page_title: Peter Fraser
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Peter Fraser / Prime Minister / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: Group portrait photograph taken at a gathering of cabinet ministers, showing from left to right: Hon Adam Hamilton; Hon Walter Nash, Minister of Finance; Hon Duff Cooper; Prime Minister Peter Fraser; Hon Daniel Giles Sullivan, Minister of Supply; Hon Frederick Jones, Minister of Defence; Rt Hon Joseph Gordon Coates.
context_page_description: Peter Fraser CH PC was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand Labour Party, he was in office longer than any other Labour prime minister, and is to date New Zealand's fourth-longest-serving head of government.
  Born and raised in the Scottish Highlands, Fraser left education early in order to support his family. While working in London in 1908, Fraser joined the Independent Labour Party, but unemployment led him to emigrate to New Zealand in 1910. On arrival in Auckland, he gained employment as a wharfie and became involved in union politics upon joining the New Zealand Socialist Party. In 1916, Fraser was involved in the foundation of the unified Labour Party. He spent one year in jail for sedition after speaking out against conscription during the First World War. In 1918, Fraser won a Wellington by-election and entered the House of Representatives.
  Fraser became a cabinet minister in 1935, serving under Michael Joseph Savage. He held several portfolios and had a particular interest in education, which he considered vital for social reform.
context_section_description: Fraser was one of the immediate few in New Zealand who instantly grasped that war meant not merely the involvement of the military, but that of the whole country. These implications were not always recognised either by his own party or by the opposition. Fraser further developed somewhat of an authoritarian streak as a result; this reflected his insistence on the overwhelming importance of the war effort above all else.
  During the war, Fraser attempted to build support for an understanding between Labour and its main rival, the National Party. However, opposition within both parties prevented reaching an agreement, and Labour continued to govern alone. Fraser did, however, work closely with Gordon Coates, a former Prime Minister and now a National-Party rebel – Fraser praised Coates for his willingness to set aside his party loyalty, and appears to have believed that National leader Sidney Holland placed the interests of his party before national unity.
  In terms of the war effort itself, Fraser had a particular concern with ensuring that New Zealand retained control over its own forces. He believed that the more populous countries, particularly Britain, viewed New Zealand's military as a mere extension of their own, rather than as the armed forces of a sovereign nation. After particularly serious New Zealand losses in the Greek campaign in 1941, Fraser determined to retain a say as to where to deploy New Zealand troops. Fraser insisted to British leaders that Bernard Freyberg, commander of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, should report to the New Zealand government just as extensively as to the British authorities.
  When Japan entered the war, Fraser had to choose between recalling New Zealand's forces to the Pacific (as Australia had done) or keeping them in the Middle East (as Winston Churchill requested). Opinion was divided on the question and New Zealand's manpower resources were already stretched to capacity. Fraser received assurances from Franklin Roosevelt that American forces would be made available for New Zealand's defense, the local populace possessed an understandable view that division that their proper place was defending their homes. Fraser weighed up public opinions against the strategic arguments involved and eventually opted to leave New Zealand's Expeditionary Force where it was.
  In a remarkable display of political acumen and skill, he then persuaded a divided government and Parliament to give their full support [to leave the army in Africa]. It was leadership of the highest order.
  Fraser had a very rocky relationship with U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull, particularly over the Canberra Pact in January 1944.  Hull gave Fraser a sharp and rather demeaning dressing-down when Fraser visited Washington D.C. in mid-1944, which resulted in New Zealand's military becoming sidelined to some extent in the conduct of the Pacific War.
caption: Group portrait photograph taken at a gathering of Cabinet ministers in 1941. Fraser is standing in the centre. Former prime minister and dissident National MP Gordon Coates stands furthest right.
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