Holt, Johnson and the 1966 Federal election. A question of causality

US President Lyndon Johnson's state visit to Australia in October 1966, cam e at the pinnacle of support for Australia's military involvement in the Vi etnam War. Johnson's visit also occurred just weeks before an election for the House of Representatives at which the ruling Liberal-Country Party Coal ition won its eighth successive, and largest victory, The proximity of thes e events has led many to argue that a causal relationship exists between th e two. Advocates of this thesis, however, have failed to support their posi tion with any evidence other than the anecdotal. Contrary to the assertions made by numerous political historians and observers of the period, this pa per finds no evidence to support a thesis of causality. This paper argues t hat the Coalition's landslide victory in 1966 was both a rejection of the t ired and lacklustre leadership of Labor's Arthur Calwell and a measure of t he electorate's overwhelming support for Holt and his Government's policies of conscription and military involvement in Vietnam.