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Ruth Chatterton

Ruth Chatterton (December 24, 1892 – November 24, 1961) was an American stage, film, and television actress, aviator and novelist. She was at her most popular in the early to mid-1930s, and in the same era gained prominence as an aviator, one of the few female pilots in the United States at the time. In the late 1930s, Chatterton retired from film acting but continued her career on the stage. She had several TV roles beginning in the late 1940s and became a successful novelist in the 1950s.

Early life
Chatterton was born in New York City on December 24, 1892 to Walter, an architect, and Lillian (née Reed) Chatterton. She was of English and French extraction. Her parents separated while she was young. Chatterton attended Mrs. Hagen's School in Pelham, New York.

In 1908, Chatterton and her friends were attending a play in Washington, D.C. Chatterton later criticized the acting of the lead actress to her friends, who challenged her to become a stage actress herself or "shut up". Chatterton accepted the challenge, and a few days later, joined the chorus of the stage show. She soon dropped out of school to pursue a stage career. Aged 16, Chatterton joined the Friend Stock Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she remained for six months.

Career
In 1911, Chatterton made her Broadway stage debut in The Great Name. Her greatest success onstage came in 1914, when she starred in the play Daddy Long Legs, adapted from the novel by Jean Webster.

Chatterton married her first husband, actor Ralph Forbes, on December 19, 1924, in Manhattan. They moved to Los Angeles. With the help of Emil Jannings, she was cast in her first film role in Sins of the Fathers in 1928. That same year, she was signed to a contract by Paramount Pictures. Chatterton's first film for Paramount was also her first sound film, The Doctor's Secret, released in 1929. Chatterton was able to make the transition from silents to sound because of her stage experience.

Later in 1929, Chatterton was loaned to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where she starred in Madame X. The film was a critical and box-office success, and effectively launched Chatterton's career. For her work in the film, Chatterton received her first nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress. The following year, she starred in Sarah and Son, portraying an impoverished housewife who rises to fame and fortune as an opera singer. The film was another critical and financial success, and Chatterton received a second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Later that year, Chatterton was voted the second female star of the year, behind only Norma Shearer, in a poll conducted by the West Coast film exhibitors.

In 1933, Chatterton starred in the successful Pre-Code comedy-drama Female, in which she plays the head of an automobile factory who uses handsome men in her employ for sex and then drops them. When she left Paramount Pictures, her initial home studio, for Warner Bros., along with Kay Francis and William Powell, the brothers Warner were said to then need an infusion of "class". Chatterton's last picture for Warner Brothers was the 1934 drama Journal of a Crime, co-starring Adolphe Menjou and Claire Dodd. In this late pre-Coder, Chatterton plays a jealous wife who murders her husband's mistress. Chatterton is well-remembered for the types of roles that came to an end with implementation of the Production Code in July 1934, but she went on to co-star in the film Dodsworth (1936), for Samuel Goldwyn. This is widely regarded as her finest film, with what many considered an Oscar-worthy performance, although she was not nominated. Due to her age and the studios' focus on younger, more bankable stars, she moved to England and made only two more pictures, ending with A Royal Divorce (1938). She came back in 1948 to do television until 1953.

Later years
By 1938, Chatterton had tired of motion picture acting and retired from films. She moved back to the Eastern United States, where she lived with her third husband, Barry Thomson. In 1940 she returned to the Broadway stage to star in John Van Druten's Leave Her to Heaven. She continued acting in Broadway productions and appeared in the London production of The Constant Wife, for which she received good reviews. Chatterton also raised French poodles and began a successful writing career. Her first novel, Homeward Borne, was published in 1950 and became a best seller. She went on to write three more novels: The Betrayers (1953), The Pride of the Peacock (1954), and The Southern Wild (1958). In 1947 she narrated a four-sided 78 rpm disc set, The Revolt of the Alphabet, written by John Byrne, with music by Vladimir Selinsky.

Chatterton came out of retirement in the 1950s, and appeared on U.S. television in several plays, including a TV adaptation of Dodsworth on Prudential Playhouse, alongside Mary Astor and Walter Huston. Her last television appearance was as Gertrude in a 1953 adaptation of Hamlet, with Maurice Evans in the title role, on the anthology series Hallmark Hall of Fame.

Flying
Chatterton was one of the few woman aviators of her era, and was good friends with Amelia Earhart. She flew solo across the U.S. several times, and served as sponsor of the Sportsman Pilot Mixed Air Derby and the annual Ruth Chatterton Air Derby during the 1930s; she also opened the National Air Races in Los Angeles in 1936. She taught British film and stage actor Brian Aherne to fly, an experience he described at length in his 1969 autobiography A Proper Job.

Marriages
Chatterton was married three times and had no children. In 1924, she married British actor Ralph Forbes, who starred opposite her that same year in The Magnolia Lady, a musical version of the A.E. Thomas and Alice Duer Miller hit Come Out of the Kitchen. Their divorce was finalized on August 12, 1932. The following day, August 13, Chatterton married George Brent, her The Rich Are Always with Us and The Crash co-star, in Harrison, New York. The couple separated in March 1934 and were divorced in October 1934.

Chatterton married actor Barry Thomson in 1942. They remained married until his death in 1960.

Death
After the death of her third husband in 1960, Chatterton lived alone in the home they shared in Redding, Connecticut. On November 21, 1961, she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while friends were visiting her home. She was taken to Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, where she died on November 24, aged 68. She was cremated and is interred in a niche in the Lugar Mausoleum (Section 11, Lot 303) at Beechwoods Cemetery in New Rochelle, New York.

Honors
For her contribution to the motion-picture industry, Ruth Chatterton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6263 Hollywood Blvd. She is also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Works

 * Homeward Borne: A Novel (1950)
 * The Betrayers (1953)
 * The Pride of the Peacock (1954)
 * The Southern Wild (1958)
 * Lady's Man (1961)

title: Ruth Chatterton


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David Alfaro Siqueiros

David Alfaro Siqueiros (born José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros; December 29, 1896 – January 6, 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, he was one of the most famous of the "Mexican muralists".

Siqueiros was a member of the Mexican Communist Party. Although he went to Spain to support the Spanish Republic against the forces of Francisco Franco with his art, he volunteered and served in frontline combat as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army of the Republic through 1938 before returning to Mexico City. In 1940, he led a failed assassination attempt on Leon Trotsky in which Trotsky's 14-year-old grandson was shot and American communist Robert Sheldon Harte was executed. After spending several months on the run from Mexican authorities disguised as a peasant, Siqueiros was eventually apprehended in Jalisco, although he would never be brought to trial and was freed shortly.

By accordance with Spanish naming customs, his surname would normally have been Alfaro; however, like Picasso (Pablo Ruiz y Picasso) and Lorca (Federico García Lorca), Siqueiros used his mother's surname. It was long believed that he was born in Camargo in Chihuahua state, but in 2003 it was proven that he had actually been born in the city of Chihuahua, but grew up in Irapuato, Guanajuato, at least from the age of six. The discovery of his birth certificate in 2003 by a Mexican art curator was announced the following year by art critic Raquel Tibol, who was renowned as the leading authority on Mexican Muralism and who had been a close acquaintance of Siqueiros. Siqueiros changed his given name to "David" after his first wife called him by it in allusion to Michelangelo's David.

