DR H.V. EVATT - PART ONE: A QUESTION OF SANITY
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NATIONAL OBSERVER (Council for the National Interest, Melbourne),
No. 73, Winter 2007, pages 25-39.
Web site: www.nationalobserver.net
DR H.V. EVATT — PART ONE:
A QUESTION OF SANITY
ANDREW CAMPBELL
Nemo Repente Fuit Turpissimus. posed to have created a govern-
In his memoirs, Bill Hayden, Treas- ment, he became canonised as an-
urer in the Whitlam Government and other martyred hero of Labor, an
Foreign Minister in the Hawke Gov- enduring party icon.”
ernment, noted of Dr H.V. Evatt This article is a two-part examina-
(1894-1965), High Court judge (1930- tion of the public career of Dr Evatt.
40), Attorney-General and Minister The first part, entitled “A Question of
for External Affairs in the Curtin and Sanity”, analyses the synergy between
Chifley Governments (1941-49), Evatt’s personal and political pathol-
Deputy Prime Minister (1946-49), ogy from the perspectives of forensic
first Australian President of the Gen- psychology and historical-political
eral Assembly of the United Nations analysis.2 The second part, “A Ques-
(1948-49), leader of the Labor Party tion of Loyalty” (to be published in the
and Opposition (1951-60), and Chief next issue of National Observer), as-
Justice of New South Wales (1960- sesses whether Evatt’s aberrant de-
62):1 structive behaviour was caused solely
“The remarkable thing is that for by his unstable mental state or
having left a legacy of political ruin whether there was a more sinister ex-
and desolation, where he was sup- planation of his motives. In answer-
1. Bill Hayden, An Autobiography (Sydney: Angus and Robinson, 1996), p. 83.
2. The terminology in this article is in accordance with The Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition Text Revision DSM-1V-TR (Washing-
ton DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Peter Crockett’s Evatt, A Life (Mel-
bourne: Oxford University Press, 1993) is arguably the finest biography of an Aus-
tralian political leader.26 NATIONAL OBSERVER WINTER
ing this latter question, supportive in- Foreign Minister. 5 Justice Michael
formation has been derived from Aus- Kirby of the High Court remarked: “As
tralian Security Intelligence Organisa- a young schoolboy I admired Evatt for
tion (ASIO) personal and subject files, the struggle against the Communist
and the Australian collection of ap- Party Dissolution Act”, but added tell-
proximately 2,900 deciphered Soviet ingly:6
KGB/GRU encrypted messages “I knew nothing of his titanic tem-
known as Operation Venona (1943- per, his outrageous suspicions, the
80), which identified Soviet agents by flaws in his personality and the
revealing their true and cover-names, flaws in his judgement that are so
tradecraft and running of espionage well documented as to be incontest-
nets. Department of External Affairs able. … His temper would often lead
declassified correspondence and stud- to extreme unforgivable rudeness to
ies of Soviet intelligence operations in those about him.”
Australia by Australian scholars also
facilitate a more historically accurate H.C. (Nugget) Coombs expressed
narrative.3 the conventional progressive wisdom
on Evatt: “[His] major contribution to
THE PARADIGM LABOR ICON Australian history” was “his resistance
Evatt is the paradigm Labor icon. The to the McCarthyist hysteria about the
first vice-president of the H.V. Evatt threat of Communism”. Evatt alleg-
Memorial Society, Professor Manning edly “saved Australia from
Clark, described Evatt, a committed McCarthyism hysteria” by winning the
atheist, as a “man with the image of Communist Party Dissolution referen-
Christ in his heart”.4 dum on 22 September 1951. 7 Kylie
Evatt casts a long inter-generational Tennant claims he was the founder of
shadow. He was an icon to Senator an “independent” (i.e., anti–US, anti-
Gareth Evans during his period as British) “pro-Australia policy”.8
3. Desmond Ball and David Horner, Breaking the Codes: Australia’s KGB Network,
1945-1950 (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1998), is based on newly-released archival sources
and meticulous scholarship.
4. J.B. Paul, “Labor’s Petrov Legend: A Suitable Case for Interment”, in Robert Manne
(ed.), The New Conservatism in Australia (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1982).
5. Senator the Hon. Gareth Evans QC, “Herbert Vere Evatt: Australia’s first internation-
alist”, transcript of 1995 Daniel Mannix Memorial Lecture, Melbourne, 31 August 1995;
and Keith Scott, Gareth Evans (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1999), pp. 224-7.
6. Justice Michael Kirby, “Speaking to the Heart: Justice Kirby Opens the Mary Alice
Exhibition”, Evatt Foundation, transcript, no date.
