Arthur Calwell

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Arthur Calwell

Arthur Augustus Calwell (born August 28, 1896 in Melbourne , † July 8, 1973 ) was an Australian politician. Among other things, he was chairman of the Australian Labor Party from 1960 to 1967.

Early life

Arthur Calwell was born in Melbourne to a police officer with Irish roots. His mother was an American of Irish descent. Both his father and Arthur Calwell himself were deeply involved in the city's Irish community and were active in the Celtic Club. Arthur Calwell and his parents were Roman Catholic. He joined the Australian Labor Party in his youth . Lacking the means to study at university, he took a job as a clerk with the Victorian Public Service . There he worked in the agricultural department and the state treasury.

Political career

Immigration policy

A firm and active member of the Labor Party, he was elected chairman of the Victorian Labor Party in 1931 . In 1940 he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the Melbourne District. During the Second World War he served as Secretary of Information under the government of John Curtin . Through his dealings with the press, he received a lot of national attention.

In 1945 he became Minister of Immigration under Ben Chifley in his post-war government. He was a big proponent of Australia becoming a country of immigration. His opinion was in demand because he was highly regarded by the trade unions. He himself was of the opinion that Australia could only expand its military and economic importance through an enormous increase in population. In July 1947 he signed a treaty with the United Nations Refugee Organization on the immigration of numerous war refugees from Europe.

Despite his very liberal immigration policy, he was in favor of a "white Australia". Although he was strongly committed to European immigration, he had many Malaysians, Indonesians and Chinese who came as war refugees deported, despite the fact that many Australians had also married and had families.

When the Labor Party had to go into opposition, anti-communist tones rose more and more. Many of the Catholics in the Labor Party were strictly anti-communist and distrusted the unions and industry.

Laboratory guide

In 1960, Calwell became the new leader of the Australian Labor Party, and he appointed Gough Whitlam to represent it. Only a year later he almost managed to replace Robert Menzies as Prime Minister. With the incredibly tight result of 62:60 seats, you lost against your opponent. In the 1963 federal elections, Menzies won ten Labor Party seats, and many Labor Party supporters called for Calwell to resign, but Calwell chose to fight for office.

Calwell fought against participation in the Vietnam War by all means , but to his detriment, the war was initially very popular with the population. He resigned as party leader in 1967.

Attempted assassination

Calwell was only the second politician in Australia to be assassinated (after Prince Alfred in 1868). On June 21, 1966, he was shot at in his car by a 21-year-old student named Peter Kocan. Fortunately, most of the bullet was kept away from the pane and he only suffered minor facial injuries from the shattering glass.

Calwell died in July 1973. He left behind his wife Elizabeth and their daughter Mary Elizabeth.