Percy Spender
Australian Parliament for Warringah | |
---|---|
In office 23 October 1937 – 28 April 1951 | |
Preceded by | Archdale Parkhill |
Succeeded by | Francis Bland |
Personal details | |
Born | Percy Claude Spender 5 October 1897 Darling Point, New South Wales, Australia |
Political party | Independent (1937–1938) UAP (1938–1944) Independent (1944–1945) Liberal (from 1945) |
Spouses | |
Relations | Dale Spender (great-niece) John Spender (son) Allegra Spender (granddaughter) |
Children | 2 sons |
Alma mater | University of Sydney |
Occupation | Politician, diplomat, jurist |
Sir Percy Claude Spender
Early life
Spender was born on 5 October 1897 in
Entry into politics
Spender entered politics at the 1937 election when he was elected to the House of Representatives as member for Warringah. He ran as an "independent UAP" candidate, unexpectedly defeating the sitting member, Sir Archdale Parkhill. On 20 October 1938, Spender announced that he would join the UAP, but that he would "continue to stand for independent expression of thought and action and against the principle of preselection of candidates".[2]
World War II
Treasurer
Spender's primary objective as Treasurer was to accelerate the country's transition to a
Later activities
After the
Menzies resigned as UAP leader in October 1941, and Spender was an unsuccessful candidate for the leadership. He was eliminated on the first ballot, with Billy Hughes subsequently defeating Allan McDonald by a narrow margin. Spender was also a candidate for the UAP leadership in 1943, when Hughes resigned. He was again eliminated on the first ballot, polling only a handful of votes.[1] In February 1944, the UAP voted to withdraw its members from the Advisory War Council. Spender refused to resign from the council, and was expelled from the UAP as a result on 23 February 1944. The party reportedly voted 21 to 5 in favour of an expulsion motion moved by Robert Menzies – who had been largely responsible for the creation of the council as a nonpartisan body. John Curtin subsequently sent Spender a letter thanking him for staying on.[7] Billy Hughes was expelled in similar circumstances two months later.[8]
Spender sat as an independent after being expelled from the UAP. He was approached to join the
Post-war politics
Upon Menzies' return to power in 1949, Spender was made Minister for External Affairs (19 December 1949 – 26 April 1951) and Minister for External Territories. Spender's greatest influence on Australian politics occurred during this period. He led Australian delegations to the British Commonwealth Conference in Colombo, Ceylon and to the Fifth Session of the United Nations General Assembly (of which he was the vice-president).[1]
At the conference in Colombo, Spender was instrumental in the development of the Colombo Plan (which had originally been known as the Spender Plan). He also played a large part in the signing of the ANZUS Pact[12] and the Treaty of San Francisco (Japanese Peace Treaty; 1951).
Spender expressed more desire to secure alliances with 'great powers' than contribute to collective security, stating that international organisations like the UN may "contain those who are at work to disrupt the order we believe in".[13] In this sense Spender was more akin to the realist tradition of Australian foreign politics linked to former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies.[14]
Diplomatic and judicial posts
On leaving politics, Spender was appointed Australia's
Spender's appointment as Ambassador to the United States was seen as a possible motive by Menzies to remove a potential rival in Spender from Parliament and notwithstanding Spender had unsuccessfully stood against Menzies for the UAP leadership in 1943.
However Spender said in 1968 that Menzies only made the ambassador's offer after Spender informed Menzies that he (Spender) was leaving politics. [15]
Spender was the first Australian appointed to the International Court of Justice in The Hague (1958–1964) and was the Court's President 1964–67. Spender died in May 1985, aged 87.[1]
Marriages and family
Spender married
His granddaughter, Allegra Spender is also a member of parliament for Wentworth.
Honours
Spender was knighted in 1952 as a
References
- ^ ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
- ^ "Mr. Spender, M.P., Joins U.A.P." The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 October 1938.
- ^ Department of the Treasury: 151.
- ^ a b Hawkins (2011), p. 152.
- ^ Hawkins (2011), p. 150.
- ^ a b Hawkins (2011), p. 153.
- ^ "U.A.P. EXPELS MR. SPENDER". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 February 1944.
- ^ "U.A.P. EXPELS MR. HUGHES". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 April 1944.
- ^ "MR. SPENDER INVITED TO JOIN L.D.P." The Sydney Morning Herald. 31 August 1944.
- ^ "MR. SPENDER AND THE LIBERAL PARTY". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 May 1945.
- ^ "Hughes and Spender Join Liberals". The Sydney Morning Herald. 14 September 1945.
- ^ Penrose, Sandra (29 September – 1 October 2004). "Percy Spender and the origins of ANZUS: an Australian initiative" (PDF). University of Adelaide. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
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(help) - ^ Lowe, D. 2003, 'Percy Spender, Minister and Ambassador', in, Beaumont, J. Waters, C. Lowe, D. and Woddard, G. Ministers, Mandarins and Diplomats: Australian Foreign Policy Making, 1941–1969, Melbourne University Press, p. 70
- ^ Gyngell, A. and Wesley, M. 2007, Making Australian Foreign Policy (Second Edition), Cambridge University press, Melbourne, p. 11
- ^ https://treasury.gov.au/publication/economic-roundup-issue-2-2011/economic-roundup-issue-2-2011/percy-spender-an-early-keynesian
- ^ magazine, STANFORD (29 June 2023). "'Life Doesn't Always Go as Planned'". stanfordmag.org. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
Further reading
- David Lowe (2010). Australian Between Empires: The Life of Percy Spender. Pickering and Chatto.
External links
- A film clip "Longines Chronoscope with Sir Percy C. Spender" is available for viewing at the Internet Archive