View source for Menzies government (1939–1941)

{{Use Australian English|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox Australian government
|name=Menzies government (I)
|image=[[File:Nla.pic-an23217367-v.jpg|200px]]
|monarch   = [[George VI]]
|term_start =26 April 1939
|term_end =26 August 1941
|primeminister = [[Robert Menzies]]
|deputypm = [[Archie Cameron]] (1940)<br>[[Arthur Fadden]] (1940-1941)
|parties = [[United Australia Party|UAP]] (1939–1941)<br />[[National Party of Australia|Country]] (1940–1941)
|status = [[Minority government|Minority]] (to Mar. 1940)<br />[[Majority government|Majority]] (Mar.–Sep. 1940)<br />Minority (from Sep. 1940)
|startreason = Menzies wins [[1939 United Australia Party leadership election|1939 UAP leadership election]]
|endreason = Menzies' resignation
|predecessor = [[Earle Page|Page government]]
|successor = [[Fadden government]]
}}
{{Robert Menzies sidebar}}
The '''Menzies government (1939–1941)''' refers to the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister [[Robert Menzies]]. Menzies led the [[United Australia Party]] in the [[Australian Parliament]] from 1939 to 1941. Menzies served a later and longer term as prime minister as leader of a successor party, the [[Liberal Party of Australia]] from 1949 to 1966 (see [[Menzies government (1949–1966)]]).
==Background==
{{Main|Lyons government}}
The [[United Australia Party]] (UAP) was formed in 1931 as a response to the more radical proposals of Labor Party members to deal with the Great Depression. Led by former Labor minister and fiscal conservative [[Joseph Lyons]], the new party swept into office in 1931 against the [[Australian Labor Party]] led by [[James Scullin]].<ref>http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/lyons/elections.aspx {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190311155238/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/lyons/elections.aspx |date=11 March 2019 }} {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2022}}</ref> Labor had split over the issue of economic policy, with [[Lang Labor]] seeking to cease overseas debt repayments.
Lyons served seven years as prime minister, overseeing Australia's recovery from the [[Great Depression]]. Defence issues became increasingly dominant in public affairs with the rise of Fascism in Europe and militant Japan in Asia.<ref>http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/lyons/in-office.aspx {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926155621/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/lyons/in-office.aspx |date=26 September 2011 }} {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2022}}</ref> Lyons negotiated a coalition with the Country Party, led by Earle Page, following the 1934 election, however the parties continued to differ on some questions of economic policy: the Country Party wanted low tariffs and opposed introduction of a national unemployment insurance scheme.<ref name="ReferenceA">Brian Carroll; From Barton to Fraser; Cassell Australia; 1978</ref>
On 7 April 1939, with the storm clouds of the [[Second World War]] gathering in Europe and the Pacific, Joseph Lyons became the first Prime Minister of Australia to die in office, suffering a heart attack.<ref name="ReferenceC">http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/lyons/after-office.aspx {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227082931/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/lyons/after-office.aspx |date=27 February 2012 }} {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2022}}</ref> The UAP's Deputy leader, Robert Menzies, now openly antipathetic to Country Party leader Earle Page, had resigned in March, citing the coalition's failure to implement [[National Insurance (Australia)|a plan for national insurance]] as the cause for his resignation. In the absence of a UAP deputy, the Governor-General, [[Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie|Lord Gowrie]], appointed Country Party leader Earl Page as his temporary replacement, pending the selection of Lyons' successor by the UAP.<ref>Brian Carroll; ''[[From Barton to Fraser]]''; Cassell Australia; 1978</ref>
The Country Party under Earle Page announced that they would refuse to work in coalition under a Menzies-led government. The UAP selected Menzies to succeed Lyons regardless.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>
==Terms in office==
[[Robert Menzies]] was sworn in as [[Prime Minister of Australia]] for the first time on 26 April 1939, following the death of Joseph Lyons.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150416b.htm?hilite=robert%3Bmenzies|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography|chapter=Menzies, Sir Robert Gordon (Bob) (1894–1978)|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}}</ref> He led a minority [[United Australia Party]] government&nbsp;– Country Party leader [[Earle Page]] had temporarily been Prime Minister after the death of Lyons, but he refused to serve in a government led by Menzies, and withdrew the support of the Country Party from coalition with the UAP.
