reduced majority, and in the 1956 election. Moreover, its influence was made obvious when its organization helped defeat Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau in 1957 and helped John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservative's win a majority of the province's seats in the 1958 federal election—something that the Tories hadn't done in over 60 years. Modernization and last term of office Duplessis died in 1959 and was succeeded by his Minister of Social Welfare, Paul Sauvé. Well aware that he faced, at most, two years before the next election, Sauvé saw the need to modernize one of the most conservative governments in Canada, and initiated a program of reform called "100 Days of Change." However, he also died after only three months in office. Labour Minister Antonio Barrette took over a government that was increasingly seen as tired and unfocused, despite Sauvé's efforts at reform. He called an election in 1960, almost a year before it was due. The Union Nationale went into the contest under its third leader in less than a year, and narrowly lost to Jean Lesage's Liberals. The new government implemented a vast program of social changes, which is now known as the Quiet Revolution. Daniel Johnson, Sr. became the leader of the Union Nationale in 1961. He was chosen by party delegates rather than by his colleagues only. The party was heavily defeated in the 1962 election, but it held a convention to discuss its platform in 1965 and opened its structures to card-carrying supporters. Johnson published a book called Égalité ou indépendance (Equality or independence), which appealed to a number of nationalist voters. Even though the Liberals won a plurality of the vote in the 1966 election, the Union Nationale eked out a narrow majority in part because rural areas were significantly overrepresented. Among the newly elected MLAs, there were three former federal politicians: Rémi Paul, Jean-Noël Tremblay and Clément Vincent. Johnson set a slower pace, but sustained many reforms initiated by the Liberals. His administration established CEGEPs (Collèges d'enseignement général et professionnel, or "College of General and Vocational Education") in 1967, abolished the Legislative Council of Quebec and completed the dam and the generating station of Manic-5 in 1968 and laid the groundwork for the public health insurance plan that would later be implemented by the Liberal government of Robert Bourassa. Electoral decline The official visit of French President Charles de Gaulle in Canada in 1967 and