Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1919-2000) was the leader of the Liberal Party and Canada's prime minister for about 15 years. He successfully defeated the separatist movement in Quebec and led Canada both to greater strength nationally and to more independence internationally.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau was born in Montreal, Quebec, on October 18, 1919. The son of a wealthy French-Canadian businessman, Charles Trudeau, and a mother of United Empire Loyalist background, Trudeau received his early education in French, attending the elite College Jean de Brébeuf for eight years. After obtaining his B.A. from Brébeuf in 1940, Trudeau studied law at the University of Montreal; political economy at Harvard; law, economics, and political science at Paris; and political economy at the London School of Economics (1947-1948). He completed his education with a year-long trip around the world on $800 in 1948-1949.

He returned to Quebec in April 1949 and immediately became involved...