7. H.C. Coombs, The Whitlam Phenomenon (Melbourne: McPhee Gribble, 1986), p. 56.
8. Kylie Tennant, Evatt: Politics and Justice (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1970), pas-
sim.2007 DR H.V. EVATT: A QUESTION OF SANITY 27 In fact, Evatt’s opposition to the sistic self-image and paranoid inter- 1951 Communist Party Dissolution pretations of events. Referendum was opportunistic, as Bill Dr John Wear Burton, Jnr, Evatt’s Hayden noted: “His first instinct … one-time private secretary and foreign was to pass the Bill uncontested as he policy adviser and Secretary of the feared a forthcoming national elec- Department of External Affairs tion”.9 The Labor Party parliamentary (March 1947 to June 1950), even re- executive, however, forced him to op- fers to a conspiracy of “the gnomes of pose the Bill. Although the former Melbourne”, a reference which would Labor Prime Minister (then Opposi- be humorous if not taken seriously by tion leader) Ben Chifley was opposed many commentators. Unwittingly, to him representing the Communist- many historians have undergone a led Waterside Workers, Evatt did not transferential effect, accepting Evatt’s see any impropriety and claimed he conduct as “normal” in the context of had Chifley’s approval. He lied.10 his supposedly being the subject of Since Evatt’s death in 1965, only a Cold War “victimisation”.12 single scholarly biography of Evatt has Evatt lived in a period in which the been published.11 Evatt-inspired con- nosologies of mental illness were ill- spiratorial accounts of historical defined and many complex disorders events — such as the Petrov Defection, had not been identified. Evatt’s ASIO, the timing of the 1954 federal polymorbidity was dismissed by his elections, the Labor Party split and — supporters as a function of the “Doc’s have gained the status of historical genius” or “his legendary scholarship”. truth. However, the “progressive” ac- His complex symptoms were dismissed count of Evatt’s career overlooks as “eccentricities” and his academic Evatt’s psychopathology as the prime achievements taken as proof of his factor in these political crises. Most “genius”. Since the release of docu- writers on Evatt can fairly be described ments concerning the Petrov affair and as “progressive” and depict him as a the publication of books basing the victim of political conspiracies, an ar- study of Evatt on archival research, a dent nationalist and fighter for human new picture is emerging in which he rights against McCarthyism. They ac- was not the victim of his circumstances cept as history his grandiose, narcis- so much as of his mental states. 9. Hayden, op. cit.., pp. 79-80. 10. Fred Daly, From Curtin to Hawke (Melbourne: Sun Books, revised edition, 1984), pp. 103-4. 11. Peter Crockett, Evatt: A Life (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1993). 12. Manning Clark is the most factually incorrect interpreter of Evatt. See J. B Paul, “Labor’s Petrov Legend: A Suitable Case for Internment”, in R. Manne (ed.), The New Conservatism in Australia (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1982).
28 NATIONAL OBSERVER WINTER
Burton referred to Evatt’s “almost mits “it would not have been easy to
split personality” and specifically to live with a man … rude to others yet
Evatt’s rapid mood changes. As Sec- infatuated with human rights. There
retary of the Department of External is more than a hint of a bi-polar disor-
Affairs, Burton experienced Evatt’s der in Evatt’s make up”.16 Evatt’s con-
mood change on a daily basis: “He fidante, Sam Atyeo, noted: “He could
[Evatt] was the beaming idealist or the … for the most trivial things, be thrust
hatchet man”. 13 He said that Evatt into the blackest moods with constant
could be:14 aggressive manner”.17
“… the most charming person and EVATT’S TREACHERY TO CHIFLEY
he was a delight to be with on occa-
Evatt’s fundamental pathology was a
sions. Yet he was about the rudest
phenomenon defined in psychoana-
person you could come across. …
lytical terms as the “compulsion to
[T]here would be quick switch: one
betray”. To Evatt, betrayal offered the
never knew what to expect. … This
best chances of “winning”. Evatt plot-
duality, these extremes, and the
ted against every Labor Prime Minis-
quick switch from one to another,
ter. Hasluck recalled, “Evatt did not
is … the secret to understanding his
always tell his Prime Minister what he
whole personality, and indeed his
was doing and sometimes he gave a
political career.”
version of his activities that was either
Even Evatt’s wife “saw this kind of incomplete or incorrect in detail”.18
duality. … In later days this duality be- Curtin’s biographer notes, “Evatt’s
came accentuated. It was almost a split conspiracies could have been a dan-
personality; you had to remember ger to Curtin had Evatt been more
which Evatt you spoke to last time…”15 politically astute … his thirst for power
Justice Kirby of the High Court ad- with his erratic character did not help
13. Tennant, op. cit., p. 212.
14. Interview with John Burton, cited in Nicholas Whitlam and John Stubbs, Nest
of Traitors: The Petrov Affair (Brisbane: Jacaranda Press, 1974), p. 35.
