From the archives: What it was like when Pierre Trudeau was elected Liberal leader

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Justin Trudeau is the new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, the same position his father won almost exactly 45 years ago.

There are some major differences in how the two Trudeaus won their leaderships. Justin participated in the party's largest-ever leadership vote, with 104,000 members and supporters taking part. Pierre won a more traditional delegated convention.

Justin won in a landslide, with nearly 80 per cent of the vote. His father, though an accomplished justice minister, won the leadership with about 51-per-cent support after four ballots.

But when I read through The Globe and Mail's coverage of the 1968 Liberal leadership convention, it was possible to find some similarities. Both father and son certainly have a way with the audience. In the national showcase in Toronto last week, Justin captured 1,500 Liberals' attention better than any of his rivals. His father, as you'll read, accomplished a similar feat.

Here are some excerpts from The Globe's coverage of the 1968 contest:

"Trudeau seen far ahead of pack; Liberal backroom boys plot deals" – April 3, 1968.

Top strategists for most of the serious Liberal leadership candidates have begun earnest, but informal, talks on alliances that may develop on the convention floor later in the week.

These men are old friends and many have been around Ottawa for years. They kept in touch throughout the leadership campaign but now they are down to basic issues – who will throw his support to whom and when.

With the opening of the convention only 24 hours away, it is time for the wheeling and dealing that could determine the choice of the new leader and Prime Minister on Saturday.

After three months of frantic planning, fund-raising and campaigning, these insiders are coming to a common view. Here is that view as the insiders outlined in confidential conversations yesterday:

Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau is far ahead of the pack. His support may be slipping slightly at the moment, but not enough to jeopardize his first-place standing on the first ballot. If he wows delegates tomorrow and Friday, a bandwagon could develop and he could win on the second or third ballot.

Three other candidates – External Affairs Minister Paul Martin, Transport Minister Paul Hellyer and Consumer and Corporate Affairs Minister John Turner – and, just barely conceivably, one other in former Trade and Commerce Minister Robert Winters – have an outside chance. But none can win by himself. If anyone other than Mr. Trudeau is to win, it will have to come from a combination of these four.

Among the four, Mr. Martin is slipping badly. A week ago he was rated no worse than second; yesterday some of the insiders ranked him third and expressed the view that, if his slide is not reversed, he could wind up in fourth place. Mr. Hellyer seems to be holding firm and is possibly in second place, slightly ahead of Mr. Martin. Mr Turner's campaign is gathering momentum; he is probably running fourth now, but could move up to third. Mr. Winters seems to be gaining slightly, but not enough to move him out of fifth place.

"Favored Trudeau gets big ovation" – April 6, 1968.

Pierre Trudeau walked quietly to the podium of the Civic Centre last night and set the house on fire.

The crowd of 8,000, which had been apathetic all night, rose to roar, and all over the packed arena modernistic Trudeau signs – in burnt orange, black and white – emerged from under chairs and shot into the air.

It was an impressive, almost overwhelming demonstration of strength for the man acknowledged as the front-runner as the Liberal Party today picks a new leader and a new Prime Minister.

It was the most emotional movement during five hours of oratory and demonstrations that covered the range from yawning tedium to frenetic excitement.

Although Mr. Trudeau was the big star of the evening, Consumer and Corporate Affairs Minister John Turner was not far behind. His orange-and-black signs invaded the floor before Mr. Trudeau's had cleared away. His partisans inherited and sustained the enthusiasm, traded chants with the Trudeau supporters – T-U-R-N-E-R ...We Want Trudeau … We Want Turner, We Want Turner, We Want Turner – and gradually took over the arena.

The drama of the night belong to the two men who have claimed to be offering the Liberal Party a new direction and vitality – the cool Justice Minister and the eager, thrusting young Consumer Affairs Minister.

After a procession of candidates employing traditional political techniques, Mr. Trudeau's relaxed and almost conversation style was a refreshing breeze through the oven-like arena.

The preceding speakers had failed largely to touch the delegates. Mr. Trudeau talked to them in serious tones and the crowd was only too ready to abandon the hotdog stands, still its chatter to dead silence and listen with rapt attention.

For the previous 3.5 hours it had been a tough, almost impossible, audience for any speaker to move.

When it came to Mr. Trudeau's speech, the crowd seemed to have had about all the oratory it could stomach. But it was immediately apparent that the delegates had really been waiting for Mr. Trudeau.

Through the night his signs had not been much in evidence. There were plenty of green circles for Winters, skinny red-and-white placards for Hellyer, octagonal yellow-and-blue signs for MacEachen, and rectangular picture cards for Martin, green sketches of Green and even a few red and white signs for Rev. Lloyd Henderson waved by long-haired hippies and teeny boppers.

Suddenly, when the convention chairman, Senator John Nichol, called on Mr. Trudeau, his signs appeared in an instant, a forest all over the stands and the floor.

Ottawa policemen cleared a path for Mr. Trudeau and his guard of honor – a battalion of television cameras, mob of reporters and a gaggle of orange-and-white-clad hostesses.

There was no music, just chants: "We want Trudeau. We want Trudeau. We want Trudeau."

As he began to speak, the arena was hushed for the first time. There was no talking, no whispering. The vast crowd strained to hear.

"Trudeau promises to work as PM for 'a just society'" – April 8, 1968.

The new Liberal leader, Pierre Trudeau, today begins a cram course in the art of government and the operation of its departments to prepare himself to take over as Prime Minister within the next couple of weeks.

He will spend much of the day working with Prime Minister Lester Pearson in the Privy Council office and receiving initial briefings from senior officials.

…

And Mr. Trudeau also told his press conference, as he told the convention Saturday night, that he will be working in the days ahead on policies to bring about "a just society."

Mr. Trudeau recognized that, as a relative newcomer to active politics, the Liberal Party and the government, he faces special problems. He has had only a year in the cabinet, as justice minister, and this is insufficient time to master the complexities of government.

At the top of his priority list in the coming weeks is the need to heal wounds opened, prides crushed and resentments generated during the leadership campaign and particularly during 7.5 hours of voting at the convention Saturday.

Mr. Trudeau acknowledged that many Liberals regard him as an upstart who had not earned the right to the leadership and office of Prime Minister.

"I'm not an upstart," he said, adding he felt this would become clear as he settled into his new duties.

When he saw the earnestness and dedication of the people working for him in the leadership race, he realized how deeply others working for other candidates could be wounded by defeat, he said.

"I'm concerned with the problem of unity … because after this kind of battle there are always some scars left, not so much in terms of ideologies in terms of personalities … I hope and think, at the top level, at the level of the candidates themselves, there will be unity in the party."

He said he will devote much of his time in the coming weeks to making Liberals in the provinces and supporters of other candidates feel welcome in the party. He plans to start this week a series of meetings with Liberals from all parts of the country. Mr. Trudeau will meet some party members personally and will enlist other ministers to see others.

He viewed his party problems not primarily as a matter of left versus right in the political spectrum, but rather as new Liberals versus old.

Chris Hannay is The Globe's online politics editor. He compiled with assistance from web editor Matt Lundy and editorial researcher Celia Donnelly.