Short biography of robert menzies

Eventually he was forced to resign from the UAP leadership, became a backbencher and replaced as coalition leader by the Country Party's Arthur Fadden, whose government was quickly ousted from Parliament on a vital Opposition amendment to the National Budget. Perhaps Menzies' strongest personal trait was his ability to learn from his mistakes.

Menzies was reinstated as party leader after the devastating election defeat and again became a leader of the opposition. He arranged a political rally meeting in Canberra during Octoberput forth the idea of one party, to be known as the Liberal Party LP of Australia. He reconstructed the shattered remnants of the UAP with its 14 different affiliations and managed to sell the political party to the Australians during the post-war years.

He built a lasting pact with the Country Party and in the elections of he regained the PM's Office of the government campaigning against the socialist policies of the Australian Labor Party ALPespecially the nationalisation of the banks, and he promised to end petrol rationing. He was a strong anti-communist and he had advocated this prior to World War 2 and again attempted to outlaw and dissolve the Australian Communist Party in He supported British, and French, intervention in the Suez Canal Crisis of and deployed a defence doctrine in the Malaysia - Indonesian Confrontation during the early 's.

In a sense, this was correct; they understood the land as owning them, rather than vice-versa. During Menzies' premiership, few aborigines worked in high paying jobs or lived in white areas. Many lived in apartheid-type settlements. As recently asone writer decribes Australian aboriginals as living in third world conditions, referring to Australia's "very racist past" [5].

Australia under Menzies resembled a lesser version of imperialist Britain. Australians prided themselves, though, on being a class-less society and, since many claimed descent from convicts, in a type of reverse snobbery which looked down on the English as 'has-beens'; too tired after the effort of twice defeating Germany and the Axis powers to amount to much in the new world order.

Convicts had not even "short biography of robert menzies" done anything wrong; they had been victims of a classist British society. Australia was to be the new Britain—a young, confident and potentially very prosperous society with lots of space, a liking for sports and for the outdoor life—to which the future belonged. In Australia of the late s and early s it was not at all unusual to hear the phrase, "Australia is the greatest country on earth.

After his retirement the Queen appointed him to the ancient office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He toured the United States giving lectures, and published two volumes of memoirs. His retirement was spoiled, however, when he suffered strokes in and The following year, a Labour government was returned to power and bythe White Australia policy was abolished by the passing of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Thereafter Menzies faded from public view, and in old age became very embittered towards his former colleagues. He died from a heart attack in Melbourne in and was accorded a state funeral. Menzies was Prime Minister for a total of 18 years, five months and twelve days, by far the longest term of any Australian Prime Minister, and during his second term he dominated Australian politics as noone else has ever done.

He managed to live down the failures of his first term in office, and to rebuild the conservative side of politics from the depths of These were great political achievements. He also did much to develop higher education in Australia, and made the development of Canberra one of his pet projects. Critics say that Menzies' success was mainly due to the good luck of the long post-war boom and his manipulation of the anti-communist fears of the Cold War years, both of which he exploited with great skill.

He was also crucially aided by the crippling dissent within the Labour Party in the s and especially by the ALP split of But his reputation among conservatives is untarnished, and he remains the Liberal Party's greatest hero. Several books have been filled with anecdotes about him and with his many witty remarks. Planning for an official biography of Menzies began soon after his death, but was long delayed by Dame Pattie Menzies' protection of her husband's reputation and her refusal to cooperate with the appointed biographer, Frances McNicoll.

In the Menzies family appointed Professor A. Martin to write a biography, which appeared in two volumes in and New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation.

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References [ change change source ]. This short article about a person or group of people can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it. This gave rise to his nickname "Ming", which was later expanded to " Ming the Merciless " after the comic strip character. The Menzies family had moved to Jeparit, a small Wimmera township, in the year before Robert's birth.

Seeking a new start, he moved the family to Jeparit to take over the general store, [ 2 ] which "survived rather than prospered". His uncle Hugh was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly infollowed by his father inwhile another uncle, Sydney Sampsonwas elected to the federal Australian House of Representatives in Menzies's maternal grandfather John Sampson was active in the trade union movement.

Growing up, Menzies and his siblings "had the normal enjoyments and camaraderies of a small country town". The following year, aged 13, he ranked first in the state-wide scholarship examinations. This feat financed the entirety of his secondary education, which had to be undertaken at private schools, as Victoria did not yet have a system of public secondary schools.

