Only four years after winning a remarkable 208 seats (a record that stood until Brian Mulroney won 211 seats in 1984), Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives were re-elected on this date in 1962.  However, Dief's government had lost 89 seats and found itself reduced to a minority status in the Commons.  They never regained any political momentum and Dief's ultimate defeat came less than a year later, at the hands of Lester Pearson.For two future prime ministers, the 1962 election was also an important one. John Napier Turner was elected to the Commons for the first time, representing the Montreal-area riding of St. Lawrence—St. George, while Brian Mulroney traveled the country as a senior assistant to Dief’s crucial Western Canadian cabinet minister, Alvin Hamilton.“Alvin was a great campaigner and I enjoyed our travels immensely,” Mulroney recalled in his 2007 Memoirs. “One morning in Regina, while Alvin was recording commercials at leading radio station CKRM, I asked the general manager if he would welcome my sending in reports to the station on Alvin’s meetings from across the country. To my surprise, my offer, made half in jest, was accepted. As a result, Saskatchewan listeners were treated throughout the campaign to my reports about their minister’s activities. From Orillia, Ontario to Bathurst, New Brunswick, my reports invariably began with the words: ‘Speaking before a large and enthusiastic crowd today in Sudbury, Ontario, Agriculture Minister Alvin Hamilton said’ and ended with me saying, ‘This is Brian Mulroney, reporting to CKRM, Regina.’Mulroney then continued.“By today’s standards, the dubious ethics of this journalistic activity would immediately be evident, and the consequences lethal. But when I returned with Alvin to Regina just before voting day, I was widely complimented on the streets for my ‘objective’ coverage (no doubt my street encounters were only with Conservatives), and I was delighted when the station general manager offered me a permanent job as a morning man, ‘if this law business doesn’t work out.’”Mulroney, who flew back to Ottawa with Hamilton on Prime Minister Diefenbaker’s subdued plane, was met by his friend (and future Mulroney cabinet minister Lowell Murray) at the airport.In his Memoirs, Mulroney recalled Murray’s words.“During the campaign,” he wrote, “Dief in full flight – and he was something to behold in full flight – would often highlight an achievement by saying, ‘They said it couldn’t’ be done. We did it.’ When our aircraft touched down … I was met by Lowell Murray, who with characteristic impish humour intoned, ‘they say is couldn’t be done. We did it. We fucked it all up!’”[caption id="attachment_623493" align="alignleft" width="224"] Prime Minister John Diefenbaker (r) with a young Brian Mulroney[/caption] Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.