Sidney Earle Smith

Sidney Earle Smith, PC ( born March 9, 1897 in Port Hood, Nova Scotia, † March 17, 1959 in Ottawa, Ontario) was a Canadian politician.

Biography

Smith served during the First World War as a soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces and the Royal Flying Corps in France. In 1934 he was at the age of 37 years, president of the University of Manitoba and is the youngest principal of a Canadian university.

He also began a nationwide political career: Already in 1942 he was nominated for the post of chairman of the newly formed Progressive Conservative Party of Canada ( PCPC ), but renounced in favor of John Bracken, the Prime Minister of Manitoba, to this office.

In 1945, he was then president of the University of Toronto. In September 1957, he ended his academic career after he was appointed by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker to the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs. On November 4, 1957 he was also elected to represent the constituency of Hastings - Frontenac, Ontario in the elections for Members of the House and re-elected at the general election in May 1958. As Foreign Minister he initiated in August 1958, the Canadian delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations on the crisis in the Middle East.

After his death, Prime Minister Diefenbaker took over as acting foreign minister.