Gough Whitlam

At 98 years old, Gough Whitlam has this physical status:

Early political career, 1952–1967

Whitlam constructed a house in Cronulla's seaside district with his war service loan. He also purchased the block of land next door, using the reward money (£1,000 in security bonds) he earned for winning the Australian National Quiz Championship in 1948 and 1949 (he was runner-up in 1950). He wanted to work in ALP, but local Labor activists were skeptical of Whitlam's loyalties, despite his privileged background. He practiced law in the postwar years, focusing on landlord/tenant issues, and attempted to establish his bona fides in the party. He ran twice for the local council, twice (also unsuccessfully) for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and then ran for other candidates, but not for other candidates. Bert Lazzarini, the Labor member for Werriwa's Federal constituency, declared in 1951 that he would not run again at the next election. Whitlam was elected as the ALP nominee in the preselection. Lazzarini died in 1952 before finishing his term, and Whitlam was elected to the House of Representatives in a by-election on November 29, 1952. In a 12 percent swing to Labor, Whitlam trebled Lazzarini's majority.

Whitlam was part of the ALP faction in the House of Representatives. His maiden address sparked an interruption by a potential prime minister, John McEwen, who was later told by the Speaker that maiden addresses are typically held in silence. In his maiden address, Whitlam told McEwen, "Because you will hear me." "The time will come when you can interrupt me," McEwen said. This sudden response, according to early Whitlam biographers Laurie Oakes and David Solomon, put the Coalition government on alert that the new Member for Werriwa would be a force to reckon with.

Whitlam branded fellow MHR Bill Bourke "this gruesome Quisling," Garfield Barwick, who served as the House of Representatives, a "bumptious bastard," and he said Bill Wentworth displayed a "hereditary streak of insanity." William McMahon, the future prime minister, regretted calling him a "quean."

Since the Chifley Government's demise in 1949, the ALP had been out of office, and Bert Evatt, who Whitlam admired, had been in charge of it since 1951. The ALP appeared to have recovered to power in 1954. Robert Menzies, the Prime Minister, adroitly used the defection of a Soviet official to his advantage, and his Liberal and Country parties gained a seven-seat majority in the 1954 election. Evatt tried to purge the party of industrialists, who had long opposed to party principles and were mainly Catholic and anti-immigrist. The ALP's ensuing division, which became known as "The Split," was the catalyst for the formation of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). It was a conflict that helped keep Labor out of office for a decade, considering that DLP supporters preferred the Liberal Party in preferential elections. During this time, Whitlam allegianced to Evatt.

A redistribution of Whitlam's Werriwa constituency in 1955 split the nation's youngest population of Hughes. Although Whitlam would have received ALP help in either division, he decided to stay in Werriwa and moved from Cronulla to Cabramatta. His older children had to attend school for the first time because neither electorate had a high school at the time, and Sydney, Sydney, Australia, were all on vacations.

In 1956, Whitlam was elected to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Constitutional Reform. Jenny Hocking, a biographer, has volunteered for his service on the committee, which included representatives from both chambers of Parliament, and was one of the "key players" in his political evolution. According to Hocking, Whitlam was not motivated by service on the committee, but rather on Labor issues that were both feasible and appropriate in the constitutional context. Several Labor principles, such as nationalization, were in violation of the Constitution. Whitlam came to the conclusion that the Constitution, as well as Section 96 (which allowed the federal government to make grants to the states), could be used to create a viable Labor program.

By the late 1950s, Whitlam was seen as a leadership candidate after the current Labor leaders departed the area. Evatt, Deputy Leader Arthur Calwell, Eddie Ward, and Reg Pollard, three of the party's key figures, were in their sixties, twenty years older than Whitlam. Evatt resigned and was replaced by Calwell in 1960, after losing three elections, with Whitlam defeating Ward for deputy leader. Calwell came within a few votes of winning the cliffhanger 1961 election by a mere handful of votes. He did not want Whitlam to be the deputy king, and Labor may have been able to win if Ward had been in charge.

