Gough Whitlam

Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 1916 – 21 October 2014), known "Gough Whitlam", was an Australian politician. He was the 21st Prime Minister of Australia., and the only Prime Minister to have been dismissed from office by a Governor-General. He was Prime Minister for three years. His Labor Party was elected after 23 years of government by the Liberal-Country Party Coalition, and his government made a lot of new changes. Whitlam is the only Prime Minister who has lived in the lifetime of all the other Prime Ministers.

The Honourable Gough Whitlam
21st Prime Minister of Australia Elections: 1969, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977
In office 5 December 1972 – 11 November 1975
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor-General	Sir Paul Hasluck Sir John Kerr
Deputy	Lance Barnard Jim Cairns Frank Crean
Preceded by	William McMahon
Succeeded by	Malcolm Fraser
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office 5 December 1972 – 6 November 1973
Prime Minister	Gough Whitlam
Preceded by	Nigel Bowen
Succeeded by	Don Willesee
Leader of the Opposition
In office 11 November 1975 – 22 December 1977
Deputy	Frank Crean Tom Uren
Preceded by	Malcolm Fraser
Succeeded by	Bill Hayden
In office 9 February 1967 – 5 December 1972
Deputy	Lance Barnard
Preceded by	Arthur Calwell
Succeeded by	Billy Snedden
Leader of the Labor Party
In office 9 February 1967 – 22 December 1977
Deputy	Lance Barnard Jim Cairns Frank Crean Tom Uren
Preceded by	Arthur Calwell
Succeeded by	Bill Hayden
Deputy Leader of the Labor Party
In office 7 March 1960 – 9 February 1967
Leader	Arthur Calwell
Preceded by	Arthur Calwell
Succeeded by	Lance Barnard
Personal details
Born	Edward Gough Whitlam (1916-07-11)11 July 1916 Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died	21 October 2014(2014-10-21) (aged 98) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Spouse(s)	Margaret Whitlam (m. 1942-2012)
Children	Tony Nicholas Stephen Catherine
Alma mater	University of Sydney
Profession	Barrister
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Commonwealth of Australia
Branch/service	Royal Australian Air Force
Years of service	1941–1945
Rank	Flight Lieutenant
Unit	No. 13 Squadron RAAF
Battles/wars	World War II

Early life

Whitlam was born in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. He studied at the University of Sydney. Whitlam served at the Royal Australian Air Force from 1941 through 1945 during World War II.

Prime Minister of Australia

Whitlam became Prime Minister in December 1972. He succeeded William McMahon. His government, for most of the time it lasted, did not have a majority in the Senate (the upper house of the Australian Parliament). This made it hard for Whitlam's government to make laws. The Whitlam government nevertheless made progress in many areas including free health care for everyone, equal rights for women, equal rights for Aboriginal people including the right to own or control land, no more compulsory military service, trade relations with communist China, free tertiary education, and the chance for people with low incomes to get a lawyer to defend their rights.

In 1975, the government thought about borrowing US$4 billion in foreign loans. One cabinet minister, Rex Connor, had secret discussions with a loan broker from Pakistan. The Treasurer, Jim Cairns, misled parliament over this. Partly as a result, the new leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser, used the Senate to stop giving money to the government until there was an election. This meant that the government had no money with which to pay civil servants and carry out administration. In order to end the crisis, the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, acting on behalf of Queen Elisabeth II, dismissed Whitlam. That happened only once in Australian history and many people thought it was unjust and undemocratic. Fraser then became the temporary Prime Minister. Whitlam was easily defeated by Fraser in the election that was held a month later.

Whitlam was defeated for a second time by Fraser at the next election in 1977, and resigned from parliament shortly after that. From then until his death in 2014 then he continued to be a very public figure, writing books and often commenting on political affairs.

Death

Whitlam married Margaret Dovey a prominent Australian swimmer and social worker in 1942 and they remained married till her death on 17 March 2012. On 21 October 2014, Whitlam died in Elizabeth Bay, Sydney, New South Wales at the age of 98.

Legacy

Whitlam is one of the most controversial people in Australia. Many people think of him as a hero while others consider his government to have been inefficient.

Other websites

Media related to Gough Whitlam at Wikimedia Commons Quotations related to Gough Whitlam at Wikiquote

• Gough Whitlam Archived 2014-10-24 at the Wayback Machine – Australia's Prime Ministers / National Archives of Australia
• The Whitlam Institute
• The Whitlam Dismissal – 11 November 1975
• Dismissal letter Archived 2015-04-28 at the Wayback Machine – Copy of dismissal letter
• Gough Whitlam at the National Film and Sound Archive Archived 2009-05-20 at the Library of Congress Web Archives
• Video of Norman Gunston, Gough Whitlam, Bill Hayden and Bob Hawke at 'The Dismissal' on YouTube
• Video of Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser in their pro-republic commercial on YouTube
• Gurindji Land Ceremony Speech – transcript and audio from August 1975
• Listen to an excerpt of Gough Whitlam's 'Kerr's Cur' speech on australianscreen online