He was a teetotaler who'd beaten alcoholism. A pacifist who led Australia through its darkest war. Curtin took office in 1941 and immediately had to choose: follow Britain into oblivion or turn to America for survival. He chose America. Told Churchill no — Australian troops were coming home from North Africa. When Japan bombed Darwin, when invasion seemed certain, he didn't flinch. Worked himself to exhaustion. Literally. Died in office three months before Japan surrendered, never seeing the country he'd saved make it through.
January 8, 1885
141 years ago
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