John Howard

• Born: 26 July 1939
• Place of Birth: Earlwood, Australia

• Place of birth: Earlwood, Australia

Background and Education

Sir John Howard became the twenty-fifth prime minister of Australia in 1996. As the head of the Liberal Party of Australia, he was the second-longest serving prime minister in Australian history.

John Winston Howard was born in a suburb of Sydney on 26 July 1939. He was the youngest of four sons born to Lyell and Mona Howard. His parents chose his middle name, Winston, after Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Great Britain during World War II.

Howard's political awareness began at an early age, when his family supported the election of the Liberal Party, led by Robert Menzies, in 1949. The Howard family, which ran a gas station, supported the party because it was campaigning on a promise to end the gasoline rationing that had begun during the war.

As a primary school student, Howard was awarded a prize for citizenship that had been created and financed by Eric Willis, who had recently been elected to the state parliament. During his twenty-eight years in office, Willis would be a significant political influence as Howard's mentor.

Lyell Howard died in 1955 from complications from a wound he had received during World War I. John Howard finished high school the following year, and in 1957 he began his studies at the University of Sydney, where he pursued a law degree.

As a college student, Howard was politically active and joined the Young Liberal Movement when he was eighteen. It should be noted that the Liberal Party of Australia does not line up with the political definition of "liberal" in the United States. Rather, the Liberal Party is a right-wing, conservative party.

After graduating from the University of Sydney in 1961, Howard became a solicitor. Unlike American lawyers, solicitors in Great Britain and Australia do not argue cases in court. During his early career as a solicitor, Howard worked for one of Sydney's top law firms and soon became a partner.

At the same time, Howard became more involved in politics. In 1962, he was elected president of the Young Liberal Movement. The following year, he became a member of the Liberal Party State Executive, which manages election campaigns for the party. Howard managed his first political campaign at the federal level in 1963. The incumbent politician, a member of the Labor Party, had held office for twenty years, but the campaign successfully replaced him with a Liberal politician.

Early Political Career

In 1964, Howard went to Great Britain to participate in an ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the Conservative Party. The next year, he returned to Australia and resumed his work as a solicitor, returning to his place on the Liberal Party State Executive. His first attempt to run for public office failed in 1968, when he lost his bid for a state parliamentary seat.

In 1971, Howard married Janette Parker; the next year he was elected to the state Liberal Party as vice-president and worked on the 1972 election campaign. In 1974, his wife gave birth to the first of the couple's three children, and he won a seat in the Parliament of Australia that he would hold for more than thirty years.

In the Australian parliamentary system, there are a number of parties represented. If one party does not have a majority of the seats in the House of Representatives, then they must form a coalition with another party. The leader of the majority party or the coalition is the prime minister. In 1975, the government, led by a Labor Party coalition, became deadlocked. Parliament was dissolved so a federal election could be held. Malcolm Fraser, the head of the Liberal Party, became the coalition prime minister.

Although Howard had only been in Parliament for less than two years, his long history with the Liberal Party led to his elevation to the position of minister of consumer and business affairs. In 1977, he left that position and spent several months serving as the minister assisting the prime minister, later acting as the minister for special trade negotiations. Immediately before the federal elections were held at the end of 1977, Howard was appointed treasurer.

Howard remained treasurer for the next five years, until a Labor government took control in 1983; Labor would retain control for the next thirteen years. During this period, Howard held several important positions within the shadow cabinet for the Opposition. When the Liberal Party lost control, Howard became the shadow treasurer. The responsibility of the shadow appointments is to voice criticism of the current government. Should the Opposition gain control, the shadow minister for a given position is often appointed to that position.

Howard remained the shadow treasurer until 1985, when he took on the position of leader of the Opposition, replacing Andrew Peacock. In 1987, the Liberal Party, in a coalition with the Country Party, narrowly lost in the federal election. A rivalry between Howard and Peacock remained, and by 1989, Peacock had regained enough votes to reclaim the position of party leader. Over the next six years, the party suffered two more federal defeats under two other leaders. In 1995, Howard resumed leadership.

Prime Minister

In 1996, in a coalition with the National Party, the Liberal Party won the Australian federal election in a landslide, and Howard became prime minister. During the campaign, the Liberals had focused on economic reform and the privatisation of Telstra, the national phone company. The new government also began wide-reaching reforms in the areas of industrial relations and taxation. After Howard took office, Australia's unemployment rate dropped, and inflation and interest rates remained low.

In 1997, Howard found himself at the center of a controversy when he refused to issue a government statement regarding the recently established Sorry Day, intended as a day of apology and reflection for the wrongs committed against the Australian Aboriginal people. Howard reasoned that he should not have to apologise for past wrongs that he had no part in. Many asked Howard to reconsider.

In spite of the controversy, Howard's government remained popular, due in part to its policies on international relations and national security. After the terrorist attacks against the United States in 2001, Howard pledged his support of the United States' War on Terror and oversaw a tightening of immigration controls in Australia. In 2002, terrorists bombed a nightclub frequented by tourists on the Indonesian island of Bali. More than two hundred people, mostly Australians, were killed in the attack. In light of this event, Howard's tough stance on terrorism worked to the advantage of the Liberal Party.

In the 2004 election, the Howard government faced strong opposition. Many Australians no longer supported the US war in Iraq, and although polls indicated that the Liberals were behind the opposing party in voter support, they also indicated that voters preferred Howard over Mark Latham, the leader of the Opposition.

However, the Liberal Party maintained control by a narrow margin in the 2004 election, making Howard the second-longest serving prime minister in Australian history. Following the election, several pieces of new legislation were passed, including the sale of the remaining government-owned portion of Telstra and the elimination of certain restrictions on media companies owning multiple media outlets.

In the years following 2004, Howard continued to endure more controversy concerning the treatment of political refugees and asylum seekers in Australia; mistreatment of these groups became the subject of increasing media attention.

On 24 November 2007, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) won the Australian federal election in a landslide. Howard conceded defeat in the election even before all the votes were tallied. The results of the election resulted in Howard's replacement as prime minister by Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd. The Liberal Party's removal from power in the 2007 election was a rare event in Australian politics; the country had rarely only changed party leadership in its one-hundred-year history.

In addition, Howard was voted out of his seat representing Bennelong in Parliament. He was replaced by former television journalist Maxine McKew. Howard resigned on 12 December 2007.

Life after Politics

After his resignation from politics, Howard turned to writing and speaking engagements. His memoir, Lazarus Rising, was published in 2010 and revised in 2013. Howard went on to pen The Menzies Era (2014), a biography of the only prime minister who served longer than he did. His documentary on the same subject aired on television in 2016.

Howard has been recognised for his work in politics. In 2008, he received the Irving Kristol Award for public policy improvement from the American Enterprise Institute. That same year, Howard was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in honour of his political contributions as prime minister. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of New South Wales and from his alma mater, the University of Sydney.

Bibliography

Cadzow, Jane. "John Howard Opens Up about Life after Politics." Illawarra Mercury (NSW), 20 Sept. 2014, www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/2573461/john-howard-opens-up-about-life-after-politics. Accessed 6 June 2024.

"Honorary Doctorate Awarded to Former PM John Howard." University of Sydney, 30 Sept. 2016, sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2016/09/30/honorary-doctorate-awarded-to-former-pm-john-howard.html. Accessed 6 June 2024.

Howard, John. Lazarus Rising: A Personal and Political Autobiography. HarperCollins Publishers Australia, 2013.

“John Howard.” National Museum of Australia, www.nma.gov.au/explore/features/prime-ministers/john-howard. Accessed 6 June 2024.