MacKenzie King
King, (William Lyon) Mackenzie (1874-1950), a Canadian statesman. He was leader of the Liberal party 1919-48 and prime minister for nearly 22 years (1921-26; 1926-30; 1935-48). When he resigned in 1948 because of poor health, King had served as prime minister longer than any other in the history of Canada.
King was born in Kitchener (then Berlin). Ontario. He was a grandson of William Lyon Mackenzie, a leader of the rebellion of 1837 to win self-government in Canada. He graduated from the University of Toronto. studied at the University of Chicago, and, in 1909, received a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
King's public career began when he was named deputy minister of labor in the Liberal government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier in 1900. Elected to Parliament in 1908, he was in the Laurier cabinet as minister of labor (1909-11). During World War I, he directed research in labor relations in the United States for the Rockefeller Foundation, and wrote Industry and Humanity (1918). The Liberal party chose him to succeed Laurier as party leader in 1919. Except for a period of three months in 1926, King was prime minister from 1921 until 1930. During this time, he sought to promote national unity among Canada's French- and English-speaking communities and to make the Liberal party one in which both groups could work in harmony. He also worked to achieve autonomy for Canada within the British Empire, playing an important role in the framing of the Statute of Westminster (1931), which established the British Commonwealth.
While again prime minister, 1935-48, King established closer ties with the United States in economic affairs and defense policy, and, during World War II, worked closely with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin D. Roosevelt. To achieve national unity during World War II, King held out against conscription (opposed by French Canadians) until late in the war, when its use was approved by national referendum. He retired from public life in 1948.