InMenzies entered the Melbourne Law School. He won a variety of prizes, exhibitions, and scholarships during his time as a student, graduating as a Bachelor of Laws LL. He did, however, fail Latin in his first year. He wrote both prose and poetry for the magazine, [ 15 ] and also contributed a song about "little Billy Hughes " to an end-of-year revue.

He had "a reputation as an "unusually bright and articulate member of the undergraduate community", and was known as a skilful debater. His fellow law student and future parliamentary colleague Percy Joske noted Menzies as a student "did not suffer fools gladly [ During World War I, Menzies served his compulsory militia service in the Melbourne University Rifles a part-time militia unit [ 18 ] from to Menzies never publicly addressed the reasons for his decision not to enlist, stating only that they were "compelling" and related to his "intimate personal and family affairs".

In a interview, his brother Frank Menzies recalled that a "family conference" had determined that Robert should not enlist. They believed that having two of the family's three adult sons serving overseas was a sufficiently patriotic contribution to the war effort, and that the family's interests would be served best by Robert continuing his academic career.

After graduating from the University of Melbourne in with first-class honours in Law, Menzies was admitted to the Victorian Bar and to the High Court of Australia in Establishing his own practice in Melbourne, Menzies specialised short biography of robert menzies in constitutional law which he had read with the leading Victorian jurist and future High Court judge, Sir Owen Dixon.

The High Court's verdict raised Menzies's profile as a skilled advocate, and eventually he was appointed a King's Counsel in He stood for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, the sanctity of contracts and the jealous preservation of existing institutions. Suspicious of the Labor Party, Menzies stressed the superiority of free enterprise except for certain public utilities such as the railways.

Within weeks of his entry to parliament, he was made a minister without portfolio in a new minority Nationalist State government led by Premier William McPherson. The new government had formed when the previous Labor government lost the support of the cross-bench Country Progressives. Inhe founded the Young Nationalists as his party's youth wing and was its first president.

In AugustMenzies resigned from state parliament to contest the federal Division of Kooyong in the upcoming general election for the United Australia Party UAPwhich was the result of a merger during his tenure as a state parliamentarian of the Nationalists, Labor dissidents and the Australian Party. The previous member, John Lathamhad given up the seat in order to prepare for appointment as Chief Justice of Australia.

Short biography of robert menzies: Sir Robert Gordon Menzies

Kooyong was a safely conservative seat based on Kewand Menzies won easily. In he was appointed a Privy Counsellor. In late and early Menzies, then attorney-general, unsuccessfully prosecuted the government's highly controversial case for the attempted exclusion from Australia of Egon Kischa Czech Jewish communist. Menzies had extended discussions with British experts on Germany inbut could not make up his mind whether Adolf Hitler was a "real German patriot" or a "mad swash-buckler".

He was strongly committed to democracy for the British peoples, but he initially thought that the Germans should take care of their own affairs. Menzies supported British foreign policy, including appeasement, and was initially reticent about the prospect of going to war with Germany. However, by September the unfolding crisis in Europe changed his public stance that the diplomatic efforts by Chamberlain and other leaders to broker a peace agreement had failed, and that war was now an inevitability.

In his Declaration of War broadcast on 3 SeptemberMenzies explained the dramatic turn of events over the past twelve months necessitating this change of course:. In those past 12 months, what has happened? Has, without flickering an eyelid, made a pact with Russia, a country the denouncing and reviling of which has been his chief stock-in-trade ever since he became chancellor.

And has now, under circumstances which I will describe to you, invaded with armed force and in defiance of civilised opinion, the independent nation of Poland. Your own comments on this dreadful history will need no reinforcement by me. Menzies went on to say that if Hitler's expansionist "policy were allowed to go unchecked there could be no security in Europe and there could be no just peace for the world".

Meanwhile, on the domestic front, animosity developed between Sir Earle Page and Menzies which was aggravated when Page became Acting Prime Minister during Lyons's illness after October Menzies and Page attacked each other publicly. He later became deputy leader of the UAP. Inas part of the Dalfram disputehe was ridiculed as Pig Iron Bobthe result of an industrial conflict with the Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia whose members had refused to load Australian pig iron being sold to an arms manufacturer in the Empire of Japanfor that country's war against China.

With Lyons's sudden death on 7 AprilPage became caretaker prime minister until the UAP could elect a new leader. On 18 AprilMenzies was elected party leader over three other candidates. He was sworn in as prime minister eight days later. A crisis arose almost immediately, however, when Page refused to serve under him. In an extraordinary personal attack in the House, Page accused Menzies of cowardice for not having enlisted in the War, and of treachery to Lyons.

