Robert Menzies

Sir Robert Gordon Menzies (20 December 1894 – 14 May 1978), Australian politician, was the twelfth and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia serving eighteen and a half years. He had a rapid rise to power, but his first term as Prime Minister was a failure. He spent eight years in the wilderness before playing a crucial role in reshaping the Liberal Party and making a successful comeback, and he dominated Australian politics in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Retirement and posterity

Menzies retired in January 1966, and was succeeded as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister by his former Treasurer, Harold Holt. After his retirement the Queen appointed him to the ancient office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, which caused much amusement in republican circles. He toured the United States giving lectures, and published two volumes of memoirs. His retirement was spoiled, however, when he suffered strokes in 1968 and 1971. Thereafter he faded from public view, and in old age became very embittered towards his former colleagues. He died in Melbourne in 1978 and was accorded a state funeral.

Related Topics:
1966 - Harold Holt - Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports - United States - Stroke - 1968 - 1971 - 1978

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Menzies was Prime Minister for a total of 18 years, 5 months and 12 days, by far the longest term of any Australian Prime Minister, and during his second term he dominated Australian politics as no-one 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 1943. 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.

Related Topics:
1943 - Canberra

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Critics say that Menzies's 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 Labor Party in the 1950s and early Sixties and especially by the catastrophic ALP-DLP split of 1954. But his reputation among conservatives is untarnished, and he remains one of the Liberal Party's greatest heroes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Several books have been filled with anecdotes about him and with his many witty remarks. While speaking in Williamstown, Victoria in 1954, a heckler shouted, "I wouldn?t vote for you if you were the Archangel Gabriel" -- to which Menzies cooly replied "If I were the Archangel Gabriel, I?m afraid you wouldn?t be in my constituency".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~