John Gorton

Politician

• Born: September 9, 1911
• Birthplace: Melbourne, Australia
• Died: May 19, 2002
• Place of death: Sydney, Australia

Significance: A celebrated World War II fighter pilot , John Gorton was prime minister of Australia from 1968 to 1971. A controversial and at times polarizing politician, he resigned following a tied no-confidence vote.

Background

Details about John Grey Gorton’s birth in 1911 are uncertain; a birth registry in the state of Victoria listed his birthplace as the Melbourne suburb of Prahran, but his father later told him he was born in Wellington, New Zealand. The second child of John Rose Gorton, a wealthy Englishman, and Melbourne native Alice Sinn, Gorton’s parents were not married to one another, as his father’s estranged Catholic wife had refused to grant a divorce.

The family eventually settled in Sydney, where Gorton attended Edgecliff Preparatory School. He then attended Headford College before boarding at Shore, the Sydney Church of England Grammar School. For secondary school he boarded at Geelong Grammar School and graduated in 1930.

Gorton then traveled to England in 1932 and studied history, politics, and economics at the University of Oxford’s Brasenose College, graduating in 1935.

Orchardist and Military Careers

After Gorton returned to Australia, he worked on his father’s orchard, Mystic Park, at Kangaroo Lake, near Kerang in northern Victoria. He also became involved in politics, joining the agrarian center-right Country Party and serving as the secretary of its local branch.

After World War II broke out in 1939, Gorton joined the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve. In 1940 he formally enlisted and trained as a fighter pilot. He served in both the European and Pacific Theaters of the war, with tours in the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Papua New Guinea, and suffered severe injuries in two crash landings. After a third accident, he returned to Australia in 1943 and served out the rest of the war as a flight instructor.

Political Career

In 1946 Gorton was elected to the Kerang Shire Council, a seat he held through 1952. From 1949 to 1950 he was the council’s president. Gorton favored the union of his party with the Liberal Party of Australia to form the Liberal and Country Party, which took place in 1949. That same year he ran for a seat in the Victorian Legislative Council but was narrowly defeated.

Gorton won a seat in the Australian Senate in 1949 as the representative of Victoria. He was sworn into office on February 22, 1950, and was reelected in the next four elections. Keenly interested in foreign affairs, he advocated for Australia to strengthen its defense and relations with other countries. He also was a staunch opponent of communism. From 1952 to 1958 he served on the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Prime Minister Robert Menzies appointed Gorton minister of the navy in 1958, a portfolio he held through 1963. He also served as assistant to the minister for external affairs (1960–63) and the minister in charge of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (1962–63). He was given the interior and works portfolios in 1963 and became the assistant to the minister of education and research.

During Harold Holt’s administration, Gorton held on to the works portfolio (1966–67) and added education and science (1966–68). Gorton expanded the federal government’s role in education, increased funding for universities and scholarships for students, and supported state aid to nongovernment schools. In October 1967 Gorton became the leader of the government in the Senate, a post he held until February 1, 1968.

In December 1967 Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared while swimming in the ocean and was declared dead. Gorton was elected to succeed him. He was sworn in on January 10, 1968, resigned from the Senate and joined the House of Representatives, and led a Liberal-Country Party coalition government. His achievements as prime minister included establishing the Australian Film Development Corporation (1970) and the Australian Industry Development Corporation (1970), addressing the gender pay gap by supporting legislation that granted equal pay to men and women (1969, implemented in 1972), increasing educational and employment opportunities for Aboriginal Australians, and beginning the withdrawal of Australian troops from South Vietnam and reducing Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War (1970).

Gorton faced multiple obstacles as prime minister, especially among members of his own party. His promotion of strong federal power and economic centralization created tension with state premiers. His push for social changes caused strife among party conservatives. Equally unpopular was his reluctance to support foreign investment for economic development. On March 10, 1971, Gorton faced a no-confidence vote that resulted in a tie; rather than fight the result, Gorton resigned and was succeeded by William McMahon.

Gorton served in McMahon’s administration as the deputy leader and the minister of defense for five months. He resigned on August 12, 1971, after a controversy surrounding a series of newspaper articles he authored, titled “I Did It My Way.” He resigned from parliament and from the Liberal Party in 1975 and dropped out of politics. He frequently commented on national affairs on television and hosted a radio program from 1978 to 1982.

Gorton died in 2002 following a long illness.

Impact

For many years, Gorton was regarded as one of Australia’s most unpopular prime ministers. His premiership lead to great instability in the Liberal Party for more than twenty years. His reputation improved shortly before his death, and he was readmitted to the Liberal Party in 1999. From then on, historians reconsidered his leadership, and many viewed him more favorably. By the time of his death, Gorton’s image among some of his peers was of a statesman who was too progressive for his time. Gorton was named a companion of the Order of Australia and a Knight Grand Cross.

Personal Life

Gorton and Bettina Brown, an American, married on February 15, 1935. They had three children, Michael, Robin, and Joanna, and a dozen grandchildren. Bettina Gorton died in 1983, and ten years later John Gorton married Nancy Home, who outlived him.

Bibliography

Carroll, Brian. “John Gorton: The Wild One.” Australia’s Prime Ministers: From Barton to Howard, Rosenberg, 2004, pp. 211–22. Google Books, books.google.com/books?id=W8PUBuw4idYC. Accessed 23 Mar. 2020.

Furse-Roberts, David. “John Gorton: A Rugged Australian Idealist.” Spectator, 11 Jan. 2018, www.spectator.com.au/2018/01/john-gorton-a-rugged-australian-idealist. Accessed 23 Mar. 2020.

“Gorton, Sir John Grey (1911–2002).” The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate, 2010, biography.senate.gov.au/gorton-john-grey. Accessed 23 Mar. 2020.

“John Gorton.” National Archives of Australia, primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/gorton. Accessed 23 Mar. 2020.

“John Gorton.” National Museum Australia, www.nma.gov.au/explore/features/prime-ministers/john-gorton. Accessed 23 Mar. 2020.

“Tributes Flow in for ‘Great Australian.’” The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 May 2002, www.smh.com.au/national/tributes-flow-in-for-great-australian-20020520-gdfamx.html. Accessed 23 Mar. 2020.