Sir John McEwen (March 29, 1900 - November 20, 1980), Australian politician and 18th Prime Minister of Australia, was born at Chiltern, Victoria, where his father was a pharmacist. He was educated at state schools and at 16 became a junior public service clerk. He enlisted in the Army immediately upon turning 18 but the First World War ended while he was still in training. He commenced dairy farming at Stanhope, near Shepparton. December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... January 10 is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Harold Edward Holt (5 August 1908 - 17 December 1967) was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia from 1966 - 1967, now best remembered for the bizarre circumstances of his death. ... Rt Hon Sir John Gorton GCMG AC CH Sir John Grey Gorton (September 9, 1911 – May 19, 2002) was an Australian politician and the 19th Prime Minister of Australia from 1968-1971. ... March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in Leap years). ... 1900 (MCM) is a common year starting on Monday. ... Chiltern is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Hume Highway, between Wangaratta and Wodonga, in the Indigo Shire. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... ... The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party. ... The Division of Echuca was an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. ... The Division of Indi is an electoral division in the Australian House of Representatives. ... March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in Leap years). ... 1900 (MCM) is a common year starting on Monday. ... November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... The current (25th) Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard (sitting, fifth from left), with his Cabinet, 1999 The office of Prime Minister is in practice the most powerful political office in the Commonwealth of Australia. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Clockwise from top: Trenches in frontline, a British Mark I Tank crossing a trench, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the battle of the Dardanelles, a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks and a Sopwith Camel biplane. ... Dairy farming is a class of agricultural, or more properly, an animal husbandry enterprise, raising female cattle for long-term production of milk, which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy for processing and eventual retail sale. ... Shepparton is a country town located in Victoria, Australia. ...

McEwen was active in farmer organisations and in the Country Party. In 1934 he was elected to the House of Representatives for the electorate of Echuca, switching to Indi in 1937 and Murray in 1949. Between 1937 and 1941 he was successively Minister for the Interior, External Affairs and Commerce and Agriculture. In 1940 when Archie Cameron resigned as Country Party leader he contested the leadership ballot against Sir Earle Page: the ballot was tied and Arthur Fadden was chosen as a compromise. The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Division of Echuca was an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. ... The Division of Indi is an electoral division in the Australian House of Representatives. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Division of Murray is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Archie Galbraith Cameron (22 March 1895 _ 9 August 1956). ... Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page (August 8, 1880 – December 20, 1961), Australian politician, was the eleventh Prime Minister of Australia. ... Sir Arthur William Fadden (April 13, 1894 – April 21, 1973), Australian politician and 13th Prime Minister of Australia, born at Ingham, Queensland, the son of a Presbyterian police officer. ...

When the conservatives returned to office in 1949 under Robert Menzies after eight years in opposition, McEwen became Minister for Commerce and Agriculture again, then Minister for Trade and Industry. He pursued what became known as "McEwenism" - a policy of high tariff protection for the manufacturing industry, so that industry would not challenge the continuing high tariffs on imported raw materials, which benefitted farmers but pushed up industry's costs. In 1958 Fadden retired and McEwen succeeded him as Country Party leader. 1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday. ... Sir Robert Gordon Menzies (20 December 1894 – 14 May 1978), Australian politician, was the twelfth and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia, serving a total of eighteen and a half years in office from 1939 to 1941 and from 1949 to 1966. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

When Menzies retired in 1966, McEwen became the longest-serving figure in the government, and he had a right of veto over government policy. When Menzies's successor, Harold Holt, died in 1967, the Governor-General sent for McEwen and he was sworn in as caretaker Prime Minister while the Liberals elected a new leader. 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... Harold Edward Holt (5 August 1908 - 17 December 1967) was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia from 1966 - 1967, now best remembered for the bizarre circumstances of his death. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Governor-General (or Governor General) is a term used both historically and currently to designate the appointed representative of a head of state or their government for a particular territory, historically in a colonial context, but no longer necessarily in that form. ... The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian liberal conservative political party. ...

There was much support (including among some Liberals) for McEwen taking the job permanently, but within days of his appointment he sparked a leadership crisis when he announced that he and his Country Party colleagues would refuse to serve in a government led by Holt's presumed successor, Treasurer (finance minister), William McMahon. Sir William McMahon (23 February 1908 – 31 March 1988), Australian politician and 20th Prime Minister of Australia, was born in Sydney, New South Wales, where his father was a lawyer. ...

