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The Cold Wars closest encounter between the United States and the Soviet Union happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a pivotal moment in history. For decades, the problem has captivated historians and political scientists across the world, inspiring a profusion of scholarly work (Colman, 2019). Given the size of the Cuban Missile Crisis and its possible global repercussions, historians have examined how other Commonwealth nations that were not directly engaged responded. In this context, it is crucial to inquire about Australias attitude and response to the Cuban Missile Crisis for various reasons. What was Australias response to the crisis, and more crucially, how did the nation respond in light of the relationship between Australia and the US? Gaining a deeper and more thorough knowledge of the Menzies governments vision of American relations will demonstrate how it affected Australian approach to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Common misconception dictates that Australia was positively aligned with US policy during the Cold War. While many countries were unsure of the necessity of joining a side in this instance, the Menzies government took a constrained approach rarely mentioned in history books. This outlook is related to the fact that Australia lied closer to the communist countries (McIntosh, 2018). In this case, the Menzies government developed a policy to aid Australian citizens, limiting their involvement in the Cuban Missile crisis. However, it is crucial to note the Menzies Administrations promise to support Kennedys Presidency regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is prudent to showcase how Australia handled the Cuban Missile Crisis, strengthening the countrys ties with the US.
The Menzies Administration promised thoughtful support to the Kennedy Presidency. This demonstrated the necessity to balance its goals of boosting Australias defense capacity to deal with the expanding threat, maybe through offensive weapons and bases (Bickerton, 2019). This reflects the governments fears that South-East Asias peace and security were threatened by communism. The countrys government gave Australias dependence on the American alliance for defense priority. This shows that the Menzies Administration believed Australias national interest lay in successfully aligning its relations with Americas interests.
Few Members of Parliament (MPs) in Menzies government commented on the Cuban Missile Crisis in their memoirs. Those who have remarked on the crisis have not offered any insightful analysis of Australias reaction that has any real substance. Instead, they have provided thought-provoking, albeit sporadic, reflections on how American President John F. Kennedy handled the crisis and the significance of this incident in the Cold War (Doyle, 2018). Even in retrospect, this is useful for identifying the attitudes and views of persons participating in politics. Nonetheless, their reflections produce more problems than they do answers.
The Australian Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, expressed his respect for Kennedy and his handling of the crisis in his first biography, Afternoon Light. According to him, the Bay of Pigs incident, in which Kennedy and his administration had gone wrong, grievously wrong, served as a lesson for them (Toohey, 2019). He claimed that the crisis embodied those lessons (Toohey, 2019). Menzies believed Kennedy acted with boldness and haste against Soviet expansionism that has been struck in post-war history when he faced Soviet leader Khrushchev (Ibrahim et al., 2020). Menzies noted that tensions between the West and the Soviet Union were remarkably reduced due to the coup in Cuba.
Menzies claimed to have held the prior opinion; thus, he had been waiting for such a coup. He felt that the Soviet leadership would disintegrate if the Soviet Chairman faced opposition from a democratic leader, such as the President of the United States (Llewellyn et al., 2019). Menzies, a self-described anglophile, had tremendous and ardent faith in the American presidency in general and in Kennedy (McIntosh, 2018). This thesis shows how much the Menzies government believed in America in October 1962 before attempting to show who and what impacted Australian foreign policy during this time. In hindsight, Menzies seemed to have more faith in Kennedy and his decisions than Beale, his American envoy.
Malcolm Fraser was a backbencher for the Liberal Party during the crisis, and some political biographies of Fraser have focused on his parliamentary address on March 5, 1964, in which he discussed the Crisis significance concerning the Vietnam War. According to Philip Ayres in Malcolm Fraser: A Biography and Alan Renouf in Malcolm Fraser & Australian Foreign Policy, this speech expressed Frasers concern for Australias national security (Doyle, 2018). Contrary to popular belief, Renouf said that Fraser gained little consolation from the crisis resolution, echoing Beale. According to Renouf and Ayres analysis, the crisis represented the willingness of the United States and the Soviet Union to utilize their nuclear weapons for their objectives while steering clear of interactions that would trigger a nuclear reaction, according to Fraser.
America would therefore be prone backing down what it viewed as minor conflicts. According to Fraser, such disputes might put Australian interests in danger (SHAFR, 2022). According to Ayres, this speech emphasized Australias reliance on its allies, showing that the Australian-American alliance was a crucial part of Australian foreign policy in the 1960s (Piccini et al., 2019). The Daniel Mannix Memorial Lecture, which Fraser gave at the University of Melbourne in 1987, reflected this (Lipski & Rutland, 2018). In it, he recalled hearing Menzies describes the ostensibly private Cabinet talks about how Australia should respond to the crisis.
Menzies government discerned the importance of supporting Kennedys decisions concerning the Cuban Missile Crisis. It considered this was the only course of action Australia could have followed. After extensive discussion among Cabinet members, he proclaimed that it was in Australias interest to help its American ally (Colman, 2019). The Menzies Governments approach to the crisis, and subsequently Australian foreign policy during this time, was determined by several elements, including concerns and dependencies regarding Australias national interest.
In conclusion, Menzies government provided solutions for American and Soviet aggression during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The administration argued that each country used underhanded methods to deal with its enemies. Nonetheless, the government supported Americas position due to the influence of communism in Southeast Asia. Its potential to posit a problem for Australias security necessitated keeping Kennedys administration to curb the growth of communism influence. The crisis demonstrated to Australia that it could rely on America to protect it from the Soviet menace (Chiam, 2021). The Menzies governments backing for American action in Southeast Asia at the time was evidence of its reliance on the American alliance. Its worries about the potential effects of these crises on his national interests highlighted Australias need to continue to manage its relationship with the United States carefully. In this case, the importance of Australias defense reliance on the American alliance should be emphasized. This research demonstrated the Menzies administrations belief that successfully managing Australias ties with the United States was in the countrys best interests.
References
Bickerton, I. J. (2019). John F. Kennedy: A reference guide to his life and works. Rowman et Littlefield.
Chiam, M. (2021). International law in public debate. Cambridge University Press.
Colman, J. (2019). Toward World support and The ultimate judgment of history : The US legal case for the blockade of Cuba during the Missile Crisis, OctoberNovember 1962. Journal of Cold War Studies, 21(2), 150173.
Doyle, R. J. (2018). Australian Nexus: At the center of the storm. Lexington Books.
Ibrahim, S. G., Bibi-Farouk, I., & Chinelo, O. (2020). Impact of the American Attack on Cuba at the Bay of Pigs on the United States and International Relations. African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Research, 3(4), 19.
Lipski, S., & Rutland, S. D. (2018). Let my people go: The untold story of Australia and the Soviet Jews 1959-89. Hybrid Publishers.
Llewellyn, J., Southey, J., & Thompson, S. (2019). Cold War Timeline: 1960 to 1969. Alpha History.
McIntosh, R. V. (2018). An Australians story. Matador.
SHAFR (2022). The nuisance of Decision: Jupiter missiles and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Journal of Strategic Studies, 14(1), 1-26.
Piccini, J., Smith, E., & Worley, M. (2019). The Far Left in Australia Since 1945. Routledge.
Toohey, B. (2019). Secret: The Making of Australias Security State. Melbourne University Publishing.
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