15. Whitlam and Stubbs, op. cit., p. 39.
16. The Hon. Justice Michael Kirby, AC CMG, “Speaking to the Heart”, speech on
18 July 2003, at opening at the Mary Alice Evatt exhibition.
17. Crockett, op. cit., p. 13.
18. Paul Hasluck, Diplomatic Witness (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press,
1980), p. 20.2007 DR H.V. EVATT: A QUESTION OF SANITY 29
his campaign.”19 Chifley’s biographer morbid suspicion bordered on para-
has noted Chifley’s skilful manage- noid delusion. He had no concept of
ment and exploitation of Evatt’s van- “other minds”, and his inordinate self-
ity, his “small-boy reverence” for him reference and disdain for his appear-
and references to him as “my learned ance demonstrated schizotypal fea-
friend”.20 tures.
EVATT’S POLYMORBID PROFILE Few dared question his mental sta-
tus due to his inordinate prestige.
Evatt was polymorbid. His narcissism
Party colleagues and Department of
demanded he be the centre of atten-
tion. He demonstrated a schizoid in- External Affairs officers and personal
difference to others and lack of empa- staff also feared his wrath. Many
thy. His paranoid defensiveness saw hoped to benefit from his impulsive
any criticism as a form of narcissistic promises of promotion. Given his
injury emanating from a suspicious or range of pathologies, Evatt was unfit
conspiratorial source. His morbid sus- to be the leader of a political party, let
picion of others, combined with his alone Prime Minister.
Machiavellianism, impulsivity, ruth- Evatt’s schadenfreude was evident
lessness and mood disorders made his in his delight in humiliating junior of-
actions unpredictable. He had bizarre ficers: in his biographer Crocket’s
beliefs, including seeing days of the words, there was a “malevolence of
week in colours.21 verbal assault, cold neglect, authority
The “great jurist” had a psycho- brutally exercised and delight in the
pathic contempt for procedural rules, misfortune of others”. He once
which he interpreted as mere obsta- laughed at seeing a public servant
cles to his “winning”. Evatt’s psycho- “vainly chase after a train” from which
pathology ranged across many do- Evatt had told him to alight for a brief
mains. His rages reflected his incapac- errand”.22
ity to contain his mood states. His Evatt’s private secretary Allan
19. David Day, John Curtin — A Life (Sydney: HarperCollins, 1999), p. 404. Day notes
Evatt had tried to undermine Curtin’s leadership. Curtin kept him at bay by dispatch-
ing him on a number of overseas missions. There was less time to engage in political
meddling, even had he wanted to. David Day, Chifley (Sydney: Harper Collins, 2001),
p. 437. Curtin distrusted Evatt, advising Sir Owen Dixon as Australia’s Minister to
Washington to bypass Evatt and report directly to Curtin: Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon
(Melbourne: Miegunyah Press/MUP, 2003), p. 167.
20. Day, op. cit., pp. 437-8.
21. Crockett, op. cit., p. 9.
22. Ibid., p. 21.
23. Allan Dalziel, Evatt the Enigma (Melbourne: Landsdowne Press, 1967), p. 47.30 NATIONAL OBSERVER WINTER Dalziel recalled:23 leagues’ feelings were hurt as speak- “Evatt could be quite cruel, often ing plans were changed to suit him. extremely rude, and downright ar- Evatt replied, “Why worry, their feel- rogant in the treatment of subordi- ings are of no concern”. 27 The indi- nates. Sometimes it was a car driver, viduals and groups who worked to an airport attendant, a junior de- maintain his vote in the electorate of partmental official or member of his Barton from 1940-58 were never personal staff, a loyal Labor League thanked; he visited the electorate un- official in his electorate, who would der sufferance and left without ex- feel the full force of his mental pressing any gratitude.28 storms and on occasion these out- A former university acquaintance of bursts would be completely without Evatt informed Dalziel: “Always re- reason.” member that with Evatt there are no As Evatt was personally disorgan- medals for loyalty.” 29 According to ised, he was reluctant to make travel Fred Daly, “Evatt knew no loyalties, plans; sometimes he hardly knew him- was distrustful and suspicious of al- self when he would go away. His per- most everyone. He had few firm sonal staffs were often driven to des- friends.”30 Evatt’s seclusion and “near peration by his last-minute demands friendlessness in the law and politics” and orders. 24 He rarely allowed have been noted by many commenta- enough time for travel between home, tors. 31 Former federal Labor parlia- office and the airport,25 and reportedly mentarian Clyde Cameron told Evatt: enjoyed urging superhuman efforts “You are judging everybody by your from his drivers. The strain was too standards. If you weren’t so treacher- much for the drivers, and in the end ous yourself, you wouldn’t think that none would work for him.26 other people were treacherous!”32 As Labor veteran Fred Daly recalled Evatt was intrinsically disloyal, he con- informing him that some of his col- stantly suspected others of disloyalty. 24. Tennant, op. cit., p 261. 25. Crockett, op. cit., p. 25. 26. Whitlam and Stubbs, op. cit., p. 37. 27. Fred Daly, From Curtin to Hawke (Melbourne: Sun Books 1984), p. 112. 28. Ibid, p. 112. 29. Dalziel, op. cit., p. 31. 30. Daly, op. cit., p. 153. 31. Crockett, op. cit., p. 13. 32. Bill Guy, A Life on the Left — A Biography of Clyde Cameron (Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 1999), p. 117.
