William Lyon MacKenzie King
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The Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King OM CMG PC |
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| 10th Prime Minister of Canada | |
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In office October 23, 1935 – November 15, 1948 |
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| Monarch | |
| Governor-General | |
| Preceded by | Richard Bennett |
| Succeeded by | Louis St. Laurent |
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In office September 25, 1926 – August 7, 1930 |
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| Monarch | George V |
| Governor-General | |
| Preceded by | Arthur Meighen |
| Succeeded by | Richard Bennett |
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In office December 29, 1921 – June 28, 1926 |
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| Monarch | George V |
| Governor-General | The Lord Byng of Vimy |
| Preceded by | Arthur Meighen |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Meighen |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 17, 1874 Berlin, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | July 22, 1950 (aged 75) Chelsea, Quebec, Canada |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Resting place | Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto, Ontario |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Education |
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| Religion | Presbyterian |
| Signature |  |
William Lyon Mackenzie King (OM CMG PC; December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. He is best known for his leadership of Canada throughout the Second World War (1939–1945) when he mobilized Canadian money, supplies and volunteers to support Britain while boosting the economy and maintaining home front morale. A Liberal with 21 years and 154 days in office, he was the longest-serving prime minister in Canadian history. Trained in law and social work, he was keenly interested in the human condition (as a boy, his motto was "Help those that cannot help themselves"), and played a major role in laying the foundations of the Canadian welfare state.
King acceded to the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1919. Taking the helm of a party bitterly torn apart during the First World War, he reconciled factions, unifying the Liberal Party and leading it to victory in the 1921 election. His party was out of office during the harshest days of the Great Depression in Canada, 1930–35; he returned when the economy was on an upswing. He personally handled complex relations with the Prairie Provinces, while his top aides Ernest Lapointe and Louis St. Laurent skillfully met the demands of French Canadians. During the Second World War, he carefully avoided the battles over conscription, patriotism and ethnicity that had divided Canada so deeply in the First World War. Though few major policy innovations took place during his premiership, he was able to synthesize and pass a number of measures that had reached a level of broad national support. Scholars attribute King's long tenure as party leader to his wide range of skills that were appropriate to Canada's needs. He understood the workings of capital and labour. Keenly sensitive to the nuances of public policy, he was a workaholic with a shrewd and penetrating intelligence and a profound understanding of the complexities of Canadian society. A modernizing technocrat who regarded managerial mediation as essential to an industrial society, he wanted his Liberal Party to represent liberal corporatism to create social harmony. King worked to bring compromise and harmony to many competing and feuding elements, using politics and government action as his instrument. He led his party for 29 years, and established Canada's international reputation as a middle power fully committed to world order.
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