In the week when the British announced their revolutionary new defense posture, Australia decided to pattern its fighting equipment, in size and design, after the U.S. instead of Britain. "In the event of global war," said Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies, "it would be difficult for the U.K. to maintain a supply line to Southeast Asia, though the U.S. undoubtedly could do so. Although Australia is wholeheartedly a British nation, this policy is not heresy—it merely recognizes the facts of war."
His nation remains a partner of both Britain and the U.S. in SEATO. But Menzies, who last week set...