Memorandum from Secretary of State Dean Acheson to President Harry S. Truman, with Attachments
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OCR Page 1 of 11DEPARTMENT OF STATE
the
WASHINGTON
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
Subject: Luncheon for the Australian Prime Minister,
The Right Honorable Robert G. Menzies.
The Australian Prime Minister, The Right Honorable Robert G.
Menzies, is having lunch with you on May 19 at 1:00 p.m. Following
the luncheon he has an appointment to see me or, in my absence,
Mr. Bruce. The Prime Minister is visiting London at the request
of Mr. Churchill and is stopping over several days in Washington
en route. While his visit to the United States is informal and
brief, we believe it will serve a useful purpose in further
strengthening the friendly understanding and support for basic
United States policies which have characterized his administration
since it took office in 1949. Mr. Menzies, you will recall,
visited the United States in July 1950, and you gave a luncheon
in his honor on July 28. On that visit the Prime Minister obtained
a $100 million loan for developmental purposes from The International
Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Mr. Menzies has been a member of the Australian Parliament
since 1934. He was Prime Minister from 1939-1941 and was returned
to office in December 1949. He has been Prime Minister since that
time in a Liberal-Country Party coalition government. An election
in 1951 resulted in a victory for the Coalition Government giving
it control of the Senate, which it had not had previously, and an
increased majority in The House of Representatives. The Opposition
Labor Party is led by Dr. Herbert Evatt who was Foreign Minister
in the Labor Government defeated by Mr. Menzies in the 1949 election.
Dr. Evatt and his party bitterly opposed the Japanese Treaty and
voted against it in Parliament. There is continuing strong dis-
trust of Japan in Australia and the Treaty was not popular with the
rank and file voters of any party because of the absence of re-
strictions on Japanese rearmament. It was a noteworthy demonstra-
tion of political responsibility and support for United States
policies that, notwithstanding the state of public opinion in
Australia, Prime Minister Menzies' Government accepted and defended
DECLASSIFIED
MED and AND
the
Authority NLT 83-7
STATE DEPT LTR. 29 +37-26-13
By HC NLT Date 3-11-+3
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