Early life
Many details of Siqueiros's childhood, including birth date, birthplace, first name and where he grew up, were misstated during his life and long after his death, in some cases by himself. Often he is reported to have been born and raised in 1898 in a town in the state of Chihuahua and his personal names are reported to be "José David". Thanks to art historian Raquel Tibol, who found a birth certificate for him, we know now that he was born in Mexico City, not Camargo or the state of Chihuahua.

Siqueiros was born in 1896, the second of three children. He was baptized José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros. His father, Cipriano Alfaro, originally from Irapuato, was well-off. His mother was Teresa Siqueiros. Siqueiros had two siblings: a sister, Luz, three years elder, and a brother "Chucho" (Jesús), a year younger. David's mother died when he was four and their father sent the children to live with their paternal grandparents. David's grandfather, nicknamed "Siete Filos" ('seven knife-edges'), had an especially strong role in his upbringing. In 1902, Siqueiros started school in Irapuato, Guanajuato.

He credits his first rebellious influence to his sister, who had resisted their father's religious orthodoxy. Around this time, Siqueiros was also exposed to new political ideas, mainly along the lines of anarcho-syndicalism. One such political theorist was Dr. Atl, who published a manifesto in 1906 calling for Mexican artists to develop a national art and look to ancient indigenous cultures for inspiration. In 1911, at the age of fifteen, Siqueiros was involved in a student strike at the Academy of San Carlos of the National Academy of Fine Arts that protested the school's teaching methodology and urged the impeachment of the school's director. Their protests eventually led to the establishment of an "open-air academy" in Santa Anita Zacatlamanco.

At the age of eighteen, Siqueiros and several of his colleagues from the School of Fine Arts joined Venustiano Carranza's Constitutional Army fighting the government of President Victoriano Huerta. When Huerta fell in 1914, Siqueiros became enmeshed in the "post-revolutionary" infighting, as the Constitutional Army battled the diverse political factions of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata for control. His military travels around the country exposed him to Mexican culture and the raw, everyday struggles of the working and rural poor classes. After Carranza's forces had gained control, Siqueiros briefly returned to Mexico City to paint before traveling to Europe in 1919. First in Paris, he absorbed the influence of cubism, intrigued particularly with Paul Cézanne and the use of large blocks of intense color. While there, he also met Diego Rivera, another Mexican painter of "the Big Three" on the brink of a legendary career in muralism, and he traveled to Italy to study the great fresco painters of the Renaissance. In Barcelona he published a magazine, La vida Americana, in which he issued a manifesto to the artists of America to reject the decadent influence of Europe and create a new form of public art with the latest tools and technology.

Early art and politics
Although many have said that Siqueiros' artistic ventures were frequently "interrupted" by political ones, Siqueiros himself believed the two were intricately intertwined. By 1921, when he wrote his manifesto in Vida Americana, Siqueiros had already been exposed to Marxism and seen the life of the working and rural poor while traveling with the Constitutional Army. In "A New Direction for the New Generation of American Painters and Sculptors", he called for a "spiritual renewal" to simultaneously bring back the virtues of classical painting while infusing this style with "new values" that acknowledged the "modern machine" and the "contemporary aspects of daily life". The manifesto also claimed that a "constructive spirit" is essential to meaningful art, which rises above mere decoration or false, fantastical themes. Through this style, Siqueiros hoped to create a style that would bridge national and universal art. In his work, as well as his writing, Siqueiros sought a social realism that hailed the proletariat peoples of Mexico and the world, even as it attempted to avoid the widespread clichés of "Primitivism" and "Indianism".

In 1922, Siqueiros returned to Mexico City to work as a muralist for Álvaro Obregón's revolutionary government. The then Secretary of Public Education, José Vasconcelos, made a mission of educating the masses through public art, and hired scores of artists and writers to build a modern Mexican culture. Siqueiros, Rivera and Orozco worked together under Vasconcelos, who supported the muralist movement by commissioning murals for prominent buildings in Mexico City. Still, the artists working at the Preparatoria realized that many of their early works lacked the "public" nature envisioned in their ideology. In 1923 Siqueiros helped found the Syndicate of Revolutionary Mexican Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, which addressed the problem of public access to art through its paper, El Machete. That year Siqueiros helped author a manifesto in the newspaper "for the proletariat of the world". It addressed the necessity of "collective" art, which would serve as "ideological propaganda" to educate the masses and overcome bourgeois, individualist art.

Soon after, Siqueiros painted his famous mural Burial of a Worker (1923) in the stairwell of the Colegio Chico. The fresco features a group of pre-Conquest style workers in a funeral procession that are carrying a giant coffin, decorated with a hammer and sickle. The mural was never finished and was vandalized by students at the school who did not agree with the work's overtly political subject matter. Eventually, the entire mural was whitewashed by the new Minister of Education who succeeded Vasconcelos. The Syndicate became ever more critical of the revolutionary government, due to the State's failure to deliver on promised reforms. As a result, its members faced new threats to cut funding for their art and the newspaper. A feud within the Syndicate—regarding a choice between publishing El Machete or losing financial support for mural projects—led to Siqueiros moving to the forefront of the organization, when Rivera left in protest over the decision to prioritize politics over art. Despite being dismissed from a post at the Department of Education in 1925, Siqueiros remained deeply involved in labor activities, in the Syndicate as well as the Mexican Communist Party, until he was jailed and eventually exiled in the early 1930s.

After spending many years in Mexico and being heavily involved in radical political activities, Siqueiros went to Los Angeles, California in 1932 to continue his career as a muralist. Working in a collective unit that experimented with new painting techniques using modern devices such as airbrushes, sprayguns and projectors, Siqueiros and his team of collaborators painted two major murals. The first, entitled Street Meeting, was commissioned for the Chouinard School of Art. It depicts a group of workers of mixed ethnicities listening to an angry labor agitator's speech during a break in the workday. The mural was washed over within a year of its unveiling – due to weather-related issues, and perhaps the Communist content of the work. Siqueiros' other significant Los Angeles mural, Tropical America (full name: América Tropical: Oprimida y Destrozada por los Imperialismos, or Tropical America: Oppressed and Destroyed by Imperialism), was commissioned shortly after the unveiling of Street Meeting, and was to be painted on the exterior wall of the Plaza Art Center that faced the busy Olvera Street. Tropical America depicts American imperialism in Latin America, a much more radical theme than was intended for the work. Although it received generally favorable criticism, some viewed it as Communist propaganda, which led to a partial covering in 1934 and a total whitewash in 1938. Eighty years later, the Getty Conservation Institute performed restoration work on the mural. As no color photographs of Tropical America are known to exist, conservators used scientific analysis and best practices to get at the artist's vision of the mural. It became accessible to the public on its 80th anniversary, October 9, 2012. The América Tropical Interpretive Center that opened nearby is dedicated to the life and legacy of David Alfaro Siqueiros.