In addition to the office of Prime Minister, Menzies was Treasurer. The [[First Menzies Ministry]] included the ageing former Prime Minister [[Billy Hughes]] and the young future Prime Minister [[Harold Holt]].<ref name="primeministers.naa.gov.au">{{cite web |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/menzies/in-office.aspx#section1 |title=In office - Robert Menzies |website=primeministers.naa.gov.au |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113103332/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/menzies/in-office.aspx |archive-date=13 November 2013}}</ref> Menzies tried and failed to have the issue of national insurance examined by a committee of parliamentarians. Though no longer in formal coalition, his government survived because the Country Party preferred a UAP government to that of a Labor government.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
The growing threat of war dominated politics through 1939. Menzies supported British policy against Hitler's Germany (negotiate for peace, but prepare for war) and&nbsp;– fearing Japanese intentions in the Pacific&nbsp;– established independent embassies in Tokyo and Washington to receive independent advice about developments.<ref name="primeministers.naa.gov.au"/>
On 3 September 1939, the prime minister, [[Robert Menzies]], made a national radio broadcast:
<blockquote>
{{cquote|My fellow Australians. It is my melancholy duty to inform you, officially, that, in consequence of the 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Frank  |year=1973 |title=Modern Australia in Documents 1939–1970 |url=https://archive.org/details/modernaustraliai0000crow |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernaustraliai0000crow/page/1 1] |location=Melbourne |publisher=Wren|isbn=978-0-85885-032-3}}</ref>}}
</blockquote>
Australia had entered [[World War II]]. [[Earle Page]], as leader of the Country and [[John Curtin]] as leader of the Labor Party both pledged support to the declaration of war. Australia was ill-prepared for war. A National Security Act was passed. The recruitment of a volunteer military force for service at home and abroad was announced, the [[2nd Australian Imperial Force]], and a citizen militia organised for local defence. Troubled by Britain's failure to increase defences at Singapore, Menzies was cautious in committing troops to Europe. In 1940–41, Australian forces played prominent roles in the fighting in the [[Mediterranean Theatre of World War II|Mediterranean theatre]], including [[Operation Compass]], the [[Siege of Tobruk]], the [[Balkans Campaign (World War II)|Greek campaign]], the [[Battle of Crete]], the [[Syria-Lebanon campaign]] and the [[Second Battle of El Alamein]].
[[File:Menzies Churchill WW21941.jpg|thumb|Prime Minister [[Robert Menzies]] and British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] in 1941.]]
[[File:FaddenPEO.jpg|thumb|[[Arthur Fadden]] was Treasurer from October 1940 and was confirmed as leader of the [[National Party of Australia|Country Party]] from March 1941. The [[United Australia Party]] and Country Party operated in a troubled alliance during the terms of the first Menzies government.]]
A special War Cabinet was created after war was declared&nbsp;– initially composed of Prime Minister Menzies and five senior ministers ([[Richard Casey, Baron Casey|RG Casey]], GA Street, Senator McLeay, HS Gullet and [[World War I]] Prime Minister [[Billy Hughes]]).<ref name="primeministers.naa.gov.au"/>
In January 1940, Menzies dispatched potential leadership rival [[Richard Casey, Baron Casey|Richard Casey]] to Washington as Australia's first "Minister to the United States". In a consequent by-election, the UAP suffered a heavy defeat and Menzies re-entered coalition negotiations with the Country Party.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In March 1940, troubled negotiations were concluded with the Country Party to re-enter Coalition with the UAP. The replacement of Earl Page as leader by [[Archie Cameron]] allowed Menzies to reach accommodation. A new Coalition ministry was formed including the Country Party's Archie Cameron, Harold Thorby and [[John McEwen]], as well as junior ministers Arthur Fadden and Horace Nock.<ref name="primeministers.naa.gov.au"/>
In Europe, the ''[[Phoney War]]'' gave way to a succession of Allied defeats, as Germany overran the [[Low Countries]], Norway and France. By June 1940, the [[British Empire]] stood alone against Germany. Menzies called for an 'all in' war effort and with the support of Curtin, amended the National Security Act to extend government powers to tax, acquire property, control businesses and the labour force and allow for conscription of men for the "defence of Australia". Essington Lewis, the head of [[BHP]] was appointed Director-General of Munitions Supply to assist with mobilisation of national resources.<ref name="primeministers.naa.gov.au"/><ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/133588865 Released from BHP] ''[[Newcastle Herald|Newcastle Morning Herald & Miner's Advocate]]'' 25 May 1940</ref>
With the 1940 election looming, Menzies lost his Chief of the General Staff and three loyal ministers in a [[Royal Australian Airforce]] crash at Canberra airport.<ref name="primeministers.naa.gov.au"/> In response, Menzies recalled [[Harold Holt]], a minister who had resigned to join the army.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The Labor Party meanwhile experienced a split along pro and anti Communist lines over policy towards the Soviet Union for its [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|co-operation with Nazi Germany]] in the invasion of Poland.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{Cite web |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/curtin/before-office.aspx#section5 |title=Before office - John Curtin - Australia's PMS - Australia's Prime Ministers |access-date=24 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713183602/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/curtin/before-office.aspx#section5 |archive-date=13 July 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Communist Party of Australia]] (CPA) opposed and sought to disrupt Australia's "imperialist" war effort against Nazism in the early stages of the War. Menzies banned the CPA after the Fall of France in 1940, but by 1941 Stalin was forced to join the Allied cause when Hitler reneged on the Pact and invaded the USSR. The USSR came to bear the brunt of the carnage of Hitler's war machine and the Communist Party in Australia lost its early war stigma as a result.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Beaumont|first=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNXsy27cLSIC&q=communist+party+of+australia+opposed+australian+war+effort&pg=PA94|title=Australia's war 1939–1945|pages=94–95|publisher=[[Allen & Unwin]]|year=1996|isbn=9781864480399}}</ref> In Menzies' later term of office, anti-communism became an important plank of his foreign policy.
