Норман Кирк: Жаңа Зеландияның премьер-министрі және саяхатшысы

Prime minister of New Zealand from 1972 to 1974
the American army surgeon

Norman Eric Kirk (6 January 1923 – 31 August 1974) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 29th prime minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974. Born into poverty in Southern Canterbury, Kirk left school at age 13 and joined the New Zealand Labour Party in 1943. He was mayor of Kaiapoi from 1953 until 1957, when he was elected to the New Zealand Parliament. He became the leader of his party in 1964. Following a Labour victory in the , Kirk became Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and New Zealand changed into a far more assertive and consequential nation. He stressed the need for regional economic development and affirmed New Zealand's solidarity with Australia in adopting independent and mutually beneficial foreign policy. Having withdrawn New Zealand troops from Vietnam upon taking office, he was highly critical of US foreign policy. He promoted racial equality at home and abroad; his government prevented the South African rugby team from touring New Zealand during 1973. However, his government has been criticised for the launching of the Dawn Raids, the aggressive crackdown on alleged overstayers that near exclusively targeted Pasifika New Zealanders. Kirk relented to public pressure and discontinued the raids in April 1974. Kirk had a reputation as the most formidable debater of his time and once famously said that "there are four things that matter to people: they have to have somewhere to live, they have to have food to eat, they have to have clothing to wear, and they have to have something to hope for", often misquoted as "somewhere to live, someone to love, somewhere to work and something to hope for". In private, he suffered from effects of obesity and work exhaustion; his health rapidly deteriorated in the winter of 1974, and he died suddenly on 31 August that year. His death shocked the nation and led to an outpouring of grief; he is the most recent New Zealand Prime Minister to die in office. His father, also named Norman Kirk, was a carpenter, while his mother Vera Janet (née Jury) had migrated from the Wairarapa. Throughout his life, it was often speculated that Norman Kirk had Māori whakapapa, and was of mixed Kāi Tahu ancestry. This led to allegations that Kirk was passing as Pākehā. It was also claimed that Kirk had Māori relatives, which is true at least through his great niece Jo Luxton, the current Member of the House of Representatives for Rangitata. While Kirk never denied being Māori, a study of his genealogy found no evidence he was Kāi Tahu and he never publicly identified himself as such. While very intelligent, Kirk did not perform well academically. He left school shortly before he turned thirteen after his father lost his job. Despite this, however, he enjoyed reading, and often visited libraries. In particular, he enjoyed the study of history and geography.

Also in 1943, Kirk joined the Labour Party's branch in Kaiapoi, where he and his wife had decided to build a house. Kirk bought a section at 12 Carew Street for just NZ£40 (compared to today's land valuation of NZ$126,000). Owing to a shortage of funds and building materials following World War II, Kirk built the house himself entirely, right down to the casting of the bricks. The house still stands today, albeit with an extension at the back and a hipped corrugated iron roof to replace the original leak susceptible flat malthoid roof. In 1951, Kirk became Chairman of the party's Hurunui electorate committee. In 1953, Kirk led Labour to a surprising victory in elections for Kaiapoi's local council, and he became the youngest mayor in the country at age 30. As mayor, Kirk showed great creativity and implemented many changes. He surprised officials by studying issues intensely, often emerging with better knowledge of his options than the people functioning as his advisors. He resigned as mayor on 15 January 1958 and moved his family to Christchurch after being elected MP for the electorate. At the 1957 general election Kirk won the Lyttelton seat and became a Member of Parliament. In 1969 he transferred to the Sydenham seat which he held until his death. He stood for the position of Deputy Leader in 1963 following the death of Fred Hackett but was defeated by Hugh Watt. Despite lacking Watt's length of service or ministerial experience Kirk only lost by one vote, a surprising show of support. With the memory of the "Black Budget" still plaguing Labour leader Arnold Nordmeyer's profile and many within the party believed that it was time for a fresh start. In 1965 a group of mainly younger Labour MPs formed a group who became dedicated to replace Nordmeyer with Kirk, becoming known as the "Mafia". At the end of 1965 he successfully challenged Arnold Nordmeyer for the parliamentary leadership, becoming Leader of the Opposition. As leader Kirk assembled a more formal shadow cabinet system amongst the Labour caucus than had been seen in the past wishing to boost the profile of his senior MPs. However, he found it challenging to avoid it being composed mainly of Auckland and Christchurch based MPs. Using the slogan "Make things happen", Kirk led Labour into the 1969 general election — the party did not win a majority, but it did increase both its share of the vote and number of seats to 44.2% and 39.