Artistic career
In the early 1930s, including his time spent in Lecumberri Prison, Siqueiros produced a series of politically themed lithographs, many of which were exhibited in the United States. His lithograph Head was shown at the 1930 exhibition "Mexican Artists and Artists of the Mexican School" at The Delphic Studios in New York City. In 1932, he led an exhibition and conference entitled "Rectifications on Mexican Muralism" at the gallery of the Spanish Casino in Taxco, Guerrero. Shortly after, he traveled to New York, where he participated in the Weyhe Gallery's "Mexican Graphic Art" exhibition. Also in 1932, Nelbert Chouinard invited Siqueiros to Los Angeles to conduct mural workshops. It was at this time that, with a team of students, he also completed Tropical America in 1932, at the Italian Hall at Olvera Street in Los Angeles. Painting fresco on an outside wall – visible to passersby as well as intentional viewers – forced Siqueiros to reconsider his methodology as a muralist. He wanted the image – an Indian peon being crucified by American oppression – to be accessible from multiple angles. Instead of just constructing "an enlarged easel painting", he realized that the mural "must conform to the normal transit of a spectator." Eventually, Siqueiros would develop a mural technique that involved tracing figures onto a wall with an electric projector, photographing early wall sketches to improve perspective, and new paints, spray guns, and other tools to accommodate the surface of modern buildings and the outdoor conditions. He was unceremoniously deported from the United States for political activity the same year.

Back in New York in 1936, he was the guest of honor at the "Contemporary Arts" exhibition at the St. Regis gallery. There he also ran a political art workshop in preparation for the 1936 General Strike for Peace and May Day parade. The young Jackson Pollock attended the workshop and helped build floats for the parade. In fact, Siquieros has been credited with teaching drip and pour techniques to Pollock that later resulted in his all-over paintings, made from 1947 to 1950, and which constitute Pollock's greatest achievement. In addition to floats, the Siqueiros Experimental Workshop produced a variety of posters and other ephemeral works for the CPUSA and other anti-fascist organizations in New York. These ephemeral works possessed the ability to reach the masses in a way different from mural painting because they were accessible to a wide audience outside of an institution or gallery. The Siqueiros Experimental Workshop only lasted for a little over a year until Siqueiros went to fight in the Spanish Civil War in April 1937, but their floats were featured in both the 1936 and 1937 May Day Parades in Manhattan's garment district.

Continuing to produce several works throughout the late 1930s – such as Echo of a Scream (1937) and The Sob (1939), both now at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Although he went to Spain to support the Spanish Republic against the fascist forces of Francisco Franco with his art, he volunteered and served in frontline combat as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army of the Republic through 1938 before returning to Mexico City. After his return, in a stairwell of the Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas, Siqueiros collaborated with Spanish refugee Josep Renau and the International Team of Plastic Artists to develop one of his most famous works, Portrait of the Bourgeoisie, warning against the dual foes of capitalism and fascism. The original mural, painted in the stairwell of the electrical worker's union, incorporated cameras, photomontage, spray guns, airbrushes, stencils and the latest paints. It shows a giant generator using the opposition of fascist and capitalist democracies to generate imperialism and war. An armed, brave-faced revolutionary, of unnamable class or ethnicity, confronts the machine, and a blue sky on the ceiling flanked by electrical towers displays hope for the proletariat in technological and industrial advances.

American-born poet and eventual fellow Spanish Civil War participant Edwin Rolfe was a great admirer of Siqueiros's "ability to function" as "artist and revolutionary". His 1934 poem "Room with Revolutionists" is based on a conversation between ″New Masses″ editor, poet, and Left journalist Joseph Freeman (1897–1965) and Siqueiros; in it, Siqueiros is described as "a revolutionist / a painter of great areas, editor / of fiery and terrifying words, leader / of the poor who plant, the poor who burrow / under the earth in field and mine. / His life's an always upward-delving battle in / an old torn sweater, the pockets always empty."

Attempted assassination of Leon Trotsky
Before the mural's completion in 1940, however, Siqueiros was forced into hiding and later exiled for his direct involvement in an attempt to assassinate Leon Trotsky, then in exile in Mexico City from the Soviet Union:

President Lázaro Cárdenas had given Leon Trotsky and his wife, Natalia Sedova, political asylum after fleeing Stalinist persecution. They were able to enter the country thanks to the request that Ana Brenner made to Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to intervene on their behalf. Trotsky's arrival in Mexico as a political asylee infuriated the Spanish Republicans, allies of the Soviet Union, who complained to the Mexican fighters--among them Siqueiros--about their government's decision to accept Trotsky.

"In the early morning of May 24, 1940, [Siqueiros] led an attack on Trotsky's house in Mexico City's Coyoacán suburb. (Trotsky, granted asylum by President Cárdenas, was then living in Mexico.) The attacking party was composed of men who had served under Siqueiros in the Spanish Civil War and of miners from his union. After thoroughly raking the house with machine gun fire and explosives, the attackers withdrew in the belief that nobody could have survived the assault. They were mistaken. Trotsky was unhurt and lived till August, when he was killed with a pickaxe wielded by an assassin." Trotsky's 14-year-old grandson was shot, yet survived. Following the attack, police found a shallow grave on the road to the Desierto de los Leones with the body of New York Communist Robert Sheldon Harte, executed by one shot to the head. He had been one of Trotsky's bodyguards. The theory that Sheldon was a Soviet agent who had infiltrated Trotsky's entourage, aiding in Siqueiros' attack by allowing the hit squad to enter Trotsky's compound, was discounted by Trotsky and later historians. Siqueiros's colleague Josep Renau completed the SME mural, transforming the generator into a machine that converts the blood of workers into coins.

Siqueiros was located by the police in a property supposedly rented by Angelica and Luis Arenal (Siqueiros's wife and brother-in-law respectively) in the outskirts of the capital. Siqueiros fled to Guadalajara, hiding in the house of his old friend José Guadalupe Zuno and from there he moved to the mountain town of Hostotipaquillo. Together with Angélia Arenal, he hid disguised as a peasant under the name of Macario Huízar. The Jalisco police apprehended Siqueiros and he was taken back Mexico City. He was formally processed and declared prisoner in the Lecumberri Preventive Prison. Siqueiros was charged for attempted homicide, criminal association, improper use of uniform, usurpation of functions, breaking and entering, firing a firearm and robbery.

Despite Siqueiros's participation in these events, he never stood trial and was given permission to leave the country to paint a mural in Chile, arranged by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. In a school library in the town of Chillán, he organized a team of artists to paint a mural which combined the heroic figures of Mexico and Chile in "Death to the Invader."

Hoping to revisit the United States and contribute to the struggle against fascism, he was denied entry and went to Cuba where he painted three murals, "Allegory of Racial Equality and Fraternity in Cuba," "New Day of the Democracies" and "Two Mountains of America, Marti and Lincoln."

Later life and works
In 1948, Siqueiros was invited to teach a course on mural painting at an art academy in San Miguel Allende. Although he was barred from the United States, most of the students were American GIs who were being paid to study under him. Practicing his idea of learning art by working with a master artist on a mural project, he planned a mural in a colonial building recognizing the legacy of Miguel Allende, one of Mexico's leaders of the struggle for independence. The mural was never completed, due to legal procedures against the owner of the art academy. Based on this experience, he later wrote a book titled Como se pinta un mural.

Siqueiros participated in the first ever Mexican contingent at the XXV Venice Biennale exhibition with Orozco, Rivera and Tamayo in 1950, and he received the second prize for all exhibitors, which recognized the international status of Mexican art. Yet by the 1950s, Siqueiros returned to accepting commissions from what he considered a "progressive" Mexican state, rather than painting for galleries or private patrons. He constructed an outdoor mural entitled The People to the University, the University to the People at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City in 1952. It was a combination of mural painting, bas-relief sculpture and Italian mosaic. In 1957 he began work on 4500 sqft government commission for Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City; Del porfirismo a la Revolución was his biggest mural yet. (The painting is known in English as From the Dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz to the Revolution or The Revolution Against the Porfirian Dictatorship.)

