Editing Frank Forde (section)

===Caretaker prime minister, 1945===
{{further|Australian Labor Party leadership election, 1945}}
[[File:Evatt, Forde, and Bruce.jpg|thumb|right|Forde in April 1945, a few months before he became prime minister, conversing with [[H. V. Evatt]] (left) and [[Stanley Bruce]]]]
In April 1945, Forde left Australia to attend the [[United Nations Conference on International Organization]] in San Francisco. Late that month, Curtin was admitted to hospital; in the absence of Forde and [[H. V. Evatt]] (the [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Australia)|Minister for External Affairs]]), he designated [[Ben Chifley]] as [[Acting prime minister#Australia|acting prime minister]]. Forde did not return to Australia until 2 July, but then immediately took over from Chifley. The prime minister's health had severely declined in the meantime, although he had been able to go home to [[The Lodge (Australia)|The Lodge]]. Curtin died in his sleep in the early hours of 5 July, at the age of 60.<ref name=mcmullin>[[Ross McMullin]], ''The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991'', pp. 234-235</ref>

On the day that Curtin died, Forde issued a brief statement announcing the death, and then in the afternoon moved a condolence motion at a brief sitting of parliament. On the morning of the following day, 6 July, he led a procession of MPs past Curtin's coffin at [[Old Parliament House, Canberra|Parliament House]], where his body was [[lying in state]]. In the afternoon, Forde attended a memorial service, and then went to [[Government House, Canberra|Government House]], where he was formally sworn in as prime minister by [[Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester]], the [[Governor-General of Australia|Governor-General]]. He was appointed as prime minister with the understanding that he would resign if the Labor Party elected someone other than him as leader at its next [[caucus]] meeting. Forde was the Labor Party's sixth prime minister. He is the only Australian prime minister to have never led a political party. There was little precedent for his appointment, as only one previous prime minister ([[Joseph Lyons]]) had died in office, and Lyons had been succeeded by the leader of the smaller party in his governing [[Coalition (Australia)|coalition]] ([[Earle Page]]).<ref name=mcmullin/>

On 8 July, Forde accompanied [[Elsie Curtin]] to [[Perth]] to attend her husband's funeral. Two days later, Ben Chifley told him that he would be contesting the leadership; that evening, they both issued statements announcing their candidacies. [[Norman Makin]] announced his intention to stand the following day. On the morning of 12 July, [[Les Haylen]] informed Forde that he did not have the numbers to win. In response, Forde said "I must say a little prayer for Ben. It's not an easy job". In [[1945 Australian Labor Party leadership election|the leadership ballot]], Chifley received 45 votes to Forde's 16, Makin's seven, and Evatt's two. Several MPs were absent (including Evatt), and [[Rowley James]] unsuccessfully proposed that the ballot be postponed. Forde resigned as prime minister on 13 July, after one week in office. He is Australia's shortest-serving prime minister.<ref name=mcmullin/>