Sidney Earle Smith
Template:Short description Template:Use Canadian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder
Sidney Earle Smith Template:Post-nominals (9 March 1897 – 17 March 1959) was an academic and Canada's Secretary of State for External Affairs in the government of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.
Early life and education
Born and raised on Nova Scotia's Port Hood Island, Smith grew up speaking both English and Gaelic. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of King's College, followed by an LL.B. from Dalhousie University.<ref>Sidney Smith fonds, Library and Archives Canada</ref>
Career
Smith became a lawyer and a professor of law, lecturing at Osgoode Hall Law School and then at Dalhousie University. In 1929, he became dean of Dalhousie's law school. In 1934, he left the Maritimes to become president of the University of Manitoba. In 1945, he was appointed the president of the University of Toronto. He remained in that role for twelve years, overseeing a major period of the university's expansion.
Politics
A strong Conservative in the Red Tory tradition, Smith became a prominent member of the Progressive Conservative Party. In 1956, he was considered a possibility for the party's leadership, but decided not to run, disappointing those in the party establishment who wished to prevent the populist John Diefenbaker from becoming leader.
After Diefenbaker won a surprise minority government in 1957, Smith was appointed as Secretary of State for External Affairs. Despite Smith's brilliance and popularity in academia, his success in this new role was limited. After holding the position for two years, he died suddenly of a stroke in 1959.
Posthumous recognition
Sidney Smith Hall, the central building of the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto, is named after him.
Election results
Template:1957 Canadian federal by-elections/Hastings—Frontenac
References
Template:Reflist Martin Friedland, The University of Toronto: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002.
External links
- Template:Canadian Parliament links
- Sidney Earle Smith archival papers held at the University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services
- Sidney Earle Smith fonds s held at Library and Archives Canada
Template:CA-Ministers of Foreign Affairs Template:Presidents of the University of Toronto
- 1897 births
- 1959 deaths
- Canadian legal scholars
- Dalhousie University alumni
- Deans of law schools in Canada
- Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
- Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
- Members of the United Church of Canada
- Politicians from Inverness County, Nova Scotia
- Presidents of the University of Toronto
- Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs
- Canadian people of Scottish descent
- University of Manitoba
- Schulich School of Law alumni
- Canadian secretaries of state for external affairs
- 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada