LESTER B. PEARSON, former Prime Minister of Canada, will be remembered as one of the 20th century's most untiring and effective workers in the cause of world peace. For four decades, as diplomat, statesman, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, he gave unstintingly of himself in the service of Canada and the world community. The record of his accomplishments as an outstanding postwar leader has few equals.
Canada has lost a great leader. We in the United States have lost a firm friend. The world has lost a great statesman and a wise counselor. His life illustrates in a profound way how much one man, by virtue of hard work, high principle, and a sympathetic understanding of his fellow man, can accomplish in the cause of peace and freedom.
As one who has had the privilege of knowing Lester Pearson for two decades, and who has counted him a friend, I shall miss him greatly.
Note: Mr. Pearson, 75, died of cancer in Ottawa, Canada, on December 27, 1972. Mr. Pearson was President of the seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly 1952-53, recipient of the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize, and Prime Minister of Canada 1963-68.
Adolph W. Schmidt, United States Ambassador to Canada, officially represented the President at funeral services on December 31, when Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and the official party were unable to land at the Ottawa airport because of icy runway conditions.
Richard Nixon, Statement About the Death of Lester B. Pearson Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/255032