As I recall it Connor had to go after he misled Parliament over the loans matter.

The was a British miniseries that came out in the early 80s that was very close to what happened here but the petrodollars were roubles and the plotters were the Public Service.

According to a historian at Newcastle Uni who specialises in that era, Whitlam made the USA uncomfortable over Pine Gap and various other matters but the last straw was when he considered refining our own uranium instead of shipping it to the USA and break their monopoly.

Until then the yanks had a global patent on the refining process but the French came up with another method that we could use. The CIA put pressure on MI5 who leaned on Kerr and for what it's worth, years later Jimmy Carter wrote to Whitlam saying that the USA would never again interfere in the internal politics of Australia.

Murdoch also had a vendetta against Whitlam because his insistence that he be appointed Commissioner to London (and expand his media empire) was turned down with the bonus of being called "a shonky slob".

Fun times - but overall the qualities of our representatives on both sides was much higher than the charlatans and corrupt carpetbaggers of today.

Good point on island defense Hasbeen.

Good point on island defence Hasbeen, if the year was still 1945. Unfortunately its not, and the use of intercontinental ballistic missiles makes island hopping redundant.

mhaze quoting chapter and verse from the conservative playbook on the Whitlam years. Just as Biden couldn't remember Morrison's name, Nixon couldn't remember McMahon's name, but he soon learnt the name of Edward Gough Whitlam. The CIA had always been suspect of the Australian Labor Party post war, believing it was populated by communists. Post war conservative rule in Australia under Menzies, Holt, Gorton and MacMahon reassured America of the lap dog status of Australia, and the Labor Party in opposition was of little concern. The Americans may have had suspicions about the Labor mob, the election of Whitlam in 1972 left them in no doubt, with anti American actions, the quick withdrawal from Vietnam, the recognition of Communist China and the general socialist pro-Australia approach of the government confirmed for the Americans that the "Bolshevik were indeed in charge in Canberra" and they had to be dealt with. A CIA plan was hatched, involving the anti-Labor forces within Australia, to overthrow the legitimately elected government. This was not done in the usual American style of the gun and assignation, but through what laughably appeared to be be the peaceful "democratic process" of the ballot box. It was the action of a subversive America, aided and abetted by home grown traitors, Kerr, Fraser, Barwick, Murdoch, scabs in parliament etc, that brought down the democratically elected Whitlam Government. The Labor Party has spent the last 47 trying to convince America they have changed their ways, and they are now a subservient lap dog that can be trusted. BUT! Uncle Sam still has his lingering suspicions!

That's Bolshevik's and assassination

Rache,

I don't know where you dig up these ridiculous conspiracy theories.

There is no special patent on enriching uranium, it is just horrendously expensive to build a plant, and unless Aus was looking at building nukes or a fleet of nuclear power plants it would be moronic.

Lots of assertions there, Paul. Unfortunately not a single supporting fact. But a few errors.

Although its ALP myth that Whitlam pulled Australia out of Vietnam, the fact is that the withdrawal had begun long before Whitlam came to power. Equally, his rapprochement with Red China wasn't a problem for the US. Indeed Nixon had already made his famous trip to China long before Whitlam came to power and Japan had moved to normalise relations. So the idea that recognition was a problem for the US is just another of those ALP myths that you have, as per usual, fallen for hook, line and sinker.

While I didn't and don't support Fraser's manoeuvres in 1975, Whitlam was thrown out because his government was a disaster. Recession, inflation at 17%, unemployment at the then unheard of 5%. No amount of myth-making will hide this evidence, unless, like you, the evidence is ignored.