July 5, 1945: John Curtin, Prime Minister of Australia for 4 years, dies of heart trouble at "The Lodge," the official residence of the PM, in the capital of Canberra. He was 60 years old.
Born on January 8, 1885 in Creswick, in the State of Victoria, he was first elected to Parliament in 1928, from Fremantle, outside Perth on the west coast. In 1935, he was named Leader of the Australian Labor Party, becoming Leader of the Opposition. In 1941, with Australian troops having aided the British Empire against Nazi Germany in World War II for 2 years, an election turned the "Country Party" out of power, forcing Prime Minister Robert Menzies to resign. Curtin became Prime Minister, and served as his own Minister for Defence (as it would be "spelt" in the Empire).
Two months later, the Empire of Japan attacked not just the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, but American and British bases all over the Pacific Ocean. That brought Australia into the "Pacific Theater" of the war. Curtin placed Australian forces under the command of the American General Douglas MacArthur, with whom he formed a close relationship.
On the home front, he gave Australia its version of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal in America, both a percursor of Clement Attlee's work in Britain after The War. He imposed uniform taxation was imposed on the various states, and set up a widows' pension, maternity benefits for Indigenous Australians, funeral benefits, a wife's allowance, additional allowances for the children of pensioners, unemployment, sickness and Special Benefits, and pharmaceutical benefits. He successfully negotiated the issue of overseas conscription that had split his party during World War I. The ALP won almost 2/3rds of the seats in the House of Representatives at the 1943 election, which remains a party record.
His enactment of the Statue of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 marked Australian legal independence from Britain, though the British monarch remains the country's head of state to this day. This law, along with the Constitution of Australia in 1901 and the Australia Act 1986, is one of the key components of Australia's modern constitutional framework.
A notable mark against Curtin is that he defended the White Australia Policy, in a speech in which he stated, "This country shall remain forever the home of the descendants of those people who came here in peace in order to establish in the South Seas an outpost of the British race."
Curtin died in office, with his heart trouble blamed on the stresses of The War, 58 days after V-E Day marked the defeat of Germany. But V-J Day hadn't come yet, and that would be more important to Australia. So Australia and America, in addition to the other things they have in common, have one more: The leader who guided them through World War II couldn't quite make it to see the end.
Frank Forde was named interim PM, until the Labor Party officially elected his Treasurer, Ben Chifley, as its Leader, and thus as Prime Minister. Chifley implemented many of Curtin's postwar reconstruction plans. For this reason, Chifley, who served until 1949, when Menzies returned, is generally regarded as one of Australia's better Prime Ministers; but Curtin is regarded as one of the very best.
*
July 5, 1945 was a Thursday. This was also the day that British voters returned the Labour Party to power, leading to Winston Churchill's exit as Prime Minister, and Attlee's entry. I have a separate entry for that event.
These baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at League Park in Cleveland. Ed Klieman outpitched Ernest "Tiny" Bonham, who both went the 11-inning distance, before Jeff Heath hit a game-winning home run.
* The New York Giants lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5 at the Polo Grounds.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 6-4 at Ebbets Field.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Boston Braves, 3-2 at Braves Field in Boston.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-8 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.
* The Washington Senators beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. In the bottom of the 11th inning, Louis "Bobo" Newsom walked Frank Mancuso with the bases loaded, forcing George McQuinn home with the winning run. Bob Muncrief had pitched 10 innings for the Browns, but it would be Sig Jakucki who was the winning pitcher.
* And the Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 8. The Pirates won the opener, 4-0. Elwin "Preacher" Roe pitched a 6-hit shutout. The Phils won the nightcap, 5-0. Dick Mauney pitched an 8-hit shutout.
