State for Canada (1917), Minister of Mines (1917; 1919–1920), Minister of the Interior (1917–1920), and Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs (1917–1920).

In 1920, Meighen succeeded Borden as Conservative leader and Prime Minister – the first born after Confederation, and the only one from a Manitoba riding. He suffered a heavy defeat in the 1921 election to Mackenzie King and the Liberal Party, but re-entered Parliament through a 1922 by-election and remained as Opposition Leader. In the 1925 election, the Conservatives won a plurality of seats, just eight short of a majority government, but Mackenzie King decided to hold onto power with the support of the Progressives.

Meighen's brief second term as Prime Minister came about as the result of the "King–Byng Affair," being invited to form a ministry after Mackenzie KingMeighen was born on a farm near Anderson, Perth County, Ontario, to Joseph Meighen and Mary Jane Bell.  He attended primary school at Blanshard public school in Anderson, where, in addition to being the grandson of the village's first schoolmaster, he was an exemplary student. In 1892, during his final high school year at St. Marys Collegiate Institute, which later became North Ward Public School in St. Marys (now known as Arthur Meighen Public School) Meighen was elected secretary of the literary society and was an expert debater in the school debating society in an era when debating was in high repute. He took first class honours in mathematics, English, and Latin.

He then attended University College at the University of Toronto, where he earned a B.A. in