2007 DR H.V. EVATT: A QUESTION OF SANITY 31 EVATT’S MORBID SUSPICION think it would kill me.” 37 Cameron described Evatt as “a very Given his spectrum of disorders, how suspicious man. He expected that eve- did Evatt become a High Court judge, ryone was trying to stab him in the Attorney-General, Minister for Exter- back”,33 while H.C. “Nugget” Coombs nal Affairs, and Opposition leader? An recalled that “Evatt had a tendency to omnivorous reader with a photographic suspect everyone around him on the memory and a keen intelligence, he most trifling of evidence”. 34 Paul quickly mastered legal subjects that Hasluck remarked that Evatt dis- were of personal interest to him, and played a genuine affection for “chil- he turned his psychopathic traits (par- dren, but once anyone passed the age ticularly duplicity) into political assets, of four he started to become suspi- but, though he had many tactical victo- cious of them”.35 ries and maintained leadership of the Evatt’s self-image was that of a gen- Labor Party, he lacked a strategic sense ius. The following exchange between that would ensure political victory. He Arthur Calwell and Evatt demon- was locked in to the moment by his strates his grandiosity. Calwell re- manic political style. Fred Daly recalls: marked: “Doc, you are bordering on “Evatt wanted the Prime Ministership being a genius”. Evatt interrupted: and accordingly knew no rules” — a “What’s this ‘bordering on’?”36 Evatt marked sign of psychopathy.38 Nugget here was not engaging in banter, as Coombs notes: “It was difficult to judge one might be presume. He once said: what his own convictions were. He “If I ever came to the realisation that seemed opportunist and even unprin- other men know more than I do, I cipled.”39 33. Clyde Cameron, The Confessions of Clyde Cameron, 1913-1990 (Sydney: Austral- ian Broadcasting Corporation, 1990), p. 119. 34. H.C. Coombs, Trial Balance: Issues of My Working Life (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1983), p. 28. 35. Paul Hasluck, Diplomatic Witness: Australian Foreign Affairs 1941-1947 (Mel- bourne: Melbourne University Press, 1980), p. 33. 36. Daly, op. cit., p. 109. 37. Tennant, op. cit., p. 96. 38. Daly, op. cit., p. 120. 39. The Whitlam Phenomenon (Melbourne: Mc Phee Gribble, 1986), p. 56. Similar views on Evatt’s lack of political motivation are noted by Paul Hasluck who could not recall any clear principles or motivations that guided Evatt’s approach. Robert Por- ter, Hasluck — A Political Biography (Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 1993), p. 20. Walter Crocker expressed puzzlement over Evatt’s “rooted con- victions, if any”: Crocker, Australian Ambassador (Melbourne: Melbourne Univer- sity Press, 1971), p. 113. Clyde Cameron recalls: “I don’t think he had any commit- ment to one political point of view or any public philosophy”. Guy, op. cit., p. 114.
