PM -- 'a beautiful person'
Written by the Citizen Staff, published on Tuesday, December 23, 1969

Prime Minister Trudeau, according to the Beatles' disciple of peace John Lennon, is "a beautiful person."

Lennon emerged from a 50-minute interview with the PM today and declared that if more world leaders were like Mr. Trudeau it wouldn't be necessary to worry about peace. Lennon, accompanied by his wife Yoko Ono, called on Mr. Trudeau in his Centre Block office at 11 a.m. It was intended to be a 10 or 15 minute interview -- it lasted 50 minutes. "Did you find him to be a beautiful person?" Lennon was asked. "I think he is," the Beatle replied. Lennon talked at length about the Mosport Peace Festival which he is organizing, and said he was sure it would be a beautiful happening.

Citizen - UPI Staff Photo

"Great communication" Asked if he had communicated with the prime minister before, he said he had not, but he felt "talk, old-fashioned as it is, is still the great means of communication." Lennon was also asked why he was going to see Health Minister Munro today. It was suggested he might be going to see Mr. Munro about "barring pot or something like that." Lennon answered: "I'm not sworn off anything, but I want to keep clear of anything that affects mental or physical ability." Only photographers were admitted into the office. The prime minister put his arm around Yoko for the cameramen and then John and Yoko embraced. They arrived at the main door of the Centre Block hand-in-hand and remained that way most of the time. Lennon said Mr. Trudeau was the first political leader he had met for such a talk. A meeting with Harold Wilson was only to pose for photographs. "Peace to you," he said to the gathered newsmen as he headed for Mr. Munro's office at Tunney's Pasture. The meeting was initiated about two weeks ago by a Beatles' representative. It was confirmed by telephone Sunday. This article e-published here by permission of the Ottawa Citizen, copyright 1969. Here is how the Ottawa Journal reported the event: Lennons Came for 5 Minutes; Stayed With PM an Hour By Richard Jackson, Journal Staff Reporter Beatle John Lennon and his bride, Yoko, today dropped into Prime Minister Pierre's parliamentary pad, 309S Centre Block, for a chat about peace. The appointment was for five minutes, but it stretched on towards the hour. Clad from head to foot in funeral black, the touring Britons, claiming to be ambassadors of today's youth, swept in through the doors of the Centre Block, surrounded by a small corps of managers and hangers-on. They were escorted without delay to the prime minister's office by his press secretary and several officers of the Common's protective staff. There was a short delay because the prime minister was in conference with Privy Council clerk, Gordon Robertson, who came out of the PM's office grinning in what might have been embarrassment, as the honored guests and 20 photographers and reporters crowded in. Both the Beatle and his bride have shoulder length hair. Yoko's was crowned by a flappy black hat, big as an umbrella. She wore an ankle-length black knitted garment under a black greatcoat. The one reporter who operated as a pool man for all the others, revealed that, after the greetings, the prime minister had thrown an arm around Yoko's shoulders. Beginning their conversation with the prime minister, John and Yoko stood with their arms locked around each other's waists. Some cameramen said they had heard the PM to refer to John and Yoko as "ambassadors." Following their tete a tete with the busy prime minister, the two "ambassadors" of youth went out to Tunney's Pasture to talk with Health Minister Munro who has spoke of the possibilities of softening the penalties of pot-smoking. Copyright by the Ottawa Journal, 1969. Finally, this article appeared in The Ottawa Citizen the day before Lennon's visit to Ottawa. It is included here as it has many candid remarks from John centring on his theme for world peace Smile and clap hands, Lennon's peace plan Written by the Canadian Press, published on December 22, 1969 TORONTO (CP) -- "Smile, clap hands and hope and the world will find peace." That, in brief, was the Christmas message the Lennon's - John and Yoko - offered Saturday. Both agreed their way of achieving peace may be overly-simple but said peace is a "very simple thing." "Peace is no violence, no frustration, no fear," John Lennon said during an interview to be shown at Christmas day by the CBC television network. "If I smile at you, you're liable to smile back," he told the interviewer. "We're smiling at the world." Peace festival Earlier, he told Marshall McLuhan, author of The Medium is the Message, "that it's a cinch to drop in anywhere in the world, clap your hands and get a good response." Between the interviews, the Lennons said a rock festival planned for next summer at nearby Mosport Park and the festival held this summer in Woodstock, N.Y., is the kind of event that can raise hopes for peace. "In London, we were giving up hope until the Woodstock festival," he said. "The vibes (vibrations) from Woodstock were beautiful. "There were 125,000 people there -- the largest group ever assembled that wasn't meant to fight." "If we can bring back a package of hope with the Mosport thing, maybe we can take the whole shebang, the whole world. "Peace is a nice message; it'll get around." Canada helpful Later he was interviewed on the CBC where he said he took drugs when he lost hope but added that those who take drugs "have no hope." He said that Canada is the first country he has come to where he has been given help. During the CBC interview he said Canadian newspapers, radio and TV stations were the first to give his peace campaign a chance. Mr. McLuhan explained that "having no national identity, Canada has never had any goals." "That's why Canada is not as frustrated and therefore not as aggressive as most countries," he said. After lengthy explanation by Mr. McLuhan of how individuals, corporations, countries and dinosaurs "grew large because of a flow of adrenilin to compensate for their frustraion" Mr. Lennon gave an example of his dry humor. "I knew we wouldn't have to read your books," he told Mr. McLuhan. Although Mr. and Mrs. Lennon looked sombre in their black costumes and both were annoyed at missing their dinner because of the interviews, they were in fine form, making funny faces directly into the camera. Dandruff still here At one point, after Mr. McLuhan discussed at length the disappearance of dandruff commercials, Mr. Lennon shook his shoulder-length brown hair and said: "Dandruff is still with us." The Lennons managed to include the word "peace" in almost every answer and said it was intentional. "We've manoeuvred all our productions, our creativity, towards peace," he told the CBS interviewer. When asked what their Christmas message would be, Mrs. Lennon replied: "Peace." "Peace on earth," her husband added. With that they left Mr. McLuhan's Centre for Culture and Technology, slipped into their white Rolls-Royce limousine and were gone.

Copyright by the Canadian Press, 1969.