In the lobby of the Hospital de la Raza in Mexico City, he created a revolutionary multi-angular mural using new materials and techniques, For the Social Welfare of all Mexicans. After painting Man the Master and Not the Slave of Technology on a concave aluminum panel in the lobby of the Polytechnic Institute, he painted The Apology for the Future Victory of Science over Cancer on panels that wrap around the lobby of the cancer center.

Yet near the end of the decade, his outspoken communist views alienated him from the government. Under pressure from the government, the National Actors' Association, which had commissioned a mural on the theater in Mexico suspended his work on The History of Theater in Mexico at the Jorge Negrete Theater and sued him for breach of contract in 1958.

Siqueiros was eventually arrested in 1960 for openly criticizing the President of Mexico, Adolfo López Mateos, and leading protests against the arrests of striking workers and teachers, though the charges were commonly known to be false. Numerous protests ensued, even including an appeal advertisement by well-known artists and writers in The New York Times in 1961. Unjustly imprisoned, Siqueiros continued to paint, and his works continued to sell. During that stay, he would make numerous sketches for the project of decorating the Hotel Casino de la Selva, owned by Manuel Suarez y Suarez. After international pressure was put on the Mexican authorities, Siqueiros was finally pardoned and released in the spring of 1964. He immediately resumed working on his suspended murals in the Actors' Union and Chapultepec Castle.

When the mural planned for the Hotel de la Selva in Cuernavaca was moved to Mexico City and expanded, he assembled a team of national and international artists to work on the panels in his workshop in Cuernavaca. This project, his last major mural, is the largest mural ever painted, an integrated structure combining architecture, in which the building was designed as a mural, with mural painting and polychromed sculpture. Known as the Polyforum Siqueiros, the exterior consists of 12 panels of sculpture and painting while the walls and ceiling of the interior are covered with The March of Humanity on Earth and Toward the Cosmos. Completed in 1971 after years of extension and delay, the mural broke from some previous stylistic mandates, if only by its complex message. Known for making art that was easily read by the public, especially the lower classes, Siqueiros' message in The March is more difficult to decipher, though it seems to fuse two visions of human progress, one international and one based in Mexican heritage. The mural's placement at a ritzy hotel and commission by its millionaire owner also seems to challenge Siqueiros' anti-capitalist ideology.

Global policy
He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution. As a result, for the first time in human history, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt a Constitution for the Federation of Earth.

Death
Siqueiros died in Cuernavaca, Morelos, on January 6, 1974, in the company of Angélica Arenal Bastar, who had been his partner since the Spanish civil war. His remained were interred at the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons. A few days before his death, he donated his house in Polanco to the Mexican state; since 1969, it had been used for Public Art Rooms and a Museum of Mural Painting Composition.

Style
As a muralist and an artist, Siqueiros believed art should be public, educational, and ideological. He painted mostly murals and other portraits of the revolution – its goals, its past, and the current oppression of the working classes. Because he was painting a story of human struggle to overcome authoritarianism, capitalist rule, he painted the everyday people ideally involved in this struggle. Though his pieces sometimes include landscapes or figures of Mexican history and mythology, these elements often appear as mere accessories to the story of a revolutionary hero or heroes (several works depict the revolutionary "masses", such as the mural at Chapultepec).

His interest in the human form developed at the Academy in Mexico City. His accentuation of the angles of the body, its muscles and joints, can be seen throughout his career in his portrayal of the strong revolutionary body. In addition, many works, especially in the 1930s, prominently feature hands, which could be interpreted as another heroic symbol of proletarian strength through work: his self-portrait in prison (El Coronelazo, 1945, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City), Our Present Image (1947, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico), New Democracy (1944, Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City), and even his series on working class women, such as The Sob.

Major exhibitions

 * Siqueiros, at Casino Español, Mexico City, 1932.
 * 70 Recent Works from David Alfaro Siqueiros, at the Museo Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Mexico City, 1947.
 * Siqueiros, at Galeria de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City, 1953.
 * Siqueiros: Retrospective Exhibition 1911–1967, at the Museo Universitario de Ciencas y Arte, Mexico City, 1967.
 * Siqueiros-Exposición Retrospectiva, at the Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1972.
 * Siqueiros: Exposción de Homenaje, at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1975.
 * Siqueiros-Visión, Tecnica y Estructural, at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1984.
 * Images of Mexico, at the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, 1988.
 * Latin American Artists of the Twentieth Century, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1993.
 * Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art 1925–1945, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2020.

Selected other works

 * Proletarian Mother, 1929, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico
 * Zapata (lithograph), 1930, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art
 * Zapata (oil painting), 1931, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.
 * América Tropical, 1932, Los Angeles
 * War, 1939, Philadelphia Museum of Art
 * José Clemente Orozco, 1947, Carillo Gil Museum, Mexico City
 * Cain in the United States, 1947, Carillo Gil Museum, Mexico city
 * For Complete Social Security of All Mexicans, 1953–36, Hospital de La Raza, Mexico City

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: David Alfaro Siqueiros


text:
Tánaiste

The Tánaiste is the second-ranking member of the government of Ireland and the holder of its second-most senior office. They are the equivalent of a deputy prime minister in other parliamentary systems.

The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Taoiseach Micheál Martin, TD, who was appointed on 17 December 2022.

History
Under the Gaelic system of tanistry, the word tánaiste (plural tánaistí,, approximately ) had been used for the heir of the chief (taoiseach) or king (rí). The word was adopted in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland as the title for a member of the government nominated by the Taoiseach to act in their place as needed during periods of the Taoiseach's temporary absence. Tánaiste is the official title of the deputy head of government in both English and Irish, and is not used for other countries' deputy prime ministers, who are referred to in Irish by the generic term leas-phríomh-aire,, approximately. The longer Irish form, an Tánaiste, is sometimes used in English instead of "the Tánaiste".

Overview
The office was created in 1937 under the new Constitution of Ireland and replaced the previous office of Vice-President of the Executive Council, which had existed under the Constitution of the Irish Free State, and which was first held by Kevin O'Higgins of Cumann na nGaedheal from 1922 to 1927.

The Taoiseach nominates one member of the Government to the office who is required to be a member of Dáil Éireann. The nominee then receives their seal of office from the President of Ireland in recognition of the appointment. The Tánaiste acts in the place of the Taoiseach during a temporary absence. In the event of the Taoiseach's death or permanent incapacitation, the Tánaiste acts as Taoiseach until another is appointed. The Tánaiste is, ex officio, a member of the Council of State. The Tánaiste chairs meetings of the government in the absence of the Taoiseach and may take questions on their behalf in the Dáil or Seanad.

Aside from those duties, the title is largely honorific as the Constitution does not confer any additional powers on the office holder over and above the other members of the Government. In theory, the Tánaiste could be a minister without portfolio, but every Tánaiste has in parallel held a ministerial portfolio as head of a Department of State. The Department of the Taoiseach is a Department of State, but there is no equivalent for the Tánaiste. Dick Spring in the Rainbow Coalition (1994–1997) had an official "Office of the Tánaiste", but other parties have not used that nomenclature. Under Spring, Eithne Fitzgerald was "Minister of State at the Office of the Tánaiste", with responsibility for co-ordinating Labour policy in the coalition.

