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This is a three-minute excerpt from a five-minute Australian Labor Party television commercial for the 1966 federal election. The commercial has a captioned title, Vietnam. In narration over illustrative footage, followed by Arthur Calwell speaking to camera, the advertisement presents the ALP’s policy on Australia’s participation in the Vietnam War.
Curator’s notes
The Menzies government had introduced the National Service scheme in November 1964. Men of 20 years of age were selected by ballot, based on their birthday, to perform national military service. Those chosen were called up for two years’ continuous full-time service, followed by three years of part-time service. At the scheme’s introduction, the government aimed to form an army of 37,500 soldiers to support the US intervention in Vietnam. In August 1965 Menzies announced that the 1966 intake would be increased in order to form an army of 40,000. When Menzies retired in January that year, his successor Harold Holt, in his very first prime ministerial statement, announced a further expansion of Australia’s troop commitment, declaring that national service conscripts would be liable for combat duties in Vietnam. Holt’s personal friendship with US President Lyndon B Johnson added another dimension to Australia’s support for US military operations. On a visit to Washington in July 1966 and again when Johnson visited Australia in October the same year, Holt used the US Democratic Party’s campaign slogan ‘All the way with LBJ’ to publicly demonstrate his government’s willingness to back its ally.
The advertisement talks about the ALP’s very different approach to the Vietnam War – complicated as it was by the difficulty of denouncing the actions of an ally without jeopardising the alliance itself. It talks about redressing the balance between Australian expenditure on arming for war and expenditure on civil aid and peace activities in Vietnam. It also argues for professional soldiers and volunteers (Vietnam was Australia’s first conflict for which volunteers had not been called), rather than conscripts, to be deployed in arenas involving conflict.
Although there were variations in opinion on the war within the Labor Party, Arthur Calwell was very much against it. He was vehemently opposed to conscription and had been so his entire life. He saw it as immoral, unjust and a violation of human rights. In the advertisement he speaks passionately and prophetically about the Vietnam War and the conscription issue. Throughout the war he made various statements, both in and out of parliament, many of which proved to be prescient. His strong anti-war stand was significant to the growth of the anti-Vietnam War movement in Australia. However at the time of the 1966 election, the country was not ready for such a stand and the majority voted against the ALP. Calwell subsequently retired as party leader on 8 February 1967 and was replaced by Gough Whitlam.
