Haurongo: Lange, David Russell

Between 1984 and 1987 David Lange was minister of foreign affairs as well as prime minister, and led New Zealand’s anti-nuclear policy. At first he tried to find a way to prevent visits from nuclear-armed or nuclear-propelled US ships without seriously damaging the ANZUS alliance, as this cartoon from 1984 suggests. However, his conciliatory stance was not supported by other Labour Party members and he became more hard-line. In 1985, the government refused to admit the USS Buchanan after the American government declined to confirm or deny that it was carrying nuclear weapons, and military ties between the two countries were suspended.