Under a coalition government, the Tánaiste is typically the leader of the second-largest coalition partner, just as the Taoiseach is usually leader of the coalition's senior partner. However, during the coalition governments in 1989–1992 and 2007–2011, the position was held by Fianna Fáil's deputy leader, rather than the leader of a junior partner. As part of a rotating Taoiseach agreement since 2020, the role of Tánaiste gained increased prominence and responsibility in coordinating and Government policy as it was held by Leo Varadkar for the first half of the Government's term in office prior to his appointment as Taoiseach and Micheál Martin in the second half.

The office of Tánaiste is as yet the highest government rank attained by a woman Minister.

Four Tánaistí later held the office of Taoiseach: Seán Lemass, Bertie Ahern, Brian Cowen, and Leo Varadkar (his second term as Taoiseach). Varadkar is also one of two Tánaistí, with Micheál Martin, to have previously held the office of Taoiseach before becoming Tánaiste. Two Tánaistí were later elected as President of Ireland: Seán T. O'Kelly and Erskine H. Childers.

List of office-holders
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
 * colspan=9 |
 * colspan=9 |

Vice-President of the Executive Council
! No. ! Portrait ! width=20% |Name (Birth–Death) Constituency ! colspan=2 width=16% |Term of office ! colspan=2|Party ! Exec. Council (President) ! Ministries as Vice-President ! style="background:; color:white;" | 1 TD for Leix–Offaly until 1923 TD for Dublin County from 1923 1922 1927 ! style="background-color: " | (W.T.Cosgrave) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 2 TD for Monaghan 1927 1932 ! style="background-color: " | (W.T.Cosgrave) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 3 TD for Dublin North until 1937 TD for Dublin North-West from 1937 1932 1937 ! style="background-color: " | (de Valera)
 * Kevin O'Higgins (1892–1927)
 * Kevin O'Higgins (1892–1927)
 * 6 December
 * 10 July
 * Cumann na nGaedheal
 * 1·2
 * Justice (1922–1927)
 * Ernest Blythe (1889–1975)
 * Ernest Blythe (1889–1975)
 * 14 July
 * 9 March
 * Cumann na nGaedheal
 * 3·4·5
 * Posts and Telegraphs (1927–1932)
 * Seán T. O'Kelly (1882–1966)
 * Seán T. O'Kelly (1882–1966)
 * 9 March
 * 29 December
 * Fianna Fáil
 * 6·7·8
 * Local Government and Public Health (1932–1937)
 * colspan=9 |
 * colspan=9 |

