R.I.P. David Lange

Former New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange (PM 1984-89) died last night at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland, at the age of 63. While the controversies of his Fourth Labour government will be endlessly documented and debated for years to come, there is no doubt that he will be most widely remembered internationally as the head of state to make New Zealand a nuclear-free country.

Lange's policy involved the banning of US nuclear-powered warships from New Zealand's ports, and the effective withdrawal of New Zealand from the ANZUS defence alliance. A high point of his term as Prime Minister was his eloquent speech at the Oxford Union in 1985, arguing that nuclear weapons are morally indefensible. The transcript of his speech is online here.

Well loved by New Zealanders, David Lange will be missed.

Charles Mingus - Oh Lord Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me
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