Robert Muldoon

New Zealand politician who was first elected to Parliament on 11/26/1961, but became Minister of Finance from 1964-1972. He became the leader of the National Party in July 1974 and the Prime Minister on 11/25/1975 to 7/26/1984 as well as Chairman of the World Monetary Fund and Money Bank. He was overweight with a brash personality that people either loved or hated. He was known for applying political pressure to ruin his adversaries. His term of office was marked by domestic measures to tackle low economic growth and high inflation. His dad’s family came from Northern Ireland, as his name would suggest, and his mom’s parents had emigrated from England. Robert's father, Jim, was an accountant and a sportsman and Robert became a professional accountant. In 1929, his dad suffered a stroke, causing him to lose his power of speech and the use of one of his arms, and he remained in hospital until he died, almost twenty years later. Robert's mother was left with the task of bringing up their only child during the grim years of the depression. She returned to her trade as an upholsterers and her son remembered hearing her sewing machine going at all hours of the night. She also grew her own vegetables and bottled fruit and jam to help make ends meet. The hardship of the depression remained with Robert for the rest of his life. There was at the same time strong family support and he was particularly close to his grandmother who first talked to him about politics. He was an advanced student as well as the youngest and smallest boy in the school. He was also no angel. At one time he received so many detentions that there were not enough days left in the year to serve them. He played soccer and cricket at school. When he turned nineteen, he joined the army, serving his country as part of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force before entering Parliament as MP for Tamaki in 1960. He remained the Member for that electorate for 31 years until his resignation, one year before his death. Robert Muldoon was one of New Zealand's most colorful and powerful political figures. He dominated NZ politics for almost twenty years, and his characteristics and political style were familiar to almost all New Zealanders – who were either avid admirers or ardent critics. Even after he lost office in 1984, he remained a Member of Parliament and a prominent figure, appearing in television and stage shows and hosting talkback radio programs until his death on August 5, 1992, Auckland, aged 70. Link to Wikipedia biography