As premier of the province of Quebec, Canada, from 1976 to 1985, René Lévesque (1922-1987) was the first French-Canadian political leader since confederation to attempt, through a referendum, to negotiate political independence for Quebec.

René Lévesque was born in New Carlisle, in the Gaspé region of Quebec, on August 24, 1922, the son of Dominique Lévesque, a lawyer, and of Diane Dionne-Pineault. Upon completing his primary education in New Carlisle, he pursued his classical education at the Jesuit Collège de Gaspé and the Collège Saint-Charles-Garnier in Quebec City. In the fall of 1941 he began studies in law at Laval University, which he did not complete.

He pursued a career in radio journalism and acted as a liaison agent and war correspondent for the U. S. armed forces in 1944 and 1945. Between 1946 and 1951 he worked for the French-language section of...