Holmes, John Wendell

CONVOCATION, OCTOBER, 1975
JOHN WENDELL HOLMES
to be Doctor of Laws

In the shaping of our Canadian destiny, southwestern Ontario has been the cradle of many distinguished men. Such names as William Lyon MacKenzie King, John George Diefenbaker and Lester Bowles Pearson spring readily to mind. In a quiet and impressive fashion, another native of southwestern Ontario, the man whom we honour today -- John Wendell Holmes -- has made his contribution to the Canadian identity.

Born in London, Ontario and educated at the Universities of Western Ontario and Toronto, he had the early opportunity to become quintessentially Canadian. However, continued exposure to higher learning at the University of London, in the exciting years at the beginning of the Second World War, made him a supreme internationalist and provided Canada with a skilled and urbane public servant.

In the diplomatic service of his native land for seventeen years, he served as First Secretary at Canada House in London, Chargé d'affaires at the Canadian Embassy in Moscow, Head of the United Nations Division in the Department of External Affairs, Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, and Assistant Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs.

Nor have his professional interests been limited to the foreign service. He has, for many years, made an outstanding contribution to scholarly writing. One of his recent works, The Better Part of Valor: Essays on Canadian Diplomacy, is clearly representative of his manifest ability to write in creative, sensitive, and thought-provoking style concerning Canada's foreign policy and responsibilities. In the area of Political Science, his writing sheds light on the past and blazes a clear traiI to the future.

John Wendell Holmes' versatility extends to a third stream, that of school master and professor. His love of the academic life first surfaced from 1933 to 1938 when he was an English Master at Pickering College in Ontario and reasserted itself in a professorship in Political Science at the University of Toronto after his lengthy divergence into the foreign service.

His most recent area of expertise is one to which he has devoted himself since his retirement from public service. For the past fifteen years, he has channelled his extensive energies and talents into the Canadian Institute of International Affairs, first as President and later as Director General. He has provided outstanding leadership in promoting the aims and objectives of an organization which has become an essential part of Canadian life, in no small measure as a result of his dedicated efforts.

Foreign service officer, scholar, professor and guiding genius of an important national organization, John Wendell Holmes has made a preeminent contribution to many avenues of Canadian life. The nation recognized his service when he was named to the Order of Canada. The University of New Brunswick salutes a distinguished Canadian and extends to him her highest honour.

Praeses admittit Johannem Wendell Holmes honoris causa ad gradum Doctoris in Utroque Jure.

From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2