Gordon O'Connor

Gordon O'Connor, Canadian general and politician, 38th Canadian Minister of Defence

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Born: May 18, 1939
Age in 2026: 87
Zodiac sign: Taurus
Birth year: 1939

About Gordon O'Connor

Gordon James O'Connor, (born May 18, 1939) is a retired brigadier-general, businessman, and lobbyist, who served as Conservative Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2015. He served as Minister of National Defence (2006-2007) and then Minister of National Revenue (2007-2008) in the cabinet of Stephen Harper. O'Connor was one of the few defence ministers to have served in the military, the most recent prior to O'Connor being Gilles Lamontagne. In 2008 he was demoted to Minister of State and Chief Government Whip and then dropped from cabinet entirely in 2013 and did not run for re-election in 2015.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Born: May 18, 1939

The world when Gordon O'Connor was born

Gordon O'Connor was born in 1939. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1939

#1 song"Over the Rainbow" – Judy Garland
Top movieGone with the Wind
Best-selling bookThe Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentLou Gehrig delivers his "Luckiest Man" farewell speech
Top headlineGermany invades Poland — World War II begins
Technology milestoneFirst regular television broadcasts in the US (NBC)
Defining fadThe Wizard of Oz mania
Notable inventionNylon stockings
World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
U.S. population130.9M

1939 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Gordon O'Connor's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1939	2026
Gas	$0.19	$3.45/gal
Average home	$5,200	$435,000
Average income	$2,900	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.30	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.25	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	130.9M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.