Tánaiste
! No. ! Portrait ! Name (Birth–Death) Constituency ! colspan=2|Term of office ! colspan=2|Party ! Government (Taoiseach) ! Ministries as Tánaiste Higher Offices Held ! style="background:; color:white;" | (3) TD for Dublin North-West 1937 1945 ! style="background-color: " | (de Valera) Education (1939) Finance (1939–1945) President of Ireland (1945–1959) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 4 TD for Dublin South 1945 1948 ! style="background-color: " | (de Valera) Industry and Commerce (1945–1948) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 5 TD for Kildare 1948 1951 ! style="background-color: " | (Costello) ! style="background:; color:white;" | (4) TD for Dublin South-Central 1951 1954 ! style="background-color: " | (de Valera) ! style="background:; color:white;" | (5) TD for Kildare 1954 1957 ! style="background-color: " | (Costello) ! style="background:; color:white;" | (4) TD for Dublin South-Central 1957 1959 ! style="background-color: " | (de Valera) Taoiseach (1959–1966) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 6 TD for Dublin South-East 1959 1965 ! style="background-color: " | (Lemass) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 7 TD for Louth 1965 1969 ! style="background-color: " | (Lemass) 12 (Lynch) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 8 TD for Monaghan 1969 1973 ! style="background-color: " | (Lynch) President of Ireland (1973–1974) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 9 TD for Wexford 1973 1977 ! style="background-color: " | (L. Cosgrave) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 10 TD for Dublin Clontarf 1977 1981 ! style="background-color: " | (Lynch) 16 (Haughey) Tourism and Transport (1979–1980) Energy (1980–1981) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 11 TD for Dublin Central 1981 1982 ! style="background-color: " | (FitzGerald) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 12 TD for Sligo–Leitrim 1982 1982 ! style="background-color: " | (Haughey) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 13 TD for Kerry North 1982 1987 ! style="background-color: " | (FitzGerald) Energy (1983–1987) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 14 TD for Cork South-Central 1987 1987 ! style="background-color: " | ! style="background:; color:white;" | 15 TD for Dublin West 1987 1990 ! style="background-color: " | (Haughey) Defence (1989–1990) ! rowspan=2 style="background:; color:white;" | 16 TD for Cavan–Monaghan 1990 1993 ! rowspan=2 style="background-color: " | (Haughey) (Reynolds) ! style="background:; color:white;" | (13) TD for Kerry North 1993 1994 ! style="background-color: " | (Reynolds) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 17 TD for Dublin Central 1994 1994 ! style="background-color: " | Taoiseach (1997–2008) ! style="background:; color:white;" | (13) TD for Kerry North 1994 1997 ! style="background-color: " | (Bruton) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 18 TD for Dublin South-West until 2002 TD for Dublin Mid-West from 2002 1997 2006 ! style="background-color: " | (Ahern) Health and Children (2004–2006) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 19 TD for Dublin South-East 2006 2007 ! style="background-color: " | (Ahern) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 20 TD for Laois–Offaly 2007 2008 ! style="background-color: " | (Ahern) Taoiseach (2008–2011) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 21 TD for Donegal South-West 2008 2011 ! style="background-color: " | (Cowen) Education and Skills (2010–2011) Health and Children (2011) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 22 TD for Dún Laoghaire 2011 2014 ! style="background-color: " | (Kenny) ! style="background:; color:white;" | 23 TD for Dublin West 2014 2016 ! style="background-color: " | ! style="background:; color:white;" rowspan=2| 24 TD for Dublin Mid-West 2016 2017 ! rowspan=2 style="background-color: " | (Kenny) (Varadkar) ! style="background:; color:white;"| 25 TD for Cork South Central 2017 2020 ! style="background-color: " | ! style="background:; color:white;"| 26 TD for Dublin West 2020 2022 ! style="background-color: " | (Martin) ! style="background:; color:white;" rowspan=2| 27 TD for Cork South-Central 2022 (Varadkar) (Harris)
 * Seán T. O'Kelly (1882–1966)
 * Seán T. O'Kelly (1882–1966)
 * 29 December
 * 14 June
 * Fianna Fáil
 * 1·2·3·4
 * Local Government and Public Health (1937–1939)
 * Seán Lemass (1899–1971)
 * Seán Lemass (1899–1971)
 * 14 June
 * 18 February
 * Fianna Fáil
 * 4
 * Supplies (1945)
 * William Norton (1900–1963)
 * William Norton (1900–1963)
 * 18 February
 * 13 June
 * Labour Party
 * 5
 * Social Welfare (1948–1951)
 * Seán Lemass (1899–1971)
 * Seán Lemass (1899–1971)
 * 13 June
 * 2 June
 * Fianna Fáil
 * 6
 * Industry and Commerce (1951–1954)
 * William Norton (1900–1963)
 * William Norton (1900–1963)
 * 2 June
 * 20 March
 * Labour Party
 * 7
 * Industry and Commerce (1954–1957)
 * Seán Lemass (1899–1971)
 * Seán Lemass (1899–1971)
 * 20 March
 * 23 June
 * Fianna Fáil
 * 8
 * Industry and Commerce (1957–1959)
 * Seán MacEntee (1889–1984)
 * Seán MacEntee (1889–1984)
 * 23 June
 * 21 April
 * Fianna Fáil
 * 9·10
 * Health (1959–1965)
 * Frank Aiken (1898–1983)
 * Frank Aiken (1898–1983)
 * 21 April
 * 2 July
 * Fianna Fáil
 * 11
 * External Affairs (1965–1969)
 * Erskine H. Childers (1905–1974)
 * Erskine H. Childers (1905–1974)
 * 2 July
 * 14 March
 * Fianna Fáil
 * 13
 * Health (1969–1973)
 * Brendan Corish (1918–1990)
 * Brendan Corish (1918–1990)
 * 14 March
 * 5 July
 * Labour Party
 * 14
 * Health (1973–1977)
 * George Colley (1925–1983)
 * George Colley (1925–1983)
 * 5 July
 * 30 June
 * Fianna Fáil
 * 15
 * Finance (1977–1979)
 * Michael O'Leary (1936–2006)
 * Michael O'Leary (1936–2006)
 * 30 June
 * 9 March
 * Labour Party
 * 17
 * Energy (1981–1982)
 * Ray MacSharry (born 1938)
 * Ray MacSharry (born 1938)
 * 9 March
 * 14 December
 * Fianna Fáil
 * 18
 * Finance (1982)
 * Dick Spring (born 1950)
 * Dick Spring (born 1950)
 * 14 December
 * 20 January
 * Labour Party
 * rowspan=2|19
 * Environment (1982–1983)
 * Peter Barry (1928–2016)
 * Peter Barry (1928–2016)
 * 20 January
 * 10 March
 * Fine Gael
 * Foreign Affairs (1987)
 * Brian Lenihan (1930–1995)
 * Brian Lenihan (1930–1995)
 * 10 March
 * 31 October
 * Fianna Fáil
 * 20·21
 * Foreign Affairs (1987–1989)
 * rowspan=2 |
 * rowspan=2 |John Wilson (1923–2007)
 * rowspan=2 | 13 November
 * rowspan=2 | 12 January
 * rowspan=2 |Fianna Fáil
 * 21
 * Marine (1990–1992)
 * 22
 * 22
 * Defence and Gaeltacht (1992–1993)
 * Dick Spring (born 1950)
 * Dick Spring (born 1950)
 * 12 January
 * 17 November
 * Labour Party
 * rowspan=2|23
 * Foreign Affairs (1993–1994)
 * Bertie Ahern (born 1951)
 * Bertie Ahern (born 1951)
 * 17 November
 * 15 December
 * Fianna Fáil
 * Finance (1994)
 * Dick Spring (born 1950)
 * Dick Spring (born 1950)
 * 15 December
 * 26 June
 * Labour Party
 * 24
 * Foreign Affairs (1994–1997)
 * Mary Harney (born 1953)
 * Mary Harney (born 1953)
 * 26 June
 * 13 September
 * Progressive Democrats
 * 25·26
 * Enterprise, Trade and Employment (1997–2004)
 * Michael McDowell (born 1951)
 * Michael McDowell (born 1951)
 * 13 September
 * 14 June
 * Progressive Democrats
 * 26
 * Justice, Equality and Law Reform (2002–2007)
 * Brian Cowen (born 1960)
 * Brian Cowen (born 1960)
 * 14 June
 * 7 May
 * Fianna Fáil
 * 27
 * Finance (2007–2008)
 * Mary Coughlan (born 1965)
 * Mary Coughlan (born 1965)
 * 7 May
 * 9 March
 * Fianna Fáil
 * 28
 * Enterprise, Trade and Employment (2008–2010)
 * Eamon Gilmore (born 1955)
 * Eamon Gilmore (born 1955)
 * 9 March
 * 4 July
 * Labour Party
 * rowspan=2|29
 * Foreign Affairs and Trade (2011–2014)
 * Joan Burton (born 1949)
 * Joan Burton (born 1949)
 * 4 July
 * 6 May
 * Labour Party
 * Social Protection (2014–2016)
 * rowspan=2|
 * rowspan=2| Frances Fitzgerald (born 1950)
 * rowspan=2| 6 May
 * rowspan=2| 28 November
 * rowspan=2|Fine Gael
 * 30
 * Justice and Equality (2016–2017)
 * rowspan=2|31
 * rowspan=2|31
 * Business, Enterprise and Innovation (2017)
 * Simon Coveney (born 1972)
 * Simon Coveney (born 1972)
 * 30 November
 * 27 June
 * Fine Gael
 * Foreign Affairs and Trade (2017–2020)
 * Leo Varadkar (born 1979)
 * Leo Varadkar (born 1979)
 * 27 June
 * 17 December
 * Fine Gael
 * 32
 * Enterprise, Trade and Employment (2020–2022) Taoiseach (2017−2020, 2022–2024)
 * rowspan=2|
 * rowspan=2|Micheál Martin (born 1960)
 * rowspan=2|17 December
 * rowspan=2|Incumbent
 * 33
 * 33
 * rowspan=2|Taoiseach (2020−2022) Foreign Affairs (2022–present) Defence (2022–present)
 * 34
 * 34
 * }

title: Tánaiste


text:
Princess Eugenie

Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank (Eugenie Victoria Helena; born 23 March 1990) is a member of the British royal family. She is the younger daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York. She is a niece of King Charles III. At birth, she was 6th in the line of succession to the British throne and is now 11th. She is the younger sister of Princess Beatrice.

Born in Portland Hospital, London, Eugenie attended St George's School and Marlborough College before studying at Newcastle University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in English literature and history of art. She joined the auction house Paddle8 before taking a directing position at art gallery Hauser & Wirth. Eugenie also works privately with a number of charitable organisations, including Children in Crisis and Anti-Slavery International.

Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, a brand ambassador, were married in 2018. The couple have two sons, August and Ernest.

Early life
Eugenie was born by Caesarean section at Portland Hospital in the West End of London on 23 March 1990, the second child of the Duke and Duchess of York, and sixth grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

She was baptised Eugenie Victoria Helena at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, by Peter Nott, Bishop of Norwich, on 23 December 1990. She was the first royal baby to have a public christening and the only one of the Queen's grandchildren not to be baptised in the Lily Font.

Eugenie's parents divorced when she was six years old. The Duke and Duchess of York had agreed to joint custody of their two children. After the divorce, the Queen provided her parents with £1.4 million to set up a trust fund for her and Beatrice. Eugenie and her sister frequently travelled abroad with one or both of their parents.

In October 2002, the 12-year-old Eugenie underwent back surgery at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London to correct scoliosis; two 12 in titanium rods were put in her back. After the operation the princess was not required to undergo any further spinal surgeries.

Education and career
Eugenie began her schooling at Winkfield Montessori from 1992 to 1993. From there, she joined her sister at Upton House School in Windsor until 1995. She attended Coworth Park School (now Coworth Flexlands School) from 1995 to 2001, and then St George's School, near Windsor Castle until 2003. For the next five years, Eugenie boarded at Marlborough College in Wiltshire. She achieved three A-Levels (an 'A' in art, an 'A' in English literature, and a 'B' in history of art). She undertook a gap year before continuing her education in 2009.

