George Diefenbaker. For more information please visit the Diefenbaker Canada Center
When the Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker was elected Chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan in 1969, he generously indicated his intention to donate his papers, his personal library and collected memorabilia to his alma mater. From this gift grew the concept of a Diefenbaker Centre to serve scholars interested in various facets of Canadian development during Confederation's tenth decade; to serve as a museum, which, by focusing on the life and career of Canada's thirteenth Prime Minister, would stimulate public awareness of Canada's history and institutions; and to provide a home for the University of Saskatchewan's Institute of Northern Studies, thus epitomizing Mr. Diefenbaker's lifelong interest in and commitment to the development of the Canadian North. The Diefenbaker memorabilia displayed in this exhibition is but a small part of the collection of The Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker Centre in Saskatoon.
Born in Neustadt, Ontario, September 18, 1895, Mr. Diefenbaker moved West with his family in 1903. Settling in the Northwest Territories' Fort Carleton region, he was to become part of the Canadian frontier tradition which, from his earliest days, was both his fascination and his pride. Educated in one-room country schools, taught by his father and uncle, at the Saskatoon Collegiate Institute and the University of Saskatchewan, John Diefenbaker determined at an early age that politics held his destiny. After service in the First World War, Mr. Diefenbaker completed his Law Articles and opened practice in the little town of Wakaw. In 1924 he moved to the northern centre of Prince Albert, a city, the name of which has become inexorably entwined with his own. The Man from Prince Albert was one day to be Prime Minister of Canada.
The road, however, was far from easy. A candidate in the general elections of 1925 and 1926, success eluded him. Defeated provincially in 1929 and 1938, not to mention for Mayor of Prince Albert in 1935, few could have credited that John Diefenbaker still held firm to his belief in his political future. Finally elected to the House of Commons for the constituency of Lake Centre in 1940, he was defeated in his bid to become National Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 1942. Re-elected to the House in 1945, he was defeated in his second attempt to become Conservative Leader in 1948. Again returned from Lake Centre in 1949, redistribution eliminated his constituency. It was at this juncture, following the death of his first wife, Edna, in 1951, that he nearly abandoned politics to devote his full energies to the practice of law, where his continuous success before the Courts had earned him a very considerable reputation. Had his supporters in Prince Albert not rallied to his cause (their slogan: "Not a partisan cry but a national need"), assuring his victory in the 1953 general election, it is doubtful that the Progressive Conservative Party could have elected John Diefenbaker their leader in 1956. Events had finally conspired to present this man and his party with a long-awaited "appointment with destiny". In 1957, the Conservative Party, under his leadership and to the surprise of the vast majority of Canada's political observers, scored an electoral upset, ending 22 years of Liberal rule.
The rest of Mr. Diefenbaker's story is, perhaps, more familiar to us. Indeed, the formation of the Diefenbaker Government on June 21, 1957 may be said to have begun a new era in Canadian political history. His electoral triumph in 1958, the largest ever accorded any political leader in Canada's history, confirmed that our political lives would never be the same again. Nor is this a reference particularly to the sound, the fury, the style of federal politics. The changes wrought by the Diefenbaker Government were of a more substantial nature. For example, under the philosophic umbrella of "Social Justice", much of progressive legislation we now take for granted was initiated. Agricultural reform (i.e., ARDA) and massive wheat sales restored the economic importance of Canadian agriculture. The Northern Vision and The Canadian Bill of Rights have already found their place in the story of our nation.
The dollar crisis and the nuclear arms issue which reduced the Diefenbaker Government to minority status in the general election of 1962 and defeat in 1963 are faint memories today. What is better remembered is the 1963 campaign when Mr. Diefenbaker again captured the imagination and admiration of Canadians, if not quite enough of their votes, in the most spectacular one-man political campaign this country has ever seen.
Although electoral success was to elude him once more in 1965, the high drama of his leadership in this period is part of a Canadian legend. The "Tenth Decade" ended when the Conservative Party found a new leader in September 1967. Down, but never out, John Diefenbaker remained a major force in his nation's politics, ever ably assisted and encouraged by his second wife, Olive. The death of Mrs. Diefenbaker in December 1975, occasioned a national sense of loss. When Her Majesty conferred the Companion of Honour on Her most faithful servant in 1977, Canadians applauded the recognition of the Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker's contribution to his country.
