Robert Norman Thompson (May 17, 1914 – November 16, 1997) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician, chiropractor, and educator. He was born in

Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, to Canadian parents and moved to Canada in 1918 with his family. Raised in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, he graduated from the Palmer School of Chiropractic in 1939 and worked as a chiropractor and then as a teacher before serving in the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Early political career

Thompson supported the

Social Credit Party of Alberta Alberta Social Credit was a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on social credit monetary policy put forward by Clifford Hugh Douglas and on conservative Christian social values. The Canadian social credit movement wa ...

from its creation. His age prevented him from running as a candidate in the

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

provincial election. Instead he became youth leader of the party.

Ethiopia

In 1944, Thompson was sent to

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

to serve as the founding commander of the Imperial

Ethiopian Air Force The Ethiopian Air Force (ETAF) () is the air service branch of the Ethiopian National Defence Force. The ETAF is tasked with protecting the national air space, providing support to ground forces, as well as assisting civil operations during natio ...

and head up nation's air force academy. He became a confidant of Emperor

Haile Selassie I Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia ('' ...

and, after the war, became deputy minister of education and helped to rebuild the nation's public school system.

Return to Canada and Social Credit

Thompson returned to Canada in 1958 and resumed his activities with Social Credit. He soon became president of the national

Social Credit Party of Canada The Social Credit Party of Canada (french: Parti Crédit social du Canada), colloquially known as the Socreds, was a populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform. It was the federal wing of the Canadi ...

and did much to rebuild the party after it was shut out of Parliament in the massive Progressive Conservative (PC) landslide of 1958.

Alberta Premier The premier of Alberta is the first minister for the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta, and the province's head of government. The current premier is Danielle Smith, leader of the United Conservative Party, who wa ...

Ernest Manning Ernest Charles Manning, (September 20, 1908 – February 19, 1996), a Canadian politician, was the eighth Premier of Alberta between 1943 and 1968 for the Social Credit Party of Alberta. He served longer than any other premier in Alberta's histor ...

saw Thompson as the ideal person to succeed Solon Low as leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and backed him in a hotly-contested leadership vote against

Réal Caouette David Réal Caouette (September 26, 1917 – December 16, 1976) was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a member of Parliament (MP) and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the '' Ralliement des créditistes''. Outsid ...

, the movement's leader in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, which was won by Thompson. Years later, Caouette claimed that he would have won, but Manning told him to tell the Quebec delegates to vote for Thompson because the West would never accept a francophone Catholic as party leader.Dufresne, Bernard, “Quebec’s Socreds vote to Disown Thompson”, ''Globe and Mail'', 2 September 1963, p.1 Under Thompson's leadership, the Socreds returned to the Commons in the 1962 federal election. Thompson himself was elected from

Red Deer, Alberta Red Deer is a city in Alberta, Canada, located midway on the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. Red Deer serves central Alberta, and key industries include health care, retail trade, construction, oil and gas, hospitality, manufacturing and education. ...

. However, he was one of only four Socreds elected from English Canada, and 26 came from Quebec led by Caouette. Under the circumstances, Thompson was all but forced to name Caouette as the party's deputy leader. Thompson was re-elected in the

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

and 1965 elections. The 1962, 1963, and 1965 elections produced minority parliaments in which no one party had a majority of seats (the PCs won the largest plurality in the first election, the Liberals in the other two). That meant that the government had to rely on smaller parties such as Social Credit to pass legislation and remain in power.

Divisions

The Social Credit Party was sharply divided after 1962. Most Socred MPs came from Quebec and regarded Caouette as their leader. The number of Socreds from English Canada was declining, as was made sharply clear at the 1962 election. Additionally, the party's English wing, including Thompson, had largely abandoned social credit theory in favour of fiscal conservatism. In contrast, Caouette and other Quebec Socreds still held fast to the theory. Despite the massive linguistic imbalance in his caucus, Thompson refused to cede the leadership of the party to Caouette. That caused the party to split, and most of the party's Quebec MPs followed Caouette into his new

Ralliement créditiste Historically in Quebec, Canada, there were a number of political parties that were part of the Canadian social credit movement. There were various parties at different times with different names at the provincial level, all broadly following the s ...

in 1963.

Move to the Progressive Conservatives

Thompson was frustrated by the lack of support that the national party enjoyed from the provincial Social Credit parties in Alberta and

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, where they formed the governments and ran powerful political machines. Additionally, Manning was becoming concerned with the leftward trajectory of both the federal Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives. He encouraged Thompson to try to bring about a merger of the federal Social Credit and Progressive Conservative parties. Negotiations failed, but with the backing of both Manning and

Robert Stanfield Robert Lorne Stanfield (April 11, 1914 – December 16, 2003) was a Canadian politician who served as the 17th premier of Nova Scotia from 1956 to 1967 and the leader of the Official Opposition and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative ...

, Thompson decided to

cross the floor In parliamentary systems, politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a different political party than which they were initially elected under (as is the case in Canada and the United Kingdom). ...

to the PCs in hopes of influencing that party. He resigned as leader of Social Credit in March 1967 by citing the lack of support for the federal Social Credit Party from its provincial wings. He then sought the Progressive Conservative nomination for his old seat. Despite vehement opposition from the local riding association, he won the nomination and was re-elected in 1968.

British Columbia

Prior to the 1972 election, Thompson moved to

to teach and tried to win a seat from that province, Surrey—White Rock but was defeated in his attempt. He retired from politics and taught

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Trinity Western University Trinity Western University (TWU) is a Private university, private Christian liberal arts university with campuses in both Langley, British Columbia (district municipality), Langley and Richmond, British Columbia, Richmond, British Columbia. The sch ...

in British Columbia through the 1970s. At various times he also served as chairman of the university's board of governors and vice president of development at the school. In the late 1980s, Thompson was on the executive board of the

World Anti-Communist League The World League for Freedom and Democracy (WLFD) is an international non-governmental organization of anti-communist politicians and groups. It was founded in 1952 as the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) under the initiative of Chiang Kai-sh ...

. In his last years, Thompson was instrumental in bringing the former Emperor Haile Sellassie's children out of Ethiopia and to safety in the west after the 1974

Ethiopian Revolution The Derg (also spelled Dergue; , ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, then including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when the military leadership formally " c ...

. His intervention probably saved them from death.

Quote

''The Americans are our best friends, whether we like it or not.''

Books

*''Canadians, It's Time You Knew!'', Robert N. Thompson. 1965. *''Commonsense for Canadians'', Robert N. Thompson. 1965. *''A Christian Voice from the Marketplace'', Robert N. Thompson. 1979. *''Liberation: The First to Be Freed'', Robert N. Thompson. 1987. *''The House of Minorities'', Robert N. Thompson. 1990.

References

External links

Robert N. Thompson and Political Realignment
Article by Geoffrey Olson
William Aberhart Historical Foundation
Social Credit writings of Robert Thompson on Premier's Page. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Robert 1914 births 1997 deaths Politicians from Duluth, Minnesota American people of Canadian descent Canadian chiropractors Canadian Protestants Social Credit Party of Canada leaders Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta British Columbia candidates for Member of Parliament Canadian people of British descent Canadian anti-communists Officers of the Order of Canada