Dear Prime Minister : letters to Robert Menzies, 1949-1966 / Martyn Lyons
- Bib ID:
- 8813094
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Lyons, Martyn, author
- Online Access:
- National edeposit: Onsite at National Library of Australia
- Related Online Resources:
- Thumbnail
- Access Conditions:
- National edeposit: Available onsite at national, state and territory libraries
- Description:
-
- Sydney, NSW : NewSouth Publishing, 2021
- ©2021
- 1 online resource.
- File Characteristics:
- text file EPUB 605KB
- ISBN:
-
- 1742249922
- 1742249957
- 9781742249926
- 9781742249957
- Technical Details:
- Mode of access : Available online.
- Summary:
-
'I am sir [sure] you will act as human bean', wrote one distressed pensioner to Prime Minister Robert Menzies in 1953, pleading for assistance. Robert Menzies received 22,000 letters during his record-breaking 1949-1966 second term as Australian Prime Minister. From war veterans, widows and political leaders to school students and homespun philosophers. Ordinary citizens sent their congratulations and grievances and commented on speeches they had heard on radio. They lectured him, quoted Shakespeare and the Bible at him and sent advice on how to eliminate the rabbit problem. In Dear Prime Minister, Menzies' fabled 'Forgotten People' write back. Revealed here for the first time, the letters respond to the royal visit of 1954, Communism, Australia's British connection and the dire poverty of aged pensioners. For many writers, these were not post-war boom years, but a time of anxiety and conflict, punctuated by fears of war, another Great Depression, or a nuclear Armageddon. Dear Prime Minister is a fascinating insight into the concerns, assumptions and political beliefs of 1950s and 1960s Australians.
- Notes:
-
- Title from title screen.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Also available in print.
- Subject:
-
- Menzies, Robert, 1894-1978 -- Correspondence
- Menzies, Robert, 1894-1978
- Politicians -- Australia
- Prime ministers -- Australia -- Correspondence
- Economic history
- Prime ministers
- Australia -- Economic conditions -- 20th century
- Australia -- History -- 20th century
- Australia -- Politics and government -- 1945-1965
- Australia -- Politics and government -- 1965-
- Australia
- Genre/Form:
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 2021
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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