32 NATIONAL OBSERVER WINTER All politicians engage in political wife. Husband and wife shared the promises and policies to win support. burden of illness. Evatt lacked the ca- Evatt’s promises were however, un- pacity to “contain” or “hold” his over- sustainable as they were grandiose, whelming emotional states, which and were perceived, both by the elec- were often diverted into rages or con- torate and by elements in the Labor version disorders, into hysterical Party, as economically irresponsible, symptoms. and were in part responsible for his Evatt’s perceptive and gifted wife electoral defeat in 1954. tried to neutralise the effects of his Evatt lacked social skills and sub- engendered political crises. At the jected others to interrogative inquir- chronic stage of her alcoholism dur- ies as in a courtroom, rather than con- ing the 1940s, she was partly drunk or verse or exhibit any degree of empathic drunk by noon. Justice Kirby com- listening. Fred Daly recalled: “He had mented perceptively:43 scant regard for the feelings of oth- “It cannot be said that repeated un- ers.” 40 Evatt hung up on callers pleasant storms passed Mary Alice abruptly and without warning, as if the without having an impact on her. caller no longer existed. He phoned This sensitive artistic woman was contacts late at night, seemingly oblivi- subject not only to his truly awk- ous to the time and their feelings.41 To ward, eccentric behaviour over the Evatt, life was a courtroom, constantly many years…. At one stage, in the in session. As Alan Renouf observed: 1940s, it led to a period when Mary “No period of Evatt’s life was calm”.42 Alice came to drink heavily as a way MARY ALICE EVATT of coping with the stresses of the life Without the soothing understanding with Bert at the centre of seemingly of his wife, Mary Alice Evatt (1898- endless monsoons.” 1973), Evatt would have decompen- Crockett also notes, “Evatt’s bad sated and most likely been institution- temper often reared at times against alised. His wife was often a maternal his wife — an unruly release of terri- substitute. Evatt’s life-long hypochon- ble wrath.” 44 Evatt inquired about driasis lead to enmeshment with his treatment for his wife by Alcoholics 40. Daly, op. cit., p. 153. 41. Dalziel, op. cit., p. 73; Crockett, op. cit., p. 155. 42. Alan Renouf, Let Justice be Done — The Foreign Policy of Dr H.V. Evatt (Bris- bane: University of Queensland Press, 1983), p. 19. 43. Kirby address, op. cit.; Barbara Dale, “Evatt, Mary Alice”, Australian Dictionary of Biography 1898-1973 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), pp. 114- 115. 44. Crockett, op. cit., p. 19.
2007 DR H.V. EVATT: A QUESTION OF SANITY 33
Anonymous, but chose to protect his he had not witnessed it being refu-
political interests and her problem elled.46
which became one of his many patho- He could not entrust his life to the
genic secrets. professionalism of ground crew, flight
Evatt’s fantasy was that all good staff and pilots. He demanded weather
objects were transitory, and he was reports from the Air Ministry as he
haunted by images of death expressed disbelieved media reports. At times he
in his fear of flying and his hypochon- required oxygen support and some-
driasis. Consolation was only achieved times paced the aircraft anxiously. He
by winning academic prizes and the suffered panic attacks and made bi-
ultimate prize — becoming Prime zarre comments on the crew’s abili-
Minister of Australia. ties.47 In present times, he would have
been removed from the aircraft, sub-
EVATT’S FEAR OF FLYING ject to mental status testing, and for-
War-time flying was particularly haz- bidden from boarding a plane.
ardous, but Evatt, as Nugget Coombs Coombs cites Evatt’s delusions that
noted, “had a pathological fear of fly- the plane was on fire, a delusion noted
ing”,45 which was comic but symbol- by other officials who accompanied
ised all his fears and anxieties. Evatt Evatt on official flights. Prime Minis-
feared death on every flight. He often ter Chifley was content to smoke his
arrived late and was frequently booed pipe, and Coombs often slept during
by passengers. He obtained special long flights.48
permission to have his wife accom-
pany him on flights, regardless of her EVATT: THE “CHILD UNDER THE
feelings and safety. He offloaded a TABLE”
staff member to reduce the plane-load, Evatt’s fear of death, exemplified by his
and on one occasion carried fishing- fear of flying and hypochondriasis, re-
lines in case the plane crashed and he mained through his life. Evatt was
had to survive at sea. He was known seven years old when his father died.
