University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2010 The Consanguinity of Ideas: Race and Anti-communism in the U.S. - Australian Relationship, 1933 - 1953 Travis J. Hardy University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Diplomatic History Commons Recommended Citation Hardy, Travis J., "The Consanguinity of Ideas: Race and Anti-communism in the U.S. - Australian Relationship, 1933 - 1953. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2010. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/697 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Travis J. Hardy entitled "The Consanguinity of Ideas: Race and Anti-communism in the U.S. - Australian Relationship, 1933 - 1953." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in History. G. Kurt Piehler, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: George White, Ernest Freeberg, Janice Harper Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Travis J. Hardy entitled “The Consanguinity of Ideas: Race and Anticommunism in the U.S. – Australian Relationship, 1933 – 1953.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in History. G. Kurt Piehler, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: George White_____________ Ernest Freeberg____________ Janice Harper______________ Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges____________ Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School The Consanguinity of Ideas: Race and Anti-Communism in the U.S. – Australian Relationship, 1933 – 1953 A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Travis J. Hardy May 2010 Copyright © 2010 by Travis J. Hardy All rights reserved. ii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my wonderful wife Amy Lynn Wilson Hardy whose patience and support has made this work possible and to my father and mother, Wayne and Connie Hardy, whose sacrifices have allowed me opportunities they never had. iii Acknowledgments I would like to express my deep gratitude for Dr. Kurt Piehler whose support and guidance over the past several years has been indispensable in the evolution of this dissertation and in my own personal development as a historian. Thanks also must be extended to Dr. George White, Dr. Ernest Freeberg, and Dr. Janice Harper for serving on the dissertation committee and whose comments helped make this a stronger work. I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. John Kvach and Aaron Crawford for their comments and feedback and their friendship over the past several years. As always, any omission or errors contained in this work are solely the responsibility of the author. iv Abstract American diplomatic historian’s consideration of the role of ideology in the formation of American foreign policy has only recently begun to receive more attention. Traditional focuses on economics and relations among great nation-states have predominated the historical literature. This work examines the powerful effect that ideology, particularly race and anti-communism, played in developing the U.S.’s relationship with a small power nation-state, Australia, between 1933 and 1953. This work is comparative in nature, relying on archival research in both American and Australian archives and examines the attitudes of both elite policymakers as well as common individuals in shaping the alliance between the two states. Theoretically, this work draws upon theories about whiteness that historians such as Theodore Allen and Matthew Frye Jacobson have formulated over the past twenty years. This dissertation concludes that a commitment to an ideology of race and anticommunism played a central role in the development of the American – Australian alliance contrary to standard historical interpretations that have placed economics or pragmatic national security interests at the center of the bond between the two states. The outcomes of this study offer new insights into the nature of alliance building by the U.S. in the twentieth century as well as a how ideology effects coalition warfare. v Table of Contents Chapter 1: Old Friends and New Strangers ....................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: An Acrimonious Time: 1933 - 1940 .............................................................. 32 Chapter 3: A Two-Front War: 1941 - 1945 ..................................................................... 72 Chapter 4: The Commonality of Race ........................................................................... 114 Chapter 5: A Reddened Pacific: 1946 – 1949 ................................................................ 149 Chapter 6: The Pendulum of War: 1950 – 1953 ............................................................ 196 Chapter 7: Epilogue ....................................................................................................... 249 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 269 Vita ................................................................................................................................. 300 vi Chapter 1: Old Friends and New Strangers On Thursday, August 1, 1950, Australian Prime Minister Robert G. Menzies looked out over the assembled members of the United States House of Representatives from the speaker’s rostrum. Menzies had come to Washington to consult with President Harry Truman in the early, dark days of the Korean War, a time when once again American and Australian soldiers found themselves engaged in a war against another common enemy in Asia. The Prime Minister had come to remind Congress, and the American people, of the shared sacrifice being made by Australians in Korea, the speed with which Australia had answered America’s call for aid and of the long-standing ties between the two countries. Early in his speech Menzies remarked with great earnestness, “The truth is that when we Australians think about the other people of the world we think of some as foreigners and some of them as not. I want to tell you that except in the jaundiced eyes of the law, Americans are not foreigners in Australia.” 1 In this brief moment Menzies articulated an accepted and often stated fact of American and Australian diplomacy, that the United States and Australia were bound together inextricably by bonds of culture and shared experience. The relationship between the United States and Australia has been considered by historians, primarily Australian, but few Americans have scrutinized the bond between both parties as well as the important issues that are raised in considering the American – Australian alliance. 1 U.S. Congress, House, Australian Prime Minister Robert G, Menzies address to the House of Representatives, 81st Congress, 2nd sess. Congressional Record 151, vol. 96 (August 1, 1950): 11656 – 11657. Menzies also had come to attempt to get a commitment from the Truman White House for an American – Australian security agreement in the Pacific, a longstanding objective of Australian foreign policy stretching back to the 1930s. 1 This dissertation will examine the development of American – Australian relations in the twenty-year period between 1933 and 1953, a period of momentous change in a relationship that until 1952 had never been formalized or codified by treaty. The traditional interpretation of the U.S. – Australian relationship has stressed the centrality of economics and a cultural affinity between the two nations as the primary pillars upon which this partnership was founded. The importance of economics in the American – Australian relationship has been overemphasized while cultural affinities have often been vaguely defined. However, the ideological underpinnings of this bond have been less explored despite the central role that ideology has played in this relationship. This work will demonstrate that there were two primary ideological factors that cemented this bond: a shared commitment to a racial ideal and to anti-communism during the early Cold War period. However, unlike earlier traditional interpretations, which focused on World War II, it will be argued that it was the early Cold War period (1947 – 1953) that truly brought Australia and the United States into a structured association that has continued as an enduring hallmark of both nations’ foreign policies in the latter half of the twentieth century. An examination of the American – Australian alliance can also broaden our understanding of American foreign policy towards “middle” powers and to