Australia’s Presidents? Herbert Hoover and Lyndon B. Johnson Remembered

Abstract

Among US presidents, Herbert Hoover and Lyndon Johnson had the strongest ties to Australia. Hoover spent over a year in Australia as a mining engineer before launching a career in international business, food relief, and politics. In 1942, LBJ passed part of his pre-presidential career in Australia. Yet Johnson’s presidential tour in 1966, coupled with his return in 1967, generated massive enthusiasm and modest protests against the Vietnam War. President Johnson’s visits helped to solidify and celebrate US-Australian ties while encouraging Australian independence, even if during a war directed from Washington. While Hoover left his mark on Australia’s landscape in the mines he promoted and the sites that still stand, Australians found little appealing in the dour, Depression-era president who had come and gone without regarding their country as a friend or ally. Johnson thus became a consequential figure in Australia’s national history in ways Hoover never did.