to demand the replacement of a plane He lived with unresolved traumatic
if he judged it too small, dangerous, grief, intensified by the death of his two
had too few engines or faulty tires, or brothers in World War I.49 He believed
45. H.C. Coombs, op. cit., p. 36.
46. Crockett, op. cit., pp. 25-26.
47. Ibid.
48. Coombs, op. cit., p.36.
49. L. Dowdney, “Childhood Bereavement Following Parental Death”, The Journal
of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 41, pp. 819-830 (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).34 NATIONAL OBSERVER WINTER he too would not live a full lifespan.50 had to win academic prizes. Mother As the noted English expert on child and son were enmeshed: she demon- development, John Bowlby has noted, strated the intrusive curiosity and the death of the father is a significant boundary diffusion in the fine texture marker in the personality development of other people’s lives that Evatt as- of a child. Suppressed grief is a patho- sumed in later life. 53 For example, genic factor and increases the risk of Evatt and his wife stayed at the same psychiatric disorders in later life. Fur- hotel as their newlywed daughter on thermore, the unresolved anger and her honeymoon.54 grief of the child at the death of the fa- Paul Hasluck acutely described ther, and at a developmental stage Evatt as having the “outward and vis- where he cannot express grief through ible appearance of a man who was still language, is repressed and directed emotionally a child…. There was al- onto others, in the form of projective ways this strange and deeply disturbed identification — that is, projecting his child under the table”; “emotionally, bad feelings onto others and blaming he was often like a naughty child … he others for his bad feelings.51 so badly needed mothering”.55 Peter Evatt was unable to mourn the Crockett notes that, “like a child, he death of his father. The only consola- expected the world to obey his capri- tion was that there were academic ciousness; drivers were compelled to prizes to be won and the surviving disobey road rules, and committee parent, his mother, to please. His regulations and procedures were fla- mother insisted that “boys can always grantly disregarded”. 56 Renouf do better”, an injunction Evatt inter- claimed: “There was always something preted literally. 52 His mother, the childlike in Evatt.... As one of the fa- dominant personality in the family of thers of the UN, he could not conceive boys, was, however, emotionally de- its failure in major part.”57 As Hasluck tached. Her love was conditional — he perceptively noted, “He could not stop 50. R. Noyes et al., “Childhood Antecedents of Hypochondriasis”, Psychosomatics, Vol. 43 (July-August 2002), pp. 282- 288. 51. John Bowlby, Loss: Sadness and Depression, Vol. 3 (London: Pimlico Press, 1998), pp. 295, 351-353. Lloyd Etheredge, “Hardball Politics: A Model”, Political Psychol- ogy 1:1 (1979) pp 3-26, is especially relevant to Evatt as it outlines a model of a narcis- sistic personality disorder in the political context. 52. Tennant, op. cit., p. 73. 53. Crockett, op. cit., p. 134. 54. Crockett, op. cit., pp. 14-15. 55. Ibid, pp. 80-1. 56. Crockett, op. cit., p. 20. 57. Renouf, op. cit., p. 287.
2007 DR H.V. EVATT: A QUESTION OF SANITY 35 striving for the prize.”58 by referring to him as Ivan the Terri- Evatt’s childhood seemed devoid of ble”.62 inner fantasy or play. Most children Evatt’s narcissistic rages repre- favour soft toys as transitional objects sented the “return of the repressed”. to effect transition from maternal de- He had not witnessed, received or de- pendence to individuation. Evatt’s veloped any modulation of affection transitional object was a textbook. His from his mother or experienced the adult version of a transitional object ego-ideal or affirming love of a father. was a rug which he used in court dur- He developed the defensive mecha- ing the Bank Nationalisation case nism of “splitting”, or dividing the (1948) despite the clement weather. world, into “all good” and “all bad” Dalziel noted that he covered himself objects, in which he projected his in a rug when he was “deeply irate”.59 negative feelings on to others and es- The rug acted as a container which he caped the perils of scrutiny of his frag- used to control his rage states, an ex- ile self. Evatt was especially skilled in ample of his regression to child-like blaming others for any personal mis- states under pressure. fortune, real or imaginary. Many of his Paul Hasluck recalled: “He would blame objects were innocent and their get into awful rages when he could not careers adversely affected. get his own way.”60 Evatt’s narcissis- His pathological sense of entitle- tic rages in which he regressed into ment enabled him to flout the rules of childlike helplessness and “exploded” ministerial conduct without guilt or with wrath were described by col- remorse. He used his personal staff to leagues variously as “an Evatt storm”, spy on each other and report to him. a “release of terrible wrath”, “mental For example, Sam Atyeo reported to storms”, “a tempestuous eruption”, a him from New York on his staffer, “volcano in full eruption” and his be- William Roy Hodgson, and he ordered ing “white with rage”. Hasluck re- Alan Renouf to report on Hasluck.63 ferred to them as “tantrums”.61 Prime The cumulative effects of his psy- Minister Ben Chifley “gently mocked chopathology culminated in his year Evatt’s sometimes raging personality of greatest stress. By 1954 — the year 58. Hasluck, op. cit., p. 81. 59. Crockett, op. cit., p. 40. 60. Hasluck, op. cit., p. 83. 61. These phrases are the most commonly used in memoirs of Evatt by former staff- ers. 62. Day, op. cit., p. 438. 63. Renouf, The Champagne Trail Experiences of a Diplomat (Melbourne: Sun Books, 1980), p. 23.
