Robert MacGregor Dawson

Robert MacGregor Dawson (March 1, 1895 – July 16, 1958) was a Canadian political scientist and academic. He is best known as coauthor with Norman Ward of the 1947 textbook The Government of Canada.[1]

Born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Dawson received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1915 and a Master's degree in 1916 from Dalhousie University. During that time, he served locally with the 1st "Halifax" Regiment, Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery. He received a A.M. degree from Harvard University and MScEcon, PhD, and DScEcon degrees in Politics from the University of London (The London School of Economics).[2]

In 1921, he started teaching at Dalhousie University before leaving to teach at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and Rutgers University. In 1928, he returned to Canada as head of the Political Science department at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1937, he started teaching at the University of Toronto. He left in 1951 to write a biography of Prime Minister of Canada William Lyon Mackenzie King.[2] He finished the first volume before his death in Bridgewater NS, in 1958.

He was married to Sarah Ada Foster (1896-1969). They had two sons: Robert MacGregor Dawson (1927-2000; Carnegie Professor of English, University of King's College (Dalhousie University), Halifax, NS) and William Foster Dawson (1930-2011; Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Western Ontario, London, ON).

In 1975, he was named a Person of National Historic Significance.[3]