The

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

held a

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

on 18 April 1939, following the death in office of Prime Minister

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He began his career in the Australian Labor Party (ALP), ...

on 7 April. Robert Menzies narrowly defeated Billy Hughes – a former

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

prime minister – on the third ballot, following the earlier elimination of Treasurer Richard Casey and Trade Minister Thomas White. Another former prime minister,

Stanley Bruce Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, (15 April 1883 – 25 August 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929, as leader of the Nationalist Party. Born ...

, had also been considered a leadership contender, but for various reasons (including his position outside of parliament as

High Commissioner to the United Kingdom The following is the list of ambassadors and high commissioners to the United Kingdom, or more formally, to the Court of St James's. High commissioners represent member states of the Commonwealth of Nations and ambassadors represent other sta ...

) he was never nominated. Menzies was not sworn in as prime minister until 26 April.''The Adelaide Advertiser''
19 April 1939.

Newspaper endorsements

The press took a keen interest in the leadership contest, which was one of the first in which a party chose a new prime minister in an open fashion with multiple viable candidates. In Melbourne, ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'' endorsed Menzies as the new prime minister on 8 April, only a day after Lyons' death. '' The Argus'' endorsed Casey, arguing that he had remained loyal to Lyons and the government where Menzies had not. '' The Herald'' on 12 April stated a slight preference for Bruce, but observed that it would probably be too difficult to recall him from London and that Menzies was the only other alternative. It gave a more enthusiastic endorsement of Menzies two days later. In Sydney, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' supported Casey, while ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' was an "earnest advocate of recalling Bruce".

References

Sources

* * * United Australia Party April 1939 events 1939 elections in Australia Robert Menzies Australian leadership spills United Australia Party leadership election {{Australia-election-stub

Newspaper endorsements

See also

References

Sources