Background
Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis was born at Trois-Rivières (Three Rivers), Quebec, Canada on April 20, 1890 to Berthe (née Genest) and local politician Nérée Le Noblet Duplessis.
Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis was born at Trois-Rivières (Three Rivers), Quebec, Canada on April 20, 1890 to Berthe (née Genest) and local politician Nérée Le Noblet Duplessis.
He was educated at the Séminaire St. Joseph in Trois-Rivières and at Laval University, studying for a legal career.
Admitted to the bar in 1913, he practiced law in his native town, becoming the senior partner in the firm of Duplessis, Langlois, and Lamothe. In 1923, he contested Trois-Rivières in the interests of the provincial Conservatives but was defeated. He was returned in the elections of 1927 and again in 1931, 1935, 1936, 1939, and 1945. In 1933 he was chosen parliamentary leader of the Conservative Party. In the elections of 1935 and 1936 Duplessis campaigned in conjunction with some dissident Liberals, and in 1936 he formed a new party, the Union Nationale, which was victorious. In the same year Duplessis formed his first administration, also assuming the portfolio of attorney-general. His party was defeated in 1939, when it questioned the methods of the Canadian government in the prosecution of World War II. At the provincial general election of 1944 he became premier for the second time, and in June 1956 he was confirmed in office by a sweeping electoral victory. Under his leadership Quebec maintained an autonomist attitude toward the Federal Government on constitutional questions.
His era later became known as La Grande Noirceur ("The Great Darkness"). During the time, the Liberal opposition was unsuccessful in challenging Duplessis' power. Duplessis championed rural areas, provincial rights, economic development, strong investment in Catholic education and anti-Communism, and opposed the trade unions.
