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McMahon was elected to the House of Representatives for a Sydney seat in 1949, one of the flood of new Liberal MPs known as the "forty-niners." He was capable and ambitious, and in 1951 Prime Minister Robert Menzies made him Minister for the Navy. He was to spend 21 continuous years in the ministry, a record in the Australian Parliament. Over the next 15 years he held a series of portfolios. In 1966, when Harold Holt became Prime Minister, McMahon succeeded him as Treasurer (finance minister) and as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party.
Despite his steady advance, McMahon remained unpopular with his colleagues. He was highly capable, but seen as too ambitious and a schemer. He was also haunted throughout his life by rumours that he was homosexual. The truth of this has never been established. In 19651965 was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). Events January-February January 4 United States President Lyndon Johnson proclaims his " Great Society" during his State of the Union address. January 14 Prime Ministers of N, aged 57, he married Sonia Hopkins, a very beautiful and wealthy woman with whom he had three children (one of them the model and actor Julian McMahonJulian Dana William McMahon (born July 27, 1968) is one of the three children to Australia's former Prime Minister Sir William McMahon who was in power from 1971 to 1972. McMahon was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He has been married and divo), but the rumours persisted.
When Holt died in December 1967Events January January 4 British motorboat racer Donald Campbell dies while attempting a water speed record in Coniston Lake. January 4 Algerian revolutionary Mohammed Khider is shot in Madrid. January 6 Vietnam War: USMC and ARVN troops launch " Operatio, McMahon was assumed to be his automatic successor. But John McEwenSir John McEwen ( March 29 1900 November 20 1980), Australian politician and 18th Prime Minister of Australia, was born at Chiltern, Victoria, where his father was a pharmacist. He was educated at state schools and at 16 became a junior public service cle, caretaker Prime Minister and leader of the Country PartyNational Party of Australia Current Leader John Anderson Founded 1922 Headquarters John McEwen House7 National Circuit BARTON ACT 2600 Political ideology conservative Holds government Federal (in coalition) Website The National Party of Australia is an Au, announced that he and his party would not serve in a government led by McMahon. This was partly because of McEwen's personal dislike of McMahon, for reasons suggested in the previous paragraph, but also because McEwen, an arch-protectionist, correctly suspected that McMahon favoured policies of free trade and deregulation.
McMahon therefore withdrew, and John GortonSir John Grey Gorton ( September 9 1911 May 19 2002), Australian politician and the 19th Prime Minister of Australia, was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of an orchardist from Kerang, and educated at a prestigious private school and at Oxford Univers won the party room ballot. McMahon became Foreign Minister and waited for his chance at a comeback. He declined to challenge Gorton after the 1969For other uses, see Number 1969. For the movie, see 1969 (movie). Events January January 1 Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch purchases the largest selling British Sunday newspaper The News Of The World January 5 The Derry Riots leave over 100 people i elections, but when McEwen retired in January 19711971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). Events January January 1 British divorce Reform Act comes into force January 2 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match, Glasgow, Scotland. See Ibrox disaster. Janua he began actively plotting. In March, the Defence Minister, Malcolm Fraser, resigned from Cabinet and denounced Gorton, who then called a party meeting. When the confidence vote in Gorton was tied, he resigned, and McMahon was elected leader.
After all that waiting and intriguing, McMahon found the Prime Ministership to be a nightmare. The Vietnam War and conscription had become very unpopular. He was unable to match the performance of Labor leader, Gough Whitlam, who campaigned on radical new policies such as universal health insurance. He was undermined by plotting from Gorton's supporters. He attacked Whitlam over his policy of recognising the People's Republic of China, then had to back down when President Nixon announced his visit to China. His reputation for economic management was undermined by high inflation.
McMahon lost his nerve, and in the December 1972 election campaign he was outperformed by Whitlam and subjected to ridicule in the press. When Whitlam easily won the elections, McMahon resigned the Liberal leadership. He served in the Shadow Cabinet under his successor, Billy Snedden, but was dropped after the 1974 elections. He stayed in Parliament as a backbencher until his resignation in 1982, by which time he was Father of the House. He died of cancer in Sydney in 1988.
No Australian Prime Minister has had such a bad press as McMahon. In 1994 Paul Hasluck's memoirs were posthumously published, describing McMahon as "disloyal, devious, dishonest, untrustworthy, petty [and] cowardly." Hasluck had obvious scores to settle, and the truth of such charges cannot be judged. Personal matters aside, McMahon was a highly efficient minister and an excellent Treasurer. He might have made a good PM if he had been ten years younger, if he had had the support of his colleagues, and if he had not been in charge of a government that the electorate had grown tired of.