Events against Labor began right after the 1961 election. When President Sukarno of Indonesia announced that he intends to over West New Guinea after the colonial Dutch departed, Calwell replied by claiming that Indonesia must be stopped by force. Prime Minister Menzies' call of Calwell as "crazy and irresponsible," and the incident in fact reduced public support for the ALP. The Federal Conference of the Labor Party, which established legislative policy, was made up of six members from each state, but not Calwell or Whitlam. A special conference held in a Canberra hotel in early 1963 to discuss Labor policy regarding a proposed US base in northern Australia; Calwell and Whitlam were photographed by The Daily Telegraph, peering in through the doors, waiting for the verdict. Labor was ruled by "36 faceless guys," according to Alan Reid of the Telegraph's accompanying article. The Liberals seized it, issuing "Mr Calwell and the Faceless Men," which accuses Calwell and Whitlam of being led by "36 unknown men" who are not elected to Parliament nor accountable to the people.

Menzies manipulated the Opposition on topics that tensely divided it, such as direct funding to private schools and the new base. He called an early election in November 1963 and spoke out in favour of those two topics. On television, the Prime Minister did better than Calwell, giving the Prime Minister a boost after US President John F. Kennedy's assassination. As a result, the Coalition defeated Labour on a 10-seat swing. Whitlam had hoped Calwell would leave after 1963, but he refused, arguing that Evatt had been given three chances to win and that he should be allowed a third try. Calwell dismissed arguments that the ALP leader and deputy chairman should be allowed to attend the party's conference (or on its governing 12-person Federal Executive, which had two representatives from each state), and instead ran for one of the conference's Victoria seats. Labor performed badly in a 1964 by-election in Denison, Tasmania's nascent population, and lost seats in the 1964 half-Senate election. In the state elections in New South Wales, the party lost for the first time since 1941.

Since the debut of a 1965 article in The Australian, Whitlam's relationship with Calwell, which was never positive, has deteriorated even more. Whitlam had said that his leader was "too old and weak" to run for office, and that the party could be seriously harmed if a "old-fashioned" 70-year-old Calwell sought his first term as prime minister, according to the story. The biennial party conference made significant changes to the party's website this year, with Whitlam's and Don Dunstan's invitations and Calwell's objection, as well as the party's chairman and deputy leader. Whitlam characterized the Senate as unrepresentative, he opposed the admission of its ALP leaders to the party's governing bodies.

Menzies resigned in January 1966 and Harold Holt, the incoming Liberal Party leader, succeeded him as Prime Minister. The younger Holt was seen as a ray of fresh air in the run-up to the November election after years of politics being dominated by elderly Menzies and Calwell.

Any ALP parliamentarian from funding federal funding to the states in early 1966, according to Calwell's assent, has been barred from supporting federal funding for both government and private schools, also known as "state aid." Whitlam disagreed with the party on the issue and was charged with gross negligence by the executive, an offence that resulted in the expulsion of the party. Whitlam left Queensland, where he campaigned ferociously for ALP candidate Rex Patterson in the Dawson by-election. The ALP took home the country's first by-election loss since 1952. Whitlam gained both Queensland and Northern votes by a narrow margin of only two points in the expulsion referendum. Whitlam slammed Calwell for the leadership in April, but Calwell received two-thirds of the vote, meaning he will not vote again for the party's leadership if the party lost the upcoming election.

Holt called an election in November 1966, in which Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War was a big issue. Calwell called for an "immediate and complete withdrawal" of Australian troops from Vietnam. This would deprive Australia of any participation in a settlement, according to Whitlam, and regular troops rather than conscripts should remain under some conditions. Calwell recalled Whitlam's remarkable performance just five days before the election, contesting the party line. The ALP suffered badly in the House of Representatives; the party was stripped to 41 seats. Whitlam was rejected twice more for his position on Vietnam a few weeks after the election, but he survived. Calwell resigned two months after the election, according to his word. Whitlam was elected party leader at the caucus meeting on February 8, 1967, defeating leading left-wing candidate Dr Jim Cairns.

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