Gough Whitlam (born 1916), prime minister of Australia from 1972 to 1975, was one of the most skillful and controversial leaders of the Australian Labor party.

Edward Gough Whitlam was born on July 11, 1916, in Kew, an upper-class suburb of Melbourne, Australia. He dropped the "Edward" and was known usually as "Gough." His father, H.F.E. Whitlam, was Australian Crown Solicitor and Australia's representative on the United Nations' Human Rights Commission.

Whitlam attended schools in Canberra and Sydney and enrolled in Sydney University, where he received a law degree in 1946. In World War II he served in the Royal Australian Air Force (1941-1945), rising to the rank of flight lieutenant. He was admitted to the bar in 1947, served as a member of the New South Wales Bar Council from 1949 to 1953, and served as a junior counsel assisting the Royal Commission into the Liquor Trade in 1951-1952.

Broadened Labor Party's Appeal

In...