File:Keith Holyoake and German Chancellor Willy Brandt on 30 April 1971.jpg

On 26 November 1960, Keith Holyoake defeated Walter Nash's one term Labour government to become Prime Minister of New Zealand. Holyoake had become Prime Minister after the resignation of Sidney Holland three months before the 1957 election. With little time to establish himself as leader and facing a significant swing against National, he was unable to prevent a Labour victory. In the following 1963 election however, National was re-elected with Holyoake as leader. The decision to send combat forces to Vietnam was made in 1965, ensuring that the war would become a key election issue in 1966. The Labour Party, under the leadership of Norman Kirk, was committed to the withdrawal of troops. Holyoake argued that participation in the Vietnam War was a necessary stand against communism and that New Zealand must support its most powerful ally. While the government’s share of the vote fell, it retained a comfortable majority after the election. National’s victory in the 1969 election was all the more remarkable for the fact that it actually increased its share of the vote after nine years in power. However this would not be the case in 1972, when Holyoake stepped aside in February in favour of his deputy of 11 years, Jack Marshall. Holyoake retired from Parliament in 1977 and then served as Governor-General until 1980. He died in Wellington in 1983. The images presented here are a selection from a Ministry of Foreign Affairs file on politicians. Other files in the box focus on other New Zealand Prime Ministers such as Norman Kirk and Robert Muldoon. The images presented here are of Holyoake and German Chancellor Willy Brandt from April 30 1971 when the New Zealand Prime Minister visited the Federal Republic of Germany. The other image is of Keith Holyoake opening the New Zealand Hall of Residence, at the University of the South Pacific on 8 May 1972. AAEG W2879 625 Box 1 A1