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CURTIN, JOHN
Initially, Curtin had been invited to join the allparty unity government of ROBERT GORDON MENZIES in 1939, but he served on the War Advisory Council instead. The Menzies administration collapsed within two years, and on October 7, 1941, Curtin was asked to form a government. Australia, as part of the British Commonwealth, was legally obliged to donate troops to the defense of the British Empire. This entailed deployment of troops as far away as North Africa, where they won laurels in combat. But after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the specter of war moved much closer to home. Curtin realized Australia’s military weakness, and in the spring of 1942 he flatly refused Prime Minister WINSTON CHURCHILL’s request for Australian troops to defend Burma. The Australian leader adamantly insisted that these men were better employed defending their own homeland. Moreover, Curtin realized that the balance of world power had shifted in favor of the United States, and he struck up a cordial working relationship with General Douglas MacArthur, supreme allied commander in the Southwest Pacific. “Without any inhibitions,” he declared, “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.” Over the next four years Curtin worked closely with MacArthur and supported his strategic decisions, over the objections of many Australian generals. He also prevailed on the Labor-controlled legislature to authorize higher conscription levels, and enable Australian forces to be legally deployed beyond their own borders. In 1945 he fully endorsed the concept of the United Nations, sought closer defensive ties to neighboring New Zealand, and called upon the Americans to play a greater role in Pacific security matters. By war’s end Curtin was rightly regarded as a faithful American ally. While Curtin may have altered his socialist stance respecting military affairs, he held true to its domestic
tenets. In fact, he used the war as an opportunity to expand the role of government and enact many of his most cherished programs. Long before the war ended, he began planning postwar integration of military veterans back into society. He also made plans to pursue full employment, enlargement of state welfare benefits, and centralized economic planning. Curtin died suddenly in Canberra at the height of his political influence, on July 1, 1945, shortly before the war concluded, but his legacy was clear. Curtin had worked closely with the United States for four years throughout the difficult struggle with Japan and is regarded as an effective wartime leader. He was succeeded by JOSEPH CHIFLEY, who continued building upon the foundations of the welfare state established by his predecessor. Further Reading Curtin, John. In His Own Words: John Curtin Speeches and Writings. Bentley, Western Australia: Paradigm Books Curtin University, 1995. Day, David. John Curtin: A Life. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Edwards, Peter. “Curtin, MacArthur, and the ‘Surrender of Sovereignty’: A Historiographical Assessment.” Australian Journal of International Affairs 55 (July 2001): 175–185. Johnson, Carol. “Social Harmony in Australian Labour: The Role of Private Industry in the Curtin and Chifley Government’s Plans for Australian Economic Development.” Australian Journal of Politics and History 32 (1986): 39–51. Lloyd, Clem, and Richard Hall, eds. Backroom Briefings: John Curtin’s War. Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1997. Love, Peter. “Curtin, MacArthur, and Conscription, 1942–43.” Historical Studies 17 (October 1977): 505–511.