Sir Robert Menzies was Australia ’s longest serving Prime Minister , first hold role at the beginning of World War II from 1939 until 1941 , and then again from 1949 until 1966 . And thanks to a late Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) petition , we now recognise a fleck about how the CIA viewed this fable of Australian politics .
The CIA ’s biographic reports are interesting not because they give us some insight into top level , extremely closelipped intelligence . But rather , they ’re written in a manner that give us a peek at how the CIA view an individual on a human level .
For illustration , I recently receive the CIA ’s biographical report for pitiless Chilean dictatorAugusto Pinochet . The agency line him as both “ outwardly tough ” and “ unbending ” but also “ warm and fatherly . ” The CIA even used idiom like “ mild - mannered ” to describe the brutal human beings .
So what can we harvest from the CIA ’s biographical file on Robert Menzies , a Cold War friend in the fight against communism ? The CIA call Menzies an “ unco keen intellect , ” with “ personal magnetism ” and a “ keen wit . ” The data file also notes that he has “ a talent for polemics ” and say that he “ support out in any political gathering . ”
The Indian file also plow the strong anti - Communist scene of the man , which no doubt made the CIA experience like they had a substantial ally in the south Pacific . The file talks about Menzies and his refusal to recognize Communist China , for fear of losing Taiwan to communism .
The biographic study also relate to Menzies as a “ fervent Anglophile ” which may just be a nod to Australia ’s history as a commonwealth and Menzies ’ historical connection there , or it may be a insidious nod to his racialism . Menzies was n’t shy about fully embracing theWhite Australia Policy , which forbid non - white people from moving to Australia from the clock time of federation ( 1901 ) until the mid-1970s .
https://gizmodo.com/australias-secret-history-as-a-white-utopia-1739916322
you’re able to watch Menzies on video ( likely from the tardy 1950s or other sixties ) on YouTubedefending the White Australia Policy .
Menzies would fall behind his function as Prime Minister to Harold Holt , a fellow member of his own party , in 1966 . Menzies died in 1978 , just a few short years after a constitutional crisis that has been surrounded in mystery for four decades as mass enquire whether the CIA orchestrated a coup d’etat in Australia to kick out Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1975 . We still do n’t do it .
The CIA ’s ownbiographic reportson the hoi polloi involve in “ the dismission ” of Whitlam have n’t given us an ah - ha moment . I have gotten the FBI file and CIA biographic study for Whitlam . But the CIA refuses to release the biographical file of the Prime Minister who oust him , Malcolm Fraser .
discase back the stratum of chronicle can be a prospicient and frustrative task when you ’re dealing with an agency like the CIA . But we do it piece by piece . And while the biographic Indian file on Menzies may not be the most exciting document ever bring out , it does lead to our understanding of the humans and his family relationship with the CIA in a small agency . And in today ’s case , we learned that the CIA thought Menzies was a pretty keen guy . The agency know they had a solid friend down under .
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