Editing Frank Forde (section)

==Government (1941–1946)==
===Curtin government, 1941–1945===
[[File:Frank Forde signing the UN Charter.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Forde signing the [[United Nations Charter]] as Australia's lead delegate to the 1945 [[San Francisco Conference]]]]
Forde was a loyal deputy, and in 1941 when Labor returned to power he became [[Minister for the Army (Australia)|Minister for the Army]], a vital role in wartime.<ref name=naa-before/> He was the ''de facto'' [[Deputy Prime Minister of Australia|Deputy Prime Minister]], but was disappointed not to be appointed [[Treasurer of Australia|Treasurer]] in the new government; that position was instead awarded to [[Ben Chifley]]. Forde chaired the [[Australian War Cabinet|War Cabinet]] and Advisory War Council when Curtin was ill or absent, and was Acting Prime Minister on a number of occasions.<ref name=naa-before/> He strongly opposed the [[Brisbane Line]] proposal, which would have seen a strategic withdrawal of troops from northern Australia in the event of a [[Proposed Japanese invasion of Australia during World War II|Japanese invasion]] (and also included abandoning his own division of [[Division of Capricornia|Capricornia]] to the Japanese).{{sfn|Brown|2000|p=243}}

As army minister, Forde held responsibility for internment of enemy aliens during World War II and administration of the [[List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in Australia|prisoner-of-war camps]]. In February 1942, following mounting concerns over a possible Japanese invasion, he authorised a mass round-up of enemy aliens in Queensland – primarily Italians – and imposed a curfew on any enemy aliens in Queensland not interned.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://italianprisonersofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/behind-the-barbed-wire.pdf|title=Behind Barbed Wire: Internment in Australia During World War II|first=Margaret|last=Bevege|publisher=University of Queensland Press|year=1993|isbn=0702224928|page=157}}</ref> In the same month Forde delegated authority to the army's [[Northern Command (Australia)|Northern Command]] to detain all enemy aliens suspected of "anti-British sentiment".{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=171}}  His use of "master warrants" to detain enemy aliens brought him into conflict with attorney-general [[H. V. Evatt]], a civil libertarian, who concluded some internments were "unjustified or frivolous".{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=201}} Forde did begin to release enemy alien internees in 1944 on the grounds they were needed for food production, although many remained in detention until the end of the war.{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=217}} He supported the principle that detainees could become naturalised citizens after the war's end,{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=222}} and also opposed suggestions that Japanese prisoners-of-war who died in Australia should not be buried in the same cemeteries as Australians.{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=145}}

In March 1942, Forde authorised the internment of twenty people connected with the [[Australia First Movement]], including writer [[Percy Stephensen]] and suffragette [[Adela Pankhurst]], announcing in parliament that the detainees intended to collaborate with the Japanese and had plans to carry out industrial sabotage and political assassinations.{{sfn|Bevege|1993|pp=161-164}} Only four of the Australia First detainees were charged with offences, with the others remaining detained without trial until the end of the war in spite of legal advice received by Evatt that they had not committed crimes or breached any regulations.{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=200}} A committee of inquiry appointed by the government concluded in 1945 that the detention of eight of the Australia First detainees was unjustified and recommended compensation payments be made.{{sfn|Bevege|1993|p=218-219}}

===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/>

===Chifley government, 1945–1946===
After losing the leadership contest to Chifley, Forde was re-elected unopposed as deputy leader and remained as ''de facto'' [[Deputy Prime Minister of Australia|Deputy Prime Minister]]. He remained Minister for the Army and Minister for Defence, having assumed the latter portfolio after Curtin's death. As the Pacific War [[Victory over Japan Day|ended on 15 August]], Forde's primary responsibility was to oversee the [[Demobilisation of the Australian military after World War II|demobilisation of the Australian military]]. At this time service men and women were spread around the country and across the Pacific. He handled the issue in a way that was unpopular with the general public, refusing appeals to release servicemen early but also making public statements about the rate of demobilisation that turned out to be inaccurate.{{sfn|Brown|2000|p=243}} At the [[1946 Australian federal election|1946 election]], Forde unexpectedly lost his seat to the [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal]] candidate [[Charles Davidson (politician)|Charles Davidson]], a returned soldier. He suffered a 10-point swing against him, compared with a nationwide 0.2-point swing against the Labor Party. As well as the concerns over demobilisation, he had been criticised for moving his family to Sydney during the war and his electorate was experiencing a severe drought.{{sfn|Brown|2000|p=244}}