John Joseph Curtin

John Joseph Curtin (1885-1945) was an Australian political leader who rose from trade union official and journalist to prime minister. His forthright approach to Australia's wartime difficulties and his rousing leadership gained him his countrymen's respect.

John Curtin was born in Creswick, Victoria, on Jan. 8, 1885. He attended public schools and at the age of 13 took a job in a Melbourne printery while continuing his studies. The oratory of Tom Mann, Britain's "new unionism" figure, deeply influenced Curtin during Mann's Australian sojourn from 1902 to 1908.

Attending the Labour party's "college" for speakers and running unsuccessfully for a parliamentary seat, Curtin gained skill in public speaking and insight into campaign methods. From 1911 he was a union secretary, and in 1916 he also became secretary of the Anti-Conscription League, which opposed the plans of Prime Minister William Morris Hughes to make overseas service compulsory. Charged with failure to enlist for military service, Curtin was set free when the proclamation under which he had been detained was withdrawn. Separate proceedings against him on a sedition charge were dropped later.

In 1916 Curtin moved to Perth to become editor of the Westralian Worker. Between 1918 and 1934 he was elected several, but not consecutive, times to the House of Representatives, and he was Australian delegate to the International Labor Conference in Geneva in 1924.

By 1934 Curtin was stressing the dangers of impending war, and he urged greater defense preparedness while others in his party were speaking of disarmament. He also demonstrated a grasp of financial and economic issues. Elected as Labour's parliamentary leader in 1935, Curtin showed skill in healing a serious schism which had been weakening the party in New South Wales.

Wartime Leader

In 1939 Curtin refused the invitation of the Liberal prime minister Robert Gordon Menzies to include Labour in an all-party wartime administration. Instead, in 1940, Curtin joined the interparty Advisory War Council and awaited a situation favorable for a Labour government. It came in September 1941, when two uncommitted members pledged their support, giving him a slim majority in the House.

After Pearl Harbor, with Australia directly threatened, Curtin called for an all-out war effort built around United States help. He quickly instituted a succession of measures designed to eliminate all activities absorbing manpower and resources that might be diverted to the war effort. Early in 1942 he successfully urged the U.S. government to send Gen. Douglas MacArthur to Australia as commander of a combined force capable of defending the country and ultimately converting it into a base for a northward drive against the Japanese. At the same time Curtin refused the British Cabinet's request to divert Australian ground forces—then returning from the Middle East—for the reinforcement of the Burma front, deciding that they should return to Australia to stave off any invasion. By his vigorous leadership Curtin gained national acceptance for his austerity measures designed to intensify all phases of the war effort.

Labour won the 1943 elections with majorities in both House and Senate. As the danger of invasion receded, Curtin decided to remove the long-standing ban on use of military conscripts beyond Australian territory. Labour had traditionally held firmly to the rule against overseas service for conscripts, but Curtin persuaded the party to update the law so that Australian land forces could accompany U.S. forces and Australian air and naval units in the northward drive.

Preparations for the Postwar Era

Curtin constantly expressed his belief that the sacrifices being asked of fighting men should be honored by the creation of a postwar world with greater social Justice and enhanced opportunity for the individual, and a world in which causes of war were eliminated. As well as introducing progressive legislation to pave the way for general reconstruction and national advancement after the war, he began immediately to plan for the reintegration of armed services personnel into civilian life when peace was restored, and he mapped arrangements for a long-range immigration program. The government adopted full employment as a basic objective and, in international discussions on postwar economic planning, stressed this concept as the centerpiece of national policies.

In 1944 Curtin called for greater awareness of the regional significance of Australia and New Zealand—by now linked in the "Anzac" pact, which he and his external affairs minister, Dr. Herbert Vere Evatt, had been instrumental in developing. Curtin also gave the fullest support to the creation of the United Nations, sending a large and influential Australian delegation to the formulative meeting in San Francisco in June 1945, and encouraged the U.S. government to maintain an active role in the security of the Pacific. He died in Canberra on July 1, 1945.

Further Reading

A useful biography of Curtin is Alan Chester, John Curtin (1943).Curtin's role in Labour party affairs is discussed in Louise Overacker, The Australian Party System (1952), and Leslie Finlay Crisp, The Australian Federal Labour Party: 1901-1951 (1955). Comprehensive coverage of Australia's war role is contained in Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Series I to V (22 vols., 1952—). An economic analysis of Curtin's administration is E. Ronald Walker, The Australian Economy in War and Reconstruction (1947). The planning for a postwar immigration flow is outlined in Arthur A. Calwell, How Many Australians Tomorrow? (1945). The Curtin government's approach to international affairs is indicated in H. V. Evatt, Foreign Policy of Australia: Speeches (1945). □

Curtin, John (1885–1945),Australian Labour politician who was federal prime minister from October 1941 until his death in July 1945.

