Son of an industrial chemist, Harold Wilson was born in Huddersfield, England, on March 11, 1916, and was educated at Oxford University. As a fellow of Oxford's University College, he collaborated with Sir William Beveridge on the latter's influential 1942 report on social insurance and other welfare issues. During World War II, Wilson served as director of economics and statistics at the Ministry of Fuel and Power. In 1945 he was elected to Parliament, and in 1947 he became a member of the Cabinet as president of the Board of Trade. He resigned in 1951 in protest of health service charges introduced to finance British participation in the Korean War. During the 1950s he was the Labour Party's spokesman on finance and foreign affairs. Upon party leader Hugh Gaitskell's death in 1963, the party chose Wilson as its new leader. He became prime minister through Labour's victory in the general election of 1964.

Wilson's two stays at 10 Downing St. were dominated by problems stemming from Britain's general economic decline and an ongoing erosion of the country's international prowess. He was confronted with a white minority breakaway regime in the colony of Rhodesia and saw his effort to topple the regime by way of economic sanctions instead of military intervention fail. In most areas, Wilson proved a pragmatist. Having argued in favor of de-nuclearizing Britain's armed forces before coming into office, after 1964 he reversed himself and instead became a proponent of arms control and a more general detente with Moscow. He also offered to mediate in the Vietnam War and resisted U.S. requests for British troops. With economic troubles rising and his party and the trade unions in a fractious state, Wilson lost the election of 1970. However, he got a new chance in 1974. The following year, Wilson achieved one of his major policy successes by confirming Britain's membership in the European Economic Community through a national referendum. In spite of this political achievement, Britain's economic woes continued, causing Wilson to throw in the towel in 1976. The reasons for his sudden resignation have never been entirely clear. In 1983 the queen made Wilson a life peer, and he entered the House of Lords. He died in his sleep in London on May 24, 1995, after a 10-year struggle with cancer. He was 79.