Eugenie began studying at Newcastle University in September 2009. She graduated in 2012 with a 2:1 degree in English Literature and History of Art.

In 2013, she moved to New York City for one year to work for the online auction firm Paddle8 as a benefit auctions manager. In July 2015, she moved back to London to work for the Hauser & Wirth art gallery as an associate director and was promoted to director in 2017.

Speaking on Channel 5 documentary Beatrice and Eugenie: Pampered Princesses, royal commentator Richard Kay claimed Eugenie enjoyed taxpayer-funded security when she travelled the world during her gap year.

In July 2023, Eugenie joined the advisory board of Goals House, a community aimed at making progress towards UN's sustainable development goals.

Marriage and family
The Duke of York's Office at Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank on 22 January 2018. The couple had been dating for seven years, and were introduced by friends in a ski break in Verbier, Switzerland, where Brooksbank was working. They were engaged on vacation in Nicaragua. In April 2018, the couple moved from St James's Palace and took up residence in Ivy Cottage at Kensington Palace. The wedding took place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 12 October 2018. The wedding dress was designed by the British fashion designer Peter Pilotto and Belgian Christopher de Vos of British-based label Peter Pilotto, and was designed to display her surgical scar. Eugenie chose to show her scar to honour those that helped her, and to inspire others with the condition of scoliosis.

The Brooksbanks have two sons. The first, August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, was born on 9 February 2021 at the Portland Hospital in London, born by caesarean section due to her childhood scoliosis operation. At birth, he was eleventh in line to the throne and is now twelfth. He is named after his great-grandfather Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and two of his five-times great-grandfathers: Reverend Edward Hawke Brooksbank, and Prince Albert, whose given names included "Augustus". August was christened at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, Windsor Park, on 21 November 2021, alongside his second cousin, Lucas Tindall. Eugenie gave birth to a second son, Ernest George Ronnie Brooksbank, on 30 May 2023. He is named after his great-great-great-grandfather George V, whose third given name was Ernest, his grandfather George Brooksbank and his great-grandfather Major Ronald Ferguson. Ernest is thirteenth in line to the throne.

From November 2020 to May 2022, the couple's main residence was Frogmore Cottage, which was leased to Eugenie's cousin Prince Harry. In May 2022, it was reported they had moved to Portugal, where Brooksbank works for Michael Meldman, and that they would once again stay at Ivy Cottage while in the UK.

Activities

Eugenie receives no allowance from the Privy Purse. She does, however, undertake occasional public engagements, which are usually connected with the charities she supports, including the Teenage Cancer Trust and Children in Crisis. In 2018, Children in Crisis merged with Street Child, a children's charity active in multiple countries, with Eugenie still serving as an ambassador.

Eugenie and her sister represented their father at a service of thanksgiving for her aunt, Diana, Princess of Wales, in 2007. In 2008, she performed her first solo public engagement, opening a Teenage Cancer Trust's unit for young cancer patients in Leeds.

On 2 June 2011, Eugenie visited the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) with her father as one of her first official engagements. In April 2012 she agreed to be patron for the hospital's Redevelopment Appeal, which was her first patronage. In 2014, Eugenie re-opened the children's unit at the RNOH. In 2014, she partnered with Daisy London Jewellery to create a limited edition charity bracelet to benefit the RNOH's Appeal. Eugenie became patron of the RNOH Charity in March 2019. In the same year she was named patron of Horatio's Garden, a charity that creates gardens for patients in NHS spinal injury centres.

In January 2013, Eugenie and her sister promoted Britain overseas in Germany. In 2016, Eugenie, along with her mother and sister, collaborated with British contemporary artist Teddy McDonald. The painting on canvas, titled Royal Love, was painted at Royal Lodge and exhibited in London prior to being sold with all proceeds from the sale of the painting donated by McDonald to the charity Children in Crisis. Eugenie and her sister became Patrons of the Teenage Cancer Trust in June 2016. She is also Patron of the Coronet Theatre, the European School of Osteopathy, the Tate Young Patrons and, alongside her mother, the Elephant Family, of which her uncle and aunt, the King and Queen, are joint presidents. In 2016, Eugenie visited a safe house run by The Salvation Army and met with victims of sexual abuse and modern slavery.

In 2017, Eugenie became the ambassador for the Artemis Council of the New Museum, a by-invitation membership initiative focused solely on supporting female artists. Eugenie also became an ambassador of Project 0 in 2018, a charity which in partnership with Sky Ocean Rescue, focuses on protecting the ocean from plastic pollution. In July 2018, in her capacity as co-founder and director of the Anti-Slavery Collective, Eugenie spoke at the NEXUS Global Summit at the UN headquarters in New York to discuss ending modern slavery. She and Julia de Boinville founded the collective in 2017 after a trip to Kolkata in 2012, where they first became familiar with the subject. In September 2018, she travelled to Serbia to visit ASTRA and ATINA, two grantees of the UN Trust Fund which fight against the issues of human trafficking and violence against women. In August 2019, it was announced that she would launch a podcast, the first member of the royal family to do so. Together with Julia de Boinville, co-founder of the Anti-Slavery Collective, they highlighted and discussed issues related to modern slavery. The first episode of the podcast, titled Floodlight, was released in April 2022. In July 2019, Princess Eugenie, with the help of the University of Hull's Wilberforce Institute, hosted an event at Westminster Abbey to understand the scale of the plight of modern slavery. In October 2019, Eugenie became patron of Anti-Slavery International. In April 2019, Eugenie accompanied her grandmother to the Royal Maundy service at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

In May 2020, it was revealed that Eugenie and her husband were helping The Salvation Army with packing foods amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2020, Eugenie became patron of the Scoliosis Association UK. In June 2021, Princess Eugenie became an ambassador for the Blue Marine Foundation, and met with environmentalists at Somerset House. In October 2021, Princess Eugenie visited The Salvation Army's outreach hub as part of her work with the Anti-Slavery Collective. She took part in an art therapy class alongside modern slavery survivors. In June 2022, Eugenie launched the Ocean Advocate Series, which features conversations with ocean advocates and experts on how to preserve the seas and the environment.

On 17 September 2022, during the period of official mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, Eugenie joined her sister and six cousins to mount a 15-minute vigil around the coffin of the late Queen, as it lay in state at Westminster Hall. On 19 September, she joined other family members at the state funeral.

Titles and styles
As a male-line grandchild of the sovereign, Eugenie was known as "Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie of York", with the territorial designation coming from her father's title, Duke of York. Since her marriage, she has been styled "Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank" in the Court Circular.

title: Princess Eugenie


text:
James Scullin

James Henry Scullin (18 September 1876 – 28 January 1953) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the ninth prime minister of Australia from 1929 to 1932. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), having briefly served as treasurer of Australia during his time in office from 1930 to 1931. His time in office was primarily categorised by the Wall Street Crash of 1929 which transpired just two days after his swearing in, thus heralding the beginning of the Great Depression in Australia. Scullin remained a leading figure in the Labor movement throughout his lifetime, and was an éminence grise in various capacities for the party until his retirement from federal parliament in 1949. He was the first Catholic, as well as the first Irish-Australian, to serve as prime minister.