Leader of his party from 1935, Curtin nearly won the general election of 1940, though he himself was only saved from defeat in his Fremantle constituency by a parcel of votes sent by Australian troops fighting in the Western Desert campaigns. In October 1941 Fadden's coalition government was defeated and Curtin became prime minister, though Labour lacked a majority in the Senate and largely relied upon the votes of independent members for a majority in the House of Representatives. In June 1943 Curtin defeated a motion of censure by just a single vote and until the general election that October, in which his party won a large overall majority, he had his difficulties in retaining power. Many of his problems derived from his own party as much as from the opposition, some feeling he was betraying fundamental socialist principles for a doubtful greater good. During the First World War Curtin had risked imprisonment when he had opposed conscription. As prime minister, his fiercest political battle came in January 1943 when anti-conscription members of his party opposed his proposal to use Australian conscripts in the New Guinea campaign, but he won in the end. Two months later, when there were strikes on the Sydney wharves he threatened the dockers with the call-up if they did not return to work.

But though his domestic politics were sometimes fraught, his guidance of his country at a critical period in its history was firm and forthright. In his New Year's message of 1942 he stated that ‘without any inhibitions of any kind, I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom. We know the problems with which the United Kingdom is faced; we know too that Australia can go and Britain can still hold on.’ When this caused some consternation he also made plain Australia's and his own loyalty to the Crown which he described as being ‘at the very core’ of the country's being.

In February 1942 he ordered total mobilization of all Australia's resources for war and by April had fought for, and obtained, what he hoped would be Australian participation in the higher direction of the war through membership of the Pacific War Council. He had also, rightly, opposed Churchill by insisting on the return of Australian troops from the Middle East, and negotiated a close association with the USA in prosecution of the war. Little known at first outside Australia, Curtin commanded immediate attention when he participated in the Commonwealth prime ministers' conference in March 1944. See also Australia, 3.

Curtin, John Joseph (b. 8 Jan. 1885, d. 5 July 1945). Prime Minister of Australia 1941–5 From an Irish Catholic family in Creswick (Victoria), he joined the Victorian Socialist Party upon its foundation in 1906. He became secretary of the Timber Worker's Union (1911) and its first federal president in 1914, though in 1915 he had to resign his posts, having become an alcoholic. After drying out, he was appointed organizer of the Australian Trades Union Anti-Conscription Congress in 1916 before moving to Perth to become editor of the trade union's Westralian Worker. His views gradually became more reformist and conciliatory, and in 1928 he became a member of the federal parliament, where he was an outstanding debater. After losing the 1931 elections he returned to journalism, but regained his seat in 1934. Promising to refrain from alcohol, he was elected leader of the Australian Labor Party in 1935 by one vote, thus becoming the first party leader from Western Australia.

As Prime Minister, he led Australia through the most difficult years of World War II. In opposition to the British, he rejected Churchill's demands that Australian troops should be subject to British war priorities. In consequence, he withdrew many Australian units from North Africa to defend Australia against a possible Japanese attack. He also came to look primarily towards the USA, rather than the UK, for protection against the Japanese, angering Churchill by stating: ‘Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom’. After Labor was returned with a record 50 per cent of the vote in 1943, with his chief lieutenant, Chifley, he proceeded to devise a new postwar order. The most important step had already been taken through the conversion of income tax into a purely federal tax in 1941. After 1943, widows' pensions and maternity allowances were introduced. He died in office.

John Curtin 1885–1945, Australian political leader. A labor union secretary, he edited (1917–28) a labor weekly and was later a member of the lower house—from 1928 to 1941, except for three years. He became Labour party leader. As wartime prime minister (1941–45), he vigorously organized the defense of Australia in World War II, working closely with the United States; he also helped plan closer cooperation within the Commonwealth of Nations. He died in office.

Curtin, John (Joseph Ambrose) (1885–1945) Australian Labor statesman, Prime Minister (1941–45). He led the Labor party from 1935 to 1945. As Premier during World War II, he mobilized Australian resources to meet the danger of Japanese invasion, laid down the groundwork for the postwar economy, and introduced various welfare measures. Curtin died while in office.