36 NATIONAL OBSERVER WINTER
of the Petrov case and his defeat in the boots; despite their surprise, he could
elections which he expected to win and see nothing unusual in his conduct”.67
become Prime Minister — he had en- A former staffer recalls that “Evatt was
tered a psychotic universe of all-bad arguing the [Bank Nationalisation]
persecutory objects and was on the case before the High Court…. One
cusp of psychosis.64 evening I recall seeing him propped up
in his bed with papers scattered all
EVATT’S REGRESSIVE RETURN over the place and the Crown lawyers
TO BED dancing attendance, as he prepared
Evatt’s most regressive consolation his argument for the next day in
was his retreat to bed. A life-long in- Court”.68
somniac, he slept only two-to-three In 1950, when Evatt was fighting the
hours each night and “spent an inor- Communist Party Dissolution Bill, two
dinate time in bed, whether he was Communist Party leaders visited his
well or ailing”. His bed “was a haven home and he received them lying in
from where he worked and even re- bed with books and papers strewn all
ceived surprised visitors”.65 In 1942, about. He asked: “And what does the
Prime Minister John Curtin inquired [Communist] Party say?” The del-
about Evatt’s whereabouts and was egates assured him that the Commu-
informed by veteran journalist Alan nist Party’s lawyers advised them “to
Reid that Evatt was confined to bed follow his lead”. 69 . Evatt replied,
and could not be located. Curtin re- “Good! We’ll give them a really hard
plied, “I think you will find he’s made knock!”, and jumped out of bed fully
a miraculous recovery.” Curtin clothed.70
shrewdly assessed Evatt’s exploitation On a visit to the United States, the
of the sick role, and Evatt responded eminent jurist Owen Dixon’s 14-year-
to his urgent telegram.66 old daughter recalled that Evatt “be-
Crockett notes that once, in the haved like a pig” as he ate his break-
1950s, Evatt “received reporters in fast in bed, propped up on the pillows
bed, fully clothed and wearing muddy and casting each completed page of
64. Crockett, op. cit., pp. 227-8.
65. Ibid., p. 25.
66. Gavin Souter, Acts of Parliament: A Narrative History (Melbourne: Melbourne
University Press, 1988), pp. 357-8.
67. Crockett, op. cit., p. 21.
68. Dalziel, op. cit., p. 145.
69. Tennant, op. cit., p. 265.
70. Ibid, p. 265.2007 DR H.V. EVATT: A QUESTION OF SANITY 37
the morning newspapers onto the measured for his suits standing or sit-
floor. The staff could clean it all up. 71 ting down, and usually had a haircut
Another of his idiosyncrasies was his at the same time”.
refusal to travel on an aircraft with an Frank Scully, a former senior Indus-
African-American crew.72 trial Groups identity, recalls Evatt vis-
Evatt’s “idiosyncrasies” were dis- iting the Trades Hall in Melbourne in
missed as the typical expression of the the 1950s: “He had his briefcase up-
“Doc’s brilliance”, instead of masked side down in his left hand, his over-
symptoms. Cameron, an Evatt ad- coat by the sleeve in his right hand, his
mirer, recalled:73 hat on the back of his head. His eyes
were staring. One of the fellows said
“He was quite unabashed about
undressing in front of people.… He to me, ‘He looks mad’.”75 His disdain
would just undress, leave his clothes for his presentation of self reflected his
on the floor and would sort of tread indifference to others.
his way out of them and just leave THE ROYAL COMMISSION INTO
them there.… Then he would take ESPIONAGE
off his shirt and walk around in just
In 1954, the defection of Soviet intel-
his singlet, usually a woollen one,
ligence officer Vladimir Petrov and the
creeping up his backside. He would
victory of the Menzies-led Liberal
walk around, nonchalantly talking
Party in the federal election of that
or pausing to read a paper … quite
year precipitated Evatt’s paranoid psy-
unconcerned about his appear-
chosis and persecutory mania. His
ance.”
mental states became public and
Fred Daly, a senior Labor politician florid. For the first time, observers and
who worked closely with Evatt, de- commentators openly speculated
scribed him as a “nightmare”. 74 He about his sanity.76 The historian of the
recalled “he was a very careless 1955 Labor Party split, Robert Murray,
dresser, and it was said that in the war- notes: “Evatt was extremely dis-
time years he sent for his tailor and turbed…. A subject which had long
could not care less whether he was been taboo started to be openly dis-
71. Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (Melbourne: The Miegunyah Press/MUP, 2003), p.
165.
72. Crockettt, op. cit., p. 55.
73. Cameron, op. cit., pp. 117-19.
74. Daly, op. cit., p. 109.
75. Robert Murray, “An Activist in the Movement — An Interview with Frank Scully”,
Quadrant, 51, January-February 2007, p. 37.