Menzies then formed a minority government. When Page was deposed as Country Party leader a few months later, Menzies took the Country Party back into his government in a full-fledged Coalition, with Page's successor, Archie Cameron, as number-two-man in the government. Menzies in a speech on 28 March declared: "I do not accept this doctrine of an short biography of robert menzies march by Germany to a territorial conquest of middle and southeastern Europe".

Several times, Menzies declared that there were "two sides" both equally worthy of consideration to the Danzig dispute. It was understood that the German-Soviet nonaggression pact ended the prospect of a "peace front" of Britain, France and the Soviet Union to deter Germany from invading Poland, and that war was more likely than not in Europe.

The possibility that at least for the moment that Japan would stay neutral if the Danzig crisis led to war in Europe encouraged the cabinet in Canberra to stand by Britain. It is my melancholy duty to inform you officially that in consequence of a persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her and that, as a result, Australia is also at war.

Page and Curtin, as party leaders, pledged their support for all that needed to be done for the defence of the country. Thus, Menzies at the age of 44 found himself a wartime leader of a small nation of 7 million people. He was especially worried about the military threat from Japan. Australia had very small forces, and depended on Britain for defence against the looming threat of the Japanese Empire, with its million people, a very powerful Army and Navy and an aggressive foreign policy.

He hoped that a policy of appeasement would head off a war with Japan, and repeatedly pressured London. Furthermore, as attorney-general and deputy prime minister, he had made an official visit to Germany inwhen the official policy of the Australian government, supported by the Opposition, was strong support for Neville Chamberlain 's policy of Appeasement.

Menzies, then also holding the responsibility for the Department of Munitions created a couple of months earlier, led the Coalition into the election and suffered an eight-seat swing, losing the slender majority he had inherited from Lyons. The result was a hung parliamentwith the Coalition two seats short of a majority.

Short biography of robert menzies: Sir Robert Gordon (Bob) Menzies (),

Labor, led by John Curtinrefused Menzies's offer to form a war coalition, and opposed using the Australian army for a European war, preferring to keep it at home to defend Australia. Labor agreed to participate in the Advisory War Council. Just before the September election, on 13 Augustthree members of Menzies's cabinet had been killed in an air crash—the Canberra air disaster —along with General Brudenell WhiteChief of the General Staff ; two other passengers and four crew.

In DecemberMenzies sent Churchill a letter expressing concern that the Imperial Japanese Navy might likewise use air power to cripple the Singapore base. This I am sure you would not want to do unless or until the Japanese danger became far more menacing than at present". From 24 JanuaryMenzies spent four months in Britain discussing war strategy with Churchill and other Empire leaders, while his position at home deteriorated.

En route to the UK he took the opportunity to stop over to visit Australian troops serving in the North African Campaign. Writer Gerard Henderson has rejected this theory, but history professors Judith Brett and Joan Beaumont support Day, as does Menzies's daughter, Heather Henderson, who claimed Lady Astor "even offered all her sapphires if he would stay on in England".

Menzies came home to a hero's welcome. However, his support in Parliament was less certain. Not only did some Coalition MPs doubt his popularity in the electorate, but they also believed that a national unity government was the only long-term solution. Menzies's reputation was badly damaged by the failure of the Allied expedition to Greece, in which Australian troops played a prominent role.

As a military adventure, it was madness. As a political gesture, it was stupid because it was doomed to failure. With Labor unwilling to support him travelling to London and his position within his own party room weakening, Menzies called an emergency cabinet meeting. He announced his intention to resign and advise the Governor-GeneralLord Gowrie to commission Curtin as prime minister.

Short biography of robert menzies: Robert Menzies – 'Bob' Menzies

The Cabinet instead urged Menzies to make another overture to Labor for a national unity government, but Labor turned the offer down. With his position now untenable, Menzies resigned the prime ministership on 27 August On 9 OctoberMenzies resigned as leader of the UAP after failing to convince his colleagues that he should become Leader of the Opposition in preference to Fadden.

He was replaced as UAP leader by former prime minister Billy Hugheswho was 79 years old at the time. During his time in the political wilderness Menzies built up a large popular base of support by his frequent appeals, often by radio, to ordinary non-elite working citizens whom he called 'the Forgotten People'—especially those who were not suburban and rich or members of organised labour.

From Novemberhe began a series of weekly radio broadcasts reaching audiences across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. A selection of these talks was edited into a book bearing the title of his most famous address, The Forgotten Peopledelivered on 22 May In this landmark address, Menzies appealed to his support base:. I do not believe that the real life of this nation is to be found either in great luxury hotels and the petty gossip of so-called fashionable suburbs, or in the officialdom of the organised masses.

