The afternoon sun shafted down through the skylights of Ottawa's gloomy, barnlike Coliseum. Floodlights played on the poster portraits of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Twenty-nine years ago Mr. King had taken over from his longtime friend Sir Wilfrid. Now 1,227 delegates to the National Liberal Convention were picking Mr. King's successor.
On stage with other Liberal bigwigs, dapper Louis St. Laurent, 66, Secretary of State for External Affairs, nervously fingered his bristly mustache. He was Mr. King's man and the convention's almost certain choice. In a nearby box sat chic, grey-haired Madame St. Laurent. As...
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