Keith Holyoake

Abstract

Sir Keith Holyoake was Prime Minister 1957 and 1960-72 and also New Zealand's longest serving Minister of Foreign Affairs 1960-72. He was the country's first self-consciously and openly nationalist leader. During that time he asserted and extended the country's independence diplomatically, economically and in security matters, while concurrently seeking to maintain close relations with New Zealand's traditional allies, Britain, the United States and Australia. He also sought a bipartisan consensus within New Zealand on foreign and security matters but was unable to prevent a deepening division which grew particularly out of the country's limited involvement in the Vietnam War.