Labor narrowly lost the September 1940 Election. The UAP–Country Party coalition and the Labor parties won 36 seats each and the Menzies government was forced to rely upon the support of two independents, Alex Wilson and Arthur Coles, to continue in office.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>
Menzies proposed an all-party unity government to break the impasse, but the Labor Party refused to join.<ref name="primeministers.naa.gov.au"/> John Curtin agreed instead to take a seat on a newly created Advisory War Council in October 1940.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> New Country Party leader [[Arthur Fadden]] became Treasurer and Menzies unhappily conceded to allow Earle Page back into his ministry.
In January 1941, Menzies flew to Britain to discuss the weakness of Singapore's defences and sat with [[Winston Churchill]]'s [[United Kingdom coalition government (1940–1945)|British War Cabinet]]. En route he inspected Singapore's defences&nbsp;– finding them alarmingly inadequate&nbsp;– and visited Australian troops in the field Mid-East. Menzies was well received by the British press. He at times clashed with Churchill in the War Cabinet, and sought assurances for Australian involvement in the Greek campaign. He was unable to achieve significant assurances for increased commitment to Singapore's defences, but undertook morale boosting excursions to war-affected cities and factories. He spent eight successive weekend at Chequers with Churchill, addressed Parliament, stayed with the King, visited Dublin to lobby Ireland to join the war effort and generally raised awareness in Britain of Australia's contribution to its war effort.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> He returned to Australia via Canada and the United States, addressing the Canadian parliament and lobbying President Roosevelt for more arms production.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> After four months, Menzies returned to Australia to face a lack of enthusiasm for his global travels and a war-time minority government under ever-increasing strain.
In Menzies' absence, John Curtin had co-operated with Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Fadden of the Country Party in preparing Australia for the expected [[Pacific War]]. With the threat of Japan imminent and with the Australian Army suffering badly in the [[Battle of Greece|Greek]] and [[Battle of Crete|Crete]] campaigns, Menzies reorganised his ministry and announced multiple multi-party committees to advise on war and economic policy. Government critics however called for an all-party government. In August, Cabinet decided that Menzies should travel back to Britain to represent Australia in the War Cabinet&nbsp;– but this time the Labor caucus refused to support the plan. Menzies announced to his Cabinet that he thought he should resign and advise the Governor General to invite John Curtin to form a government. The Cabinet instead insisted he approach Curtin again to form a war cabinet. Unable to secure Curtin's support, and with an unworkable parliamentary majority, Menzies then resigned as prime minister on 29 August 1941.
The UAP-Country Party Coalition held office for another month with [[Arthur Fadden]] of the Country Party as prime minister, before the independents switched allegiance. On 3 October, the independents, Coles and Wilson, voted with Labor to defeat the government. [[John Curtin]] was sworn in as prime minister on 7 October 1941.<ref>http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/fadden/in-office.aspx {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824011037/http://www.primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/fadden/in-office.aspx |date=24 August 2011 }} {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2022}}</ref> Eight weeks later, Japan [[attack on Pearl Harbor|attacked Pearl Harbor]].
==Demise of the United Australia Party==
The UAP disintegrated after suffering a heavy defeat in the [[1943 Australian federal election|1943 election]]. Menzies called a conference of conservative parties and other groups opposed to the ruling [[Australian Labor Party]] which met in Canberra on 13 October 1944, and again in [[Albury, New South Wales|Albury]] in December 1944.<ref name="Formation">{{cite web|title=Formation of the Liberal Party of Australia |work=Party History |publisher=Liberal Party of Australia&nbsp;– Queensland Division |url=http://www.qld.liberal.org.au/history/formation.aspx |accessdate=11 April 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070426002837/http://www.qld.liberal.org.au/history/formation.aspx |archivedate=26 April 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="NLA">{{cite web|author= Ian Hancock|title= The Origins of the Modern Liberal Party |publisher= National Library of Australia |work= Harold White Fellowships |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/grants/haroldwhite/papers/ihancock.html |accessdate=11 April 2007}}</ref> The formation of a new party&nbsp;– the [[Liberal Party of Australia]]&nbsp;– was formally announced at [[Sydney Town Hall]] on 31 August 1945.<ref name="NLA"/>
After an initial loss to Labor at the [[1946 Australian federal election|1946 election]], Menzies led the Liberals to victory at the [[1949 Australian federal election|1949 election]] against the incumbent Labor government led by [[Ben Chifley]], and the Coalition stayed in office for a record 23 years.
==See also==
*[[History of Australia]]
*[[History of Australia since 1945]]
*[[First Menzies Ministry]]
*[[Second Menzies Ministry]]
*[[Third Menzies Ministry]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Governments of Australia}}
[[Category:Governments of Australia|Menzies 1]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Australia|Menzies 1939]]
[[Category:History of Australia (1901–1945)]]
[[Category:United Australia Party]]
[[Category:1939 establishments in Australia]]
[[Category:1941 disestablishments in Australia]]
[[Category:Robert Menzies]]