W.L. Mackenzie King

W.L. Mackenzie King (born December 17, 1874, Berlin [now Kitchener], Ontario, Canada—died July 22, 1950, Kingsmere, Quebec) was the prime minister of Canada (1921–26, 1926–30, 1935–48) and leader of the Liberal Party, who helped preserve the unity of the English and French populations of Canada.

Education

Mackenzie King, as he is usually called, was the son of John King and Isabel Grace Mackenzie, daughter of William Lyon Mackenzie, a leader of the Rebellion of 1837 aimed at establishing independent self-government in Upper Canada. Isabel, born while Mackenzie was in exile after the Rebellion, taught her son from childhood that it was his destiny to vindicate his grandfather. King had an outstanding academic career at Toronto, Chicago, and Harvard universities, broadened by travel in England and Germany. In Chicago (where he stayed at Jane Addams’s Hull House) and in London, he engaged in social settlement work that profoundly influenced his later life. He was among the first Canadian politicians to show an active interest in the workers in industry.

Early career

In 1900 King declined an academic post at Harvard to take a civil service post as deputy minister of labour in the newly formed government department at Ottawa. In his new position he edited the Labour Gazette and showed a remarkable capacity for conciliating industrial disputes. His work brought him favourably to the attention of the Liberal prime minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Although King was by nature impetuous, his Presbyterian upbringing and diffident manner gave him an appearance of modesty and a veneer of prudence that became almost second nature. At decisive moments, however, he would overcome his caution and take great risks to further the destiny in which he increasingly believed. Such a risk was his resignation in 1908 from the civil service to stand as the Liberal candidate for Parliament for his native county, North Waterloo, a Conservative stronghold. Elected in 1908, he joined the Laurier government in 1909 as the first full-time minister of labour in Canada. King lost his seat when the government was defeated in 1911. For the next three years he occupied himself with party publicity and organization while seeking vainly an opportunity to return to Parliament. In 1914 he accepted a post with the Rockefeller Foundation to investigate industrial relations in the United States, resulting in 1918 in the publication of Industry and Humanity. When he accepted the Rockefeller post, King had insisted on residing in Canada, and, in the 1917 election, he unsuccessfully contested North York as a Laurier Liberal.

Discover the fascinating events that shaped the world, straight from our editors.

SIGN UP

By clicking “Sign Up”, you consent to the Britannica Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Britannica Quiz

Pop Quiz: 17 Things to Know About World War II

Liberal leader

After Laurier’s death in 1919, King became leader of the Liberal Party. His loyalty to Laurier in 1917 was probably the decisive factor in the leadership contest, though his advocacy of social reform without socialism appealed to many of the younger party members. Leadership of the Liberal Party in 1919 was no assurance of political success. During World War I the party had split over conscription mainly along English–French lines, and several leading Liberals had joined the Conservatives in a Union Government. Moreover, the western base of the party had been sapped by the rise of an agrarian party, the Progressives.

After the defeat of the Union Government in the election of 1921, King became prime minister on December 29, although his party was just short of a majority in Parliament. The future of King and his party was far from secure. In the election of 1925, he made an appeal for a majority but emerged with fewer seats in Parliament than the Conservatives. Despite this apparent Liberal defeat, the Conservatives also lacked a majority. Instead of resigning, King met with Parliament, where, with the support of Progressive and Independent members, his government won a vote of confidence. The government carried on in 1926 for six months, but, with the emergence of a scandal in the customs department, support in Parliament declined. King decided to end the uncertainty and advised the governor general to dissolve Parliament. When his advice was not taken, he resigned. The Conservative leader, Arthur Meighen, formed a government that was defeated in Parliament two days later. Meighen was given the dissolution that King had been refused. The 1926 election was fought on the constitutional issue. Because of alliances between Liberals and Progressives in many constituencies, King found himself for the first time with a decisive majority in Parliament. He became prime minister again on September 25. Late in 1926, at the Imperial Conference in London, King’s was probably the determining voice in securing the declaration of equality of status of the self-governing nations of the empire, thereafter styled the Commonwealth.

Wartime leadership

King’s government lost the election of 1930, and he led the opposition through the worst years of the Great Depression but won an overwhelming victory in the election of 1935. From then until his retirement in 1948, King was prime minister and the dominant personality in Canadian public life. It was his leadership of the country through six years of war and three years of postwar reconstruction that gave King a commanding place in Canadian history. During those years, he led a country long divided over external policy unitedly into World War II in 1939; surmounted two political crises over conscription, one nearly fatal to his government; and won the postwar election. The government he led organized a tremendous military, industrial, and financial contribution to the war and at the same time prepared for a smooth and rapid advance in economic development and social welfare afterward. When King retired, his successor, Louis Saint Laurent, took over a strong government, a united and effective political party, and a rapidly growing and self-confident country.

This remarkable record was achieved by a lonely bachelor, lacking in popular appeal, political eloquence, or the trappings of strong leadership. His success was a compound of acute intuitions of the public mood and a superb capacity for the management of men. He died a year and a half after leaving office.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

SUBSCRIBE