Australia's security relations with the United States, 1957-1963
Abstract
This dissertation is an account of Australia's
re-orientation of security thinking after the "cathartic
experience" of the 1956 Suez crisis. It treats of the
Australian Government's realistic assessment of the
changed power relationships after Suez and its determination
to maximise the security guarantee of its most
powerful Western ally in the Pacific.
The story reveals Australia's increasing reliance
in defence matters on the United States, where she had
.. ·· .. formerly strive·n to sati-sfy · her security ·needs by
balancing her ties between Great Britain and the United
States. It discloses how the Menzies Government consciously
strove to make itself a politically indispensable ally
to the United States. Judging the country' s . internal
development needs to have priority, the Liberal Country
Party coalition Government deliberately curtailed defence
spending. Instead, it substituted foreign policy cooperation
with the United States for supstantive contributions
to the collective defence effort.
This policy of the Menzies Government was successful
in several respects. Externally Australia was able
to secure firm American guarantees for Australian security
interests and implicit support for most of her foreign
policy goals. Internally the reliance on American
strength allowed the Government to concentrate on development.
Through a conscious policy of assiduously cultivating
close personal contacts with American officials
at all levels, the Menzies Government succeeded in
building up a special relationship. The events of 1963 strengthened the bonds of goodwill between the two
Governments. The last two chapters illustrate how
that special relationship operated in Australian
domestic politics to the advantage of the Menzies Government.
The study ends in ·late 1963, the year which
marks the end of " tokenism" in Australia's defence
efforts. Methodology: The approach of this study has been to document
Australia's increasing reliance on the United States
for the satisfaction of her security needs. This
dissertation thus seeks to continue works which treat
Australia's search for regional security in earlier
periods.
Research has been based on conventional sources
such as the various official publications of the two
governments, the open literature in the field, as well
as an extensive survey of newspapers and journals.
Important insights were made possible by a series of confidential interviews with former Cabinet ministers,
high-ranking Service personnel, and key civil servants.
My promise that the names of the respondents to these
interviews would be kept secret for at least 15 years
created an atmosphere of trust. In this way, I gained
access to information which fundamentally influenced my
conclusions. It is important for future research that
this trust be preserved.