Following his 1945 election as leader of the Australian Labor Party after the death of John Curtin, Chifley, a former railway engine driver, became Australia's 16th Prime Minister on 13 July 1945. The Second World War ended with the defeat of Japan in the Pacific just four weeks later. Chifley served as Prime Minister and Treasurer. To combat inflationary pressures, he proposed a continuation of wartime price and import controls, and rationing of scarce commodities.