76. Robert Murray, The Split (Melbourne: Cheshire, 1972), p. 183.38 NATIONAL OBSERVER WINTER
cussed by members of the Caucus. For THE LABOR PARTY SPLIT
some time there had been reservations After the Labor Party’s loss of the 1954
about Evatt’s sanity. Now it was freely election and the Petrov Affair, Evatt
discussed, and some members sought needed new conspiratorial blame ob-
the opinions of psychiatrist friends, jects: he turned on B.A. Santamaria’s
without coming to any conclusion.”77 “Movement” and the Australian Secu-
Evatt resolved to represent his two rity Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
On 19 October 1955, Evatt made a
staffers, Allan Dalziel and Albert
speech attacking the Movement, typi-
Grundeman, who were publicly named
cally without consulting his party col-
by the Royal Commission into Espio-
leagues. Bill Hayden notes it was “a
nage, without consulting the Labor
desperate and inexcusably selfish ef-
Party caucus or his colleagues. He was
fort to save his sagging leadership”.80
typically unaware that his staff had no
Dalziel claimed “there was little doubt
confidence in his ability and criticised
that Evatt deliberately chose to pre-
him. Both his press secretary Fergan
cipitate the great sectarian split in the
O’Sullivan — also named by the Royal ALP”.81
Commission — and Dalziel “laughed at
the suggestion of calling Evatt”.78 Brian Fitzpatrick, fellow-traveller
and pro-Soviet propagandist,82 corre-
Evatt was clearly out of control and sponded with Evatt and contributed
was barred from the Royal Commis- some key phrases to this parliamen-
sion, which was unprecedented in tary speech, which included his noto-
Australian legal history. If Evatt had rious reference to his letter to Soviet
not been a former High Court judge, Foreign Minister Molotov, naively in-
he would have been charged with con- quiring if allegations of Soviet espio-
tempt, and in mid-September he in- nage in Australia were true. Evatt de-
formed a Labor Party meeting he fended this letter as a legal manoeu-
would not be appearing again. How- vre between an eminent jurist and a
ever, he attempted to do so and was Soviet Foreign Minister whom he had
refused.79 previously met on official engage-
77. Murray, op. cit., pp. 182, 169.
78. National Archives of Australia: CRS A6119, Allan John Dalziel (ASIO personal
file), D/99/1, Vol. 4, Annex B, F.17.
79. Murray, passim.
80. Hayden, op. cit., p. 79.
81. Dalziel, op. cit., p. 143.
82. Andrew Campbell, “Double Lives: Three Australian Fellow-Travellers in the Cold
War”, National Observer, No. 71, Summer 2006/07, pp.46-9.2007 DR H.V. EVATT: A QUESTION OF SANITY 39
ments. As Renouf pointed out, Evatt The noted Sydney legal identity
was always willing to give the Soviet T.E.F. Hughes recalls, “I doubt
Union the benefit of the doubt.83 whether he appreciated his lack of ca-
pacity.” Hughes recalls Evatt had no
EVATT AS NSW CHIEF JUSTICE “grasp of the case in hand… his inter-
Evatt led the federal Labor Party to positions … were often scarcely ra-
another electoral defeat in 1958. The tional and seldom, if ever, relevant….
parliamentary party was relieved [A]ll the judgments in his name were
when finally, in 1960, Evatt was able delivered jointly. His contribution to
to exchange his job as Labor leader for them was nominal.” 85 Many judge-
the position of Chief Justice of the New ments were written for him (the facts
South Wales Supreme Court. After of cases were written for him by a law
stepping down from the party leader- student named Choong),86 and it be-
ship, he reportedly suffered consider- came publicly evident that he was no
able anxiety for 10 days at the bicker- longer capable of focussing, and was
ing and delays over his new appoint- drifting off. His resignation was grate-
ment.84 He was finally sworn in on 15 fully accepted on 24 October 1965. He
February 1960 and retired on 24 Oc- spent the rest of his days in a regressed
tober 1962. There were no accolades state under the care of his wife and a
or expressions of welcome on his ap- nurse, watching television and repeat-
pointment, and he did not distinguish ing phrases, eventually dying on 2
himself in his new position. November 1965.
83. Renouf, op. cit., p. 112.
For a few years after World War II, Molotov was head of Stalin’s Committee of Infor-
mation (KI), whose responsibility it was to collate all sources of intelligence from
both military and foreign intelligence services (see Ball and Horner, op. cit., p. 119).
Evatt did not realise he had written to the former effective head of Soviet foreign
intelligence.
84. Daly, op. cit., p. 152.
85. Speech delivered by the Hon. T.E.F. Hughes AO, QC to the Justices of the NSW
Supreme Court, on 2 February 2006, at the opening of the 2006 law term. Reprinted
in Bar News (Sydney), Winter 2006, p. 59.
86. J.G. Starke, in Crockett, op. cit., p.370, footnote 22.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
DR ANDREW CAMPBELL is a former intelligence analyst at the Office of Na-
tional Assessments. During the Cold War he contributed articles to National Observer,
Quadrant and Social Survey on Soviet intelligence and subversion. More recently,
he has written for National Observer on deceptive techniques employed by Islamic
extremists.You can also read
