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Alexander Hamilton McDonald

Saskatchewan Liberal Party leader and Leader of the Opposition, Senator and Government Whip in the Senate (1919-1980)

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ4719073
Source-derived summary

Alexander Hamilton (Hammy) McDonald (March 16, 1919 – March 31, 1980) was a Canadian politician from the province of Saskatchewan.

Early life

Born in Fleming, Saskatchewan, he was the son of a Saskatchewan farm family and was the third generation of his family to farm in the Fleming area.

Military service

During World War II, McDonald served overseas as a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He had learned to fly before the war. A doctor in the Fleming community in which he grew up had a plane and taught him and several other boys how to fly. By virtue of this fact, He was one of the very earliest pilots in the RCAF. Until 1944 he flew a Spitfire with real distinction. He was shot down several times, more than once in Europe, and made his way back through enemy territory to fly again.

Once, he was shot down in the English Channel and spent several hours in his Mae West. By sheer luck he was picked up by an English fishing boat and was flying again in Europe a week later. He came back from the war having won several medals including the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Alexander Hamilton McDonald” as saskatchewan Liberal Party leader and Leader of the Opposition, Senator and Government Whip in the Senate (1919-1980). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Alexander, Hamilton and McDonald.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1919, 1980, 1944—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1919-03-16. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Alexander, Hamilton and McDonald providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Alexander Hamilton McDonald”, the useful work is to connect “saskatchewan Liberal Party leader and Leader of the Opposition, Senator and Government Whip in the Senate (1919-1980)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4719073. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1919, 1980 and 1944.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Alexander Hamilton McDonald”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Alexander Hamilton McDonald primary sources, Alexander Hamilton McDonald archive and Alexander research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alexander Hamilton McDonald”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Alexander Hamilton McDonald” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.