Pierre Trudeau
Canadians called it Trudeaumania. In the late 1960s, Pierre Trudeau's charm, good looks and sense of humor — he once did a pirouette behind the back of Queen Elizabeth II — caught the attention of voters, who elected him to Canada's Federal Parliament as a member of the Liberal Party in 1965. He was appointed Prime Minister three years later.
But despite his early popularity, Trudeau hit a roadblock over the issue of Quebec's independence. In 1970, a terrorist group from the French-speaking province kidnapped a British diplomat and a Quebec provincial minister, demanding the release of incarcerated fellow separatists. Instead, Trudeau sent thousands of troops to Montreal, detaining hundreds without charges. While the attacks ceased, the incident and the lingering distrust of federalism it created in Quebec and elsewhere led to a defeat for Trudeau's Liberal Party in the 1979 elections. Trudeau's replacement, Progressive Conservative Joe Clark, proposed a referendum to ask Quebec residents if they wanted independence. But this idea didn't sit well with most Canadians, either, and Clark eventually lost a vote of no confidence. Nine months after his defeat, Trudeau was back as Prime Minister, and he stayed in office until he resigned in 1984.