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Remembering Peter Fraser NEW z_EALAND STUDIES first hand accounts of their personal the same without )a net' helps on the origins of his early radical­ experiences li ving and working emphasise the simple humanity ism provides a sneak preview of the with him. Martyn Finlay, who underlying his beliefs and decisions. major biography of Fraser which he served in caucus with Fraser during The other chapters are more began and Michael Basset! (another his last term as Prime Minister, talks conventional historical accounts. contributor to this book) will finish. of Fraser the politician. Colin Some of them rely heavily on Peter Fra ser: Master Politician is a Aikman and Tom Larkin, officials reports written by one contempo­ pleasant synthesis of a wide variety who travelled with him on diplo­ rary source being brought to light. of perspectives on Fraser and a very matic missions overseas, describe This is especially noticeable in useful addition to New Zealand's Fraser the statesman. Alice Kemp Michael Ashby's contribution on political and historical literature. It Fraser, Peter Fraser's grand-step­ Fraser's foreign policy and Brian could be used as a source for daughter, depicts Fraser the family Easton's rather scrappy chapter on research on a specific aspect of his man (according to her, the Prime Fraser and the development of the career but, unusually for the genre, Minister of New Zealand had one nation-building state. There is a it is very easy to read. In portraying gla ss eye. Imagine that being kept a well-balanced presentation of the man it is in total greater than the secret today 1). Supporting this is a Fraser's accomplishments in sum of its parts. It should appeal to chapter by Hilary Stace noting the separate chapters describing his both the specialist and the general contribution made by Fraser's wife contribution to education policy reader. <S' janet to his career. This helps us (William Renwick), his attitude peek behind the fa~ade of the dour, towards advancing Maori interests SIMON SHEPPARD is a resident austere, even cold figure history (Claudia Orange), and his achieve­ researcher in the School of Political usually presents to us of Fraser. The ments as war-time Prime Minister Science and International Relations, simple statement that 'he was never ([an Wards). Michael King's chapter Victoria University of Wellington. ./, COMMENTARY by Brian Easton Remembering Peter Fraser hardly touched by the fact that Lee seems to have been a monetary This paper was originally given at a New Zea land Book Council seminar 011 'Peter reformer rather than a socialist). My Frn ser: Master Politicia11', 29 July, 1998. attitude- indeed that of much of HERE IS AN EASTON family My father seems to have dis­ my generation- was even more T tradition that when Peter tanced himself from Fraser. I think formed by what was seen to be a Fraser was a carpenter in Auckland, it was probably the expulsion of second betrayal, the conscription he stayed with my great-grandfa­ John A. Lee from the Labour Party. referendum. But as David Grant ther w hen he came to Wellington on Erik Olssen's contribution to Peter shows, Fraser was never a classic Red Fed business. Perhaps it is an Frnser: Master Politician is histori­ conscientious objector despite being exaggeration: he might have stayed ca ll y accurate- distinguishing itself jailed during the First World War. once, or called in on a visit. The from much of the other commen­ And to round the in tergenera tional connection seems to have con­ tary. Perhaps historicity has long story off, I asked my son 'who was tinued, for the tradition claims that been irrelevant, for the expulsion Peter Fraser?'. He replied 'is this a as Prime Minister Fraser attended has the mythical status of the trick question?', thought a bit, and my grandfather's funeral. Fraser moment when Labour chose a path asked eau tiousl y 'was he a Prime was a regular attender of funerals of cooperation with capitalism, Minister?'