In February 1972 Keith Holyoake resigned as Prime Minister and was replaced by Jack Marshall. Not even this could blunt Labour's campaign slogan, "It's Time – Time for a change, time for Labour", and on 25 November 1972 Kirk led Labour to victory with a majority of 23 seats. as Kirk was recognised as Pākehā, the iconic picture seemed to symbolise a new era of partnership between New Zealand's people. since then the New Zealand Defence Force has remained an all volunteer professional force. Kirk also strengthened relations with the Australian Labor Party and its leader Gough Whitlam. Like Kirk, Whitlam had come to power in 1972 as the first Labor Prime Minister in a considerable time; Kirk had been preceded by 12 years of National Party government, while Whitlam had succeeded a Coalition government that had lasted 23 years. Kirk desired for the two nascent leaders to work together, to foster a boldly independent foreign policy separate from the United Kingdom or the United States. Despite their relative success together in their mutually short periods in office, it is known that Kirk and Whitlam, in private, did not get along and even disliked one another. Kirk was a closer friend to Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, whom he regarded as his mentor, and to British Prime Minister Harold Wilson (despite wanting to escape the influence of Britain), than to Whitlam. The other: his refusal to allow a visit by a South African rugby team, a decision he made because the apartheid régime in South Africa would not accept racial integration for that sport. He was also highly critical of US foreign policy, speaking before the United Nations of the US involvement in the coup d'état in Chile in 1973. The Kirk government was also notable for a number of national identity building policies. The government began the tradition of New Zealand Day in 1973, Christchurch hosted the 1974 Commonwealth Games which had a colourful opening ceremony, seen by many commentators as a festival celebrating New Zealand's new sense of self confidence and optimism. Kirk and his wife hosted the royal family and accompanied them on their tour of New Zealand and the Cook Islands. The government began the Ohu scheme of communal work groupings in rural areas, allowing committed people (particularly Māori) to return to the land for their livelihood. The scheme assisted people in becoming self sufficient from the land, enhance spiritual and social wellbeing, allow the development of alternative social models and promote organic farming. Kirk got he idea while visiting Israel in 1971 and witnessing Kibbutz communities leading the media to nickname it "Kirk's kibbutzim" when it was announced. People in the Ohu groups did not own the land they were cultivating and leased it from the Department of Lands and Survey, nor were they expected to produce surplus agricultural products (beyond the needs of the immediate community) for export. An advisory group was established and the first Ohu, named the Sunburst community, was eventually opened near Whitianga in 1975. Kirk's government was more environmentally conscious than preceding ones. It was elected on a platform that included a strong endorsement of the ideals of Save Manapouri campaign. In February 1973, Kirk honoured his election pledge and instructed the electricity department not to raise the level of Lake Manapouri. He created an independent body, the Guardians of Lake Manapouri, Monowai, and Te Anau (composed of leading members of the protest) to oversee management of the lake levels. Kirk appointed Bill Rowling as Minister of Finance. The Labour government enjoyed a record budget surplus in its first year and revalued the currency. However, the slowing global economy, an unprecedented rise in oil prices and a rapid rise in government expenditure led to soaring inflation by 1974.

During his time as Prime Minister, Kirk kept up an intense schedule, refusing to reduce his workload by any significant degree and rarely taking time off (the Chatham Islands was his favourite retreat). Kirk ignored advice from several doctors and from Bob Tizard and Warren Freer to "take care of himself" and to reduce his heavy consumption of Coca Cola and alcohol (beer, plus later whisky or gin), saying he would have a "short but happy life". On a trip to India he contracted dysentery and exhibited symptoms of undiagnosed diabetes. His son, John Kirk, won the resulting Sydenham by election in November 1974. While colleagues had been urging him to take some time off, none were aware of the seriousness of his last illness. Bob Harvey, the Labour Party president, said that Kirk was "a robust man" with the "constitution of a horse". He proposed a Royal Commission to investigate rumours that he had been killed, perhaps with contact poison, by the CIA. This story returned during the 1999 visit of American President Bill Clinton to New Zealand.

After a lying in state in Parliament House from 2 to 4 September, there was a large official funeral in Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, on Wednesday 4 September attended by Prince Charles, Cook Islands Premier Albert Henry, and Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam; then on 5 September another service, also inter denominational, in the Christchurch Town Hall followed by a simple burial service in his hometown Waimate. He was buried near his mother's grave; the burial service was delayed as the RNZAF Hercules could not land at Waimate and the procession hurried by road to meet the daylight requirement for burials. Memorial services were held around New Zealand, and on 26 September in Westminster Abbey, London.

The New Zealand pop band Ebony wrote the song "Big Norm", featuring tongue in cheek lyrics praising Kirk. In 1974, it reached No 4 in the charts and Ebony won a New Zealand music RATA award for group of the year. The last telegram Kirk sent before his death was to Ebony congratulating them on their win.