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J. King Gordon

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J. King Gordon
Born
John King Gordon

(1900-12-06)6 December 1900
Died24 February 1989(1989-02-24) (aged 88)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Political partyCo-operative Commonwealth Federation
Spouse
Ruth Anderson
(m. 1939)
Children
Parents
AwardsPearson Medal of Peace (1980)
Ecclesiastical career
ReligionChristianity
ChurchUnited Church of Canada
Ordained1927
Academic background
Alma mater
Influences
Academic work
Discipline
Sub-discipline
School or traditionChristian socialism[5]
Institutions

John King Gordon CM (1900–1989) was a Canadian Christian minister, editor, United Nations official, and academic.[7]

Biography

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Gordon was born on 6 December 1900 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the son of the novelist and future Presbyterian Church moderator Charles Gordon (known by the pen name "Ralph Connor")[8] and his wife Helen King.[9] One of his six sisters was the diplomat and educationalist Marjorie Gordon Smart.[10] He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba in 1920.[citation needed] A Rhodes scholar, he studied at The Queen's College, Oxford,[11] from 1920 to 1921.[citation needed] Ordained in 1927, he was a United Church of Canada minister in Manitoba.[12] From 1931 to 1935, he was a professor[citation needed] of Christian ethics at the United Theological College in Montreal.[13] He was dismissed from the college in 1934[14] because of his socialist views.[15] In 1935, he became a travelling professor of Christian ethics, working for the church's Board of Evangelism and Social Service.[16] He became the secretary of the Fellowship for a Christian Social Order the same year.[16] He was also involved with the League for Social Reconstruction.[17]

Gordon married Ruth Anderson in 1939.[18] They had two children, the journalist Charles Gordon[19] and the journalist and novelist Alison Gordon.[20][21]

In 1933, Gordon was one of the authors of the Regina Manifesto[15] and was involved in the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.[7] From 1944 to 1947, he was managing editor of The Nation magazine.[7] From 1947 to 1950, he was the United Nations correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).[citation needed] From 1950 to 1962, he was the human rights and information officer[citation needed] for the United Nations Secretariat.[15] He also served as president of the United Nations Association in Canada[15][22] circa 1975.[14]

From 1962 to 1967,[citation needed] he taught international relations at the University of Alberta.[7] He also taught at the University of Ottawa for six years.[14]

In 1977, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.[15] He was the 1980 recipient of the Pearson Medal of Peace[15][23] for his work in peacekeeping.[citation needed] He received honorary doctorates from the Brandon University (1974), Carleton University (1977), the University of Winnipeg (1979), St. Francis Xavier University (1981), and the University of Manitoba (1981).[23] He died of a stroke on 24 February 1989 in Ottawa, Ontario.[24]

See also

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References

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Fleming 2015, p. 67.
  2. ^ Janzen 2013, p. 344.
  3. ^ Fleming 2015, pp. 64, 78; Janzen 1987, p. 351; Janzen 2013, pp. 67, 343; Wright 1991, p. 71.
  4. ^ Fleming 2015, p. 78; Janzen 2013, p. 67; Wright 1991, p. 71.
  5. ^ Fleming 2015, pp. 124–125.
  6. ^ Horn 1999, p. 117.
  7. ^ a b c d Holmes 2013.
  8. ^ Holmes 2013; Janzen 1987, pp. 347–348.
  9. ^ Janzen 2013, pp. 10, 115.
  10. ^ Green, Barbara, "Marjorie Gordon Smart (1911–1982)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 18 April 2024
  11. ^ Fleming 2015, pp. 32–33.
  12. ^ Fleming 2015, p. 54.
  13. ^ Horn 1999, p. 114.
  14. ^ a b c Goar, Carol (4 March 1989). "We Should Pay Tribute to King Gordon". Windsor Star. Windsor, Ontario. Toronto Star. p. A7.
  15. ^ a b c d e f "J. King Gordon: Scholar CCF Founder". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Canadian Press. 25 February 1989. p. A15.
  16. ^ a b Harrison 1975, pp. 90–91.
  17. ^ Fleming 2015, pp. 80, 125; Masters 1969, p. 36.
  18. ^ Fleming 2015, p. 178.
  19. ^ "Charles Gordon: Incisive, Funny, Retired". Canada.com. Ottawa Citizen. 16 June 2005. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  20. ^ Fleming 2015, p. 179.
  21. ^ Ralph, Dan; Robb, Peter (13 February 2015). "Alison Gordon 1943–2015: Journalist, Author, Trailblazer". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  22. ^ Wood, Bernard (25 February 1989). "King Gordon: Nine Decades of Energetic Activism". Ottawa Citizen. p. A5.
  23. ^ a b Fleming 2015, p. 269.
  24. ^ Janzen 2013, p. 395.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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  • Fraser, Brian J. (1989). "From Anathema to Alternative: The Gordons and Socialism". In Wells, Harold; Hutchinson, Roger (eds.). A Long and Faithful March: Towards the Christian Revolution, 1930s/1980s. Toronto: United Publishing House. ISBN 978-0-919000-46-9.
  • Janzen, Eileen R. (1980). The Development of Democratic Socialist Ideas in English Canada Within the Context of an Emerging Canadian Political Consciousness: F. H. Underhill, Frank R. Scott, J. King Gordon (PhD dissertation). Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University. OCLC 869158091.
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