The son of working-class Irish-immigrants, Scullin spent much of his early life as a laborer and grocer in Ballarat. An autodidact and passionate debater, Scullin made the most of Ballarat's facilities – the public library and South Street Debating Society. He joined the Australian Labor Party in 1903, beginning a career spanning five decades. He was a political organizer and newspaper editor for the party, and was elected to the Australian House of Representatives first in 1910 and then again in 1922 until 1949. Scullin quickly established himself as a leading voice in parliament, rapidly rising to become deputy leader of the party in 1927 and then Leader of the Opposition in 1928.

After Scullin won a landslide election in 1929, events took a dramatic change with the crisis on Wall Street and the rapid onset of the Great Depression around the world, which hit heavily indebted Australia hard. Scullin and his Treasurer Ted Theodore responded by developing several plans during 1930 and 1931 to repay foreign debt, provide relief to farmers and create economic stimulus to curb unemployment based on deficit spending and expansionary monetary policy. Although the Keynesian Revolution would see these ideas adopted by most Western nations by the end of the decade, in 1931 such ideas were considered radical and the plans were bitterly opposed by many who feared hyperinflation and economic ruin. The still opposition-dominated Australian Senate, and the conservative-dominated boards of the Commonwealth Bank and Loan Council, repeatedly blocked the plans.

With the prospect of bankruptcy facing the government, Scullin backed down and instead advanced the Premiers' Plan, a far more conservative measure that met the crisis with severe cutbacks in government spending. Pensioners and other core Labor constituencies were severely affected by the cuts, leading to a widespread revolt and multiple defections in parliament. After several months of infighting the government collapsed, and was resoundingly defeated by the newly formed United Australia Party at the subsequent 1931 election.

Scullin would remain party leader for four more years, losing the 1934 election but the party split would not be healed until after Scullin's return to the backbenches in 1935. Scullin became a respected elder voice within the party and leading authority on taxation and government finance, and would eventually play a significant role in reforming both when Labor returned to government in 1941. Although disappointed with his own term of office, he nonetheless lived long enough to see many of his government's ideas implemented by subsequent governments before his death in 1953.

Early life
Scullin was born in Trawalla, Victoria on 18 September 1876. His parents, John and Ann (née Logan) Scullin, were both Irish Catholics from County Londonderry. His father was a railway labourer, who emigrated to Australia in his 20s. His mother joined her husband in Australia later. James was the fourth of eight children, and grew up in a tight-knit and devoutly Catholic home. James attended the Trawalla State School from 1881 to 1887 and earned an early reputation as an active and quick-witted boy, though never physically robust. These characteristics would remain with him for life.

The family moved to Mount Rowan, Ballarat, in 1887, and the young James attended school at Mount Rowan State School until 12. Thereafter he held various manual odd-jobs in the Ballarat district until about 1900, and for ten years from 1900 he ran a grocer's shop in Ballarat. In his mid-20s he attended night school, was a voracious reader and became somewhat of an autodidact. He joined a number of societies and was active in the Australian Natives' Association and the Catholic Young Men's Society, eventually becoming president of the latter. He was also a skilled debater, participating in local competitions and having an association with the Ballarat South Street debating society for nearly 30 years, which would prove formative to his interest and talent in politics. Scullin was a devout Roman Catholic, a non-drinker and a non-smoker all his life.

Scullin became active in politics during his years in Ballarat, being influenced by the ideas of Tom Mann and the growing labour movement in Victoria, as were many of his later ministerial colleagues such as Frank Anstey, John Curtin and Frank Brennan. He became a foundation member of his local Political Labor Council in 1903 and was active in local politics thereafter. He was a campaigner and political organizer for the Australian Workers' Union, the union movement with which he would remain most closely associated throughout his career. He spoke often around Ballarat on political issues and helped with Labor campaigns at state and federal level. At the 1906 federal election he was selected as the Labor candidate for the Division of Ballaarat against then Prime Minister Alfred Deakin. Although a race in which Labor had virtually no chance of winning, Scullin ran a spirited campaign and impressed those within the movement for his efforts.

On 11 November 1907 he married Sarah Maria McNamara, a dressmaker from Ballarat. The marriage was childless. Due to Scullin's frequent and often serious bouts of illness over his long career, Sarah served the role as her husband's protector and was a crucial source of support and care for her husband, particularly in his final years. She was frequently called to assist or stand in for her husband at social occasions when her husband's illness prevented him from attending personally. She was an active member of the Labor Party herself, and would remain well-informed on politics. Very unusually among Australian political spouses (and even more so during the period of her husband's career), Sarah would often attend parliamentary sessions, and would even be present during the debate and vote that brought her husband's government down.

Political career
In 1910 Scullin won his first election as the Labor candidate in Corangamite, in a year when Labor's Andrew Fisher surged in the polls and formed Australia's first majority government. Scullin had done much to personally build the grass-roots organisation of the Labor movement in this seat in the years prior to the election, although its rural character meant it was not considered a seat naturally sympathetic to Labor. His campaign focused on increasing the powers of the Federal parliament and issues such as defending a white Australia, higher import duties and the introduction of a land tax. In federal parliament, Scullin quickly earned a reputation as an impressive and formidable parliamentary debater. He spoke on a wide range of issues over the three years of his term, but concentrated especially on matters relating to taxation and the powers of the Commonwealth, both of which would become signature issues for Scullin throughout his career. By the end of his first year in parliament he had a reputation as "one of the most ardent land-taxers in the Labor party" and had spoken frequently on breaking up "the land monopoly which has for so many years retarded the growth of this young country." Scullin enthusiastically supported Fisher's referendum questions in expand Commonwealth power over in 1911 and again in 1913, though in both cases all amendment proposals were rejected by comfortable majorities. Although he was well regarded in his district and hard-working and ardent, it was not enough to shield him from Joseph Cook's resurgent and now united Commonwealth Liberal Party in the election of 1913, and Scullin suffered the fate of many Labor members in rural districts at that year's election. He tried and failed to reacquire the seat at the 1918 Corangamite by-election.

After defeat Scullin was appointed as editor of the Evening Echo, a daily newspaper owned by the Australian Workers Union in Ballarat. He would hold this position for the next nine years, which solidified his position within the Victorian Labor movement and made him an influential voice within its ranks, being elected president of the Victorian state branch of Labor in 1918. He and his paper became leading voices against conscription in Victoria during World War I, and a forceful intellectual contributor to the party during the Billy Hughes years. At the special Labor conference on conscription in 1916, Scullin moved for the expulsion of the conscriptionists, including Prime Minister Hughes and former prime minister Chris Watson. During these years Scullin earned a reputation as a socialist on the left-wing of the party and had radicalised in some of his opinions, particularly his sentiments against imperial domination from London. Scullin was fiercely patriotic and critical of the war, particularly Britain's leadership of the dominions within it. In the early 1920s Scullin was prominent in the push for the party to adopt economic socialisation policies as part of its platform.

The death of federal Labor leader Frank Tudor left a vacancy in the very safe urban seat of the Division of Yarra in Melbourne. Scullin handily won Labor preselection over several other candidates, and in February 1922 he took the seat at the ensuing 1922 Yarra by-election with more than three-quarters of the vote. With his win, he and his family relocated to Richmond, away from his long-time home of Ballarat, and to an electorate completely different in character to his earlier seat