Dale Cairns Thomson was born on June 17, 1923, in Westlock, Alberta, and died on April 27, 1999. His parents were Walter James Cairns Thomson and Margaret Charlotte Falkson. Thomson had two siblings, Peggy Thomson Scott and Walter Thomson. He married Shirley Lavinia Cull in 1967 and divorced in 1967, then married Hamidol Mena Syne in 1982 (she died in 1987), and then he married Lizanne Ryan in 1996. He had no children. Thomson served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II and then attended the University of Alberta, graduating with a B.A. degree in 1948. He then obtained a diploma in international relations from the University of Paris in 1950 and a doctorate from the university’s Faculty of Letters in 1951. His thesis was titled “General Haushofer and his Ideas on Geopolitics.” After returning to Canada, Thomson worked at the National Film Board of Canada and then served as Associate Private Secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, where he remained until 1958. Involved with both the Liberal Party of Quebec and the Liberal Party of Canada, in the 1958 Canadian federal election, he was the unsuccessful Liberal candidate in the Jasper-Edson riding. Thomson then returned to academia and authored numerous books, while writing articles in the Canadian press and commentating on television and radio about Canadian politics. Thomson was Vice-Principal of McGill University from 1973 to 1976 and Professor of Political Science from 1973 to 1994.