McEwen is reported to have despised McMahon personally, and it is very possible that he disliked McMahon because of his rumoured homosexuality, which has been the subject of persistent rumours in Australia. But more importantly, McEwen was bitterly opposed to McMahon on political grounds, because McMahon was allied with free trade advocates in the conservative parties and favoured sweeping tariff reforms: a position that was vehemently opposed by McEwen, his Country Party colleagues and their rural constituents. Since its inception, the word homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. ... Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ... A tariff is a tax on imported goods. ...

Another key factor in McEwen's antipathy towards McMahon was hinted at soon after the crisis by the veteran political journalist Alan Reid. According to Reid, McEwen was aware that McMahon was habitually breaching Cabinet confidentiality and regularly leaking information to favoured journalists and lobbyists, including Maxwell Newton, who had been hired as a "consultant" by Japanese trade interests. This version of events was confirmed years later by former Canberra lobbyist Richard Farmer, following the release of sealed Cabinet papers from the period. Alan Reid (born 7 August 1954) is a politician in the United Kingdom. ...

McEwen's implacable opposition forced McMahon to withdraw from the leadership ballot and opened the way for the successful campaign to promote the Education Minister, Senator John Gorton, to the Prime Ministership with the support of a group led by Defence Minister, Malcolm Fraser. In the Gorton government McEwen was given the formal title Deputy Prime Minister, confirming his status in the government. His stern demeanour also earned him the nickname "Black Jack" (Sir Robert Menzies called him "Le Noir"). Rt Hon Sir John Gorton GCMG AC CH Sir John Grey Gorton (September 9, 1911 – May 19, 2002) was an Australian politician and the 19th Prime Minister of Australia from 1968-1971. ... John Malcolm Fraser (born 21 May 1930), Australian politician and 22nd Prime Minister of Australia, came to power in the circumstances of the dismissal of the Whitlam government. ...

McEwen retired in early 1971, finally freeing the Liberals to replace Gorton with McMahon, which they did within two months. McEwen died in 1980, by which time the Fraser government was abandoning McEwenite trade policies. 1971 (MCMLXXI) is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... John Malcolm Fraser (born 21 May 1930), Australian politician and 22nd Prime Minister of Australia, came to power in the circumstances of the dismissal of the Whitlam government. ...

See also

• McEwen Ministry

The McEwen Ministry was the forty-fourth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 19th December 1967 to 10th January 1968. ...

External links

• John McEwen - Australia's Prime Ministers / National Archives of Australia

Sir Arthur William Fadden (April 13, 1894 – April 21, 1973), Australian politician and 13th Prime Minister of Australia, born at Ingham, Queensland, the son of a Presbyterian police officer. ... The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party. ... Doug Anthony The Rt Hon John Douglas Anthony AC, CH (born 31 December 1929), Australian politician, was born in Murwillumbah in northern New South Wales. ... Australias second-highest ranked political post is the position of Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. ... Harold Edward Holt (5 August 1908 - 17 December 1967) was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia from 1966 - 1967, now best remembered for the bizarre circumstances of his death. ... The current (25th) Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard (sitting, fifth from left), with his Cabinet, 1999 The office of Prime Minister is in practice the most powerful political office in the Commonwealth of Australia. ... Rt Hon Sir John Gorton GCMG AC CH Sir John Grey Gorton (September 9, 1911 – May 19, 2002) was an Australian politician and the 19th Prime Minister of Australia from 1968-1971. ... Eddie Ward The Right Honourable Edward John Eddie Ward (7 March 1899 – 31 July 1963), Australian politician, was a long serving and controversial Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives for 32 years from 1931 until his death in 1963. ... Sir Robert Gordon Menzies (20 December 1894 – 14 May 1978), Australian politician, was the twelfth and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia, serving a total of eighteen and a half years in office from 1939 to 1941 and from 1949 to 1966. ... See also: List of longest-serving members of the Australian Senate The first House of Representatives was elected on 30 March 1901. ... Rt Hon Arthur Calwell (with young migrant, 1949) Arthur Augustus Calwell (August 28, 1896 - July 8, 1973) Australian politician, was Leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1960 to 1967. ...