. Thus in five generations so that is possible too. rather than of socialism (a myth of the Easton family Fraser cycled 26 Vol 8 No 2 September 1998 N E \YI :z_E A L A N D S T U D I E S from being an almost unheard of moves from the status of a living good history of the Treasury which non-entity with potential, to an politician to an historical one. He is is likely to shed further light on the almost forgotten entity of realised not alone: we have recently had central role of Bernard Ash win, and potential. published important biographies of the interaction with his ministers. There are some inconsistencies John Ba llance and Edward Stafford, The second issue is the tension in the Easton family accounts of plus the conference essays on Keith between Fraser, the cold warrior, Fraser. Even my generation knew Holyoake: Towards a Political Biogra­ and the supporters of nuclear there was an anomaly, for we phy. Of the four, the Stout Centre disarmament. I can only offer my described him as 'our greatest has been proudly associated with generation's perspective here. It Minister of Educa tion'. We resolved three, plus the forthcoming study of saw nuclear weapons as so funda­ it, by saying that it was really Robert Muldoon. (In passing we mentally changing the nature of Clarence Beeby, although Bill desperately need a decent biogra­ international politics, that tradi­ Renwick's essay shows he had phy of Bill Massey and also a new tional great power rivalry, such as independently come to his educa­ one on Dick Seddon. And despite that post-war between the Soviet tional views before he met Beeb. My Judith Basset's study, we need to re­ and the US, was no longer relevant. views were further disturbed when evaluate Harry Atkinson). Let me However, nuclear arms interacted I attended a Book Council lecture in finish by listing three issues which so strongly with the cold war, that it the early 1980s, in w hich Michael need further consideration. has never been possible to separate King read the first chapter of what The first I deal with briefly is the two debates -or not possible will be the Bassett-King biography. that covered by my essay: economic until the end of the Soviet Empire (If the rest is only half as good as policy and economic performance. from 1989. The question that Fraser that chapter it is going to be a great I could not really find any evidence poses for me is: if he had been my book). Also attending was a number for Fraser's economics leadership. generation, what would have been of ex-diplomats, who were there to On the basis of what I have seen his foreign policy stance? The ensure that their hero was not mis­ I am inclined to think he was led - import is that he was no more, nor represented. Fraser a 'hero', a foreign he took advice. That can not be less, moral than we were, but he affairs 'hero'? Wasn't he a cold quite right, because he had a was applying his morality in a warrior? There are several essays in conservative economic stance by the different situation. Or, was his the book w hich contribute to my time he became a minister, more so foreign policy vision laced more understanding Fraser as a foreign than Lee for instance. Frustratingly with a Realpolitik? What would be policy moralist. I am especially glad the period of the 1940s is just his position today on, say, East the book republished the Alistair beyond that of modern economic Timor? As such questions are Mclntosh paper, which deserves to history scholarship, because the hypothetical and a-historical, and I be more widely known, while the data base only gets reliable from the am not looking for slick answers, others all support his account. mid-1950s. Yet the economic like Fraser would have been a Fraser's contribution to the forma­ performance of New Zealand under 'rogernome' had he led the Labour tion of the Trusteeship council is Fraser (and Savage) was one of the government in the 1980s. What I am one of those proud moments in most outstanding, challenged only concerned with is the standoff New Zealand's fo reign policy by the Seddon period. The available between the two sides of our history, along with Bill Sutch's part works are disappointingly inad­ foreign policy debate. I see in these in the foundation of UNICEF. Is equate: Jack Baker's War Economy is essays the possibility of using there a book on 'great moments in the best. Keith Sinclair's Wafter Nash Fraser as a way into understanding New Zealand's foreign policy'? is frustratingly light on economic the confl ict between the two views, In summary, Peter Fraser: Master policy. My guess is that the best and even reconciling them. Politician, is a valuable step towards chance we have of recovering the My third issue is an uncomfort­ a re-evaluation of Fraser as he economics of the period would be a able one, but it must be faced. There V o / 8 No Septem ber 19 98 27 N E W z_E A L A N D S T U D I E S is nothing in the book which level of political thuggery. Thus is fou nded on his earlier one? changes my generation's image of Fraser's justified, more than that of I know my family inheritance Fraser as a first class politica l thug, his successor Sid Holland? Moreo­ from the Eastons, even though I who used his power brutally where ver, beneath it all, there was a more knew neither my grandfather nor he thought it was in the best liberal story.
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