It is to be found in the homes of people who are nameless and unadvertised, and who, whatever their individual religious conviction or dogma, see in their children their greatest contribution to the immortality of their race. The home is the foundation of sanity and sobriety; it is the indispensable condition of continuity; its health determines the health of society as a whole.

Menzies himself described The Forgotten People collection as 'a summarised political philosophy'. Representing the blueprint of his liberal philosophy, The Forgotten People encompassed a wide range of topics including Roosevelt's Four Freedoms, the control of the war, the role of women in war and peace, the future of capitalism, the nature of democracy and especially the role of the middle class, 'the forgotten people' of the title and their importance to Australia's future as a democracy.

These were essentially the principles of liberalism: individual freedom, personal and community responsibility, the rule of law, parliamentary government, economic prosperity and progress based on private enterprise and reward for effort. After losing the UAP leadership, Menzies moved to the backbench. Besides his overall sense of duty, the war would have made it nearly impossible for him to return to his legal practice in any event.

The Coalition, which had sunk into near-paralysis in opposition, was knocked down to only 19 seats. Hughes resigned as UAP leader, and Menzies was elected as his successor on the second ballot, defeating three other candidates. The UAP also voted to end the joint opposition arrangement with the Country Party, allowing Menzies to replace Fadden as opposition leader.

Soon after his return, Menzies concluded that the UAP was at the end of its useful life. At the Canberra conference, the fourteen parties, with the UAP as the nucleus, decided to merge as one new non-Labor party—the Liberal Party of Australia. The organisational structure and constitutional framework of the new party was formulated at the Albury Conference.

Curtin died in office in and was succeeded by Ben Chifley.

Short biography of robert menzies: Robert Gordon Menzies was.

The reconfigured Coalition faced its first national test in the election. It won 26 of 74 seats on Despite winning a seven-seat swing, the Coalition failed to make a serious dent in Labor's large majority. Over the next few years, however, the anti-communist atmosphere of the early Cold War began to erode Labor's support. InChifley announced that he intended to nationalise Australia's private banks, arousing intense middle-class opposition which Menzies successfully exploited.

In addition to campaigning against Chifley's bank nationalization proposal, Menzies successfully led the 'No' case for a referendum by the Chifley government in to extend commonwealth wartime powers to control rents and prices. If Menzies won office, he pledged to counter inflation, extend child endowment and end petrol rationing. Whatever else Menzies's victory represented, his anti-communism and advocacy for free enterprise had captured a new and formidable support base in postwar Australian society.

After his election victory, Menzies returned to the office of prime minister on 19 December The spectre of communism and the threat it was deemed to pose to national security became the dominant preoccupation of the new government in its first phase. Menzies introduced legislation in to ban the Communist Party, hoping that the Senate would reject it and give him a trigger for a double dissolution election, but Labor let the bill pass.

It was subsequently ruled unconstitutional by the High Court. But when the Senate rejected his banking bill, he called a double dissolution election. At that election, the Coalition suffered a five-seat swing, winning 69 of seats and However, it won six seats in the Senate, giving it control of both chambers. Later in Menzies decided to hold a referendum on the question of changing the Constitution to permit the parliament to make laws in respect of Communists and Communism where he said this was necessary for the security of the Commonwealth.

If passed, this would have given a government the power to introduce a bill proposing to ban the Communist Party. Chifley died a few months after the election. The new Labor leader, H. Evattcampaigned against the referendum on civil liberties grounds, and it was narrowly defeated. Menzies sent Australian troops to the Korean War. Economic conditions deteriorated in the early s and Labor was confident of winning the election.

Menzies engaged in red-baiting of political opponents. Evatt felt compelled to state on the floor of Parliament that he'd short biography of robert menzies written to Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotovwho assured him there were no Soviet spy rings in Australia, bringing the House into silence momentarily before both sides of Parliament laughed at Evatt's naivety.

This Cold War scare was claimed by some to enable the Menzies government to win the election. The Menzies government won 64 of seats and Evatt accused Menzies of arranging Petrov's defection. The aftermath of the election caused a split in the Labor Party, with several anti-Communist members from Victoria defecting to form the Australian Labor Party Anti-Communist.

The new party directed its preferences to the Liberals, with the Menzies government re-elected with an increased majority at the election. Menzies was re-elected almost as easily at the electionagain with the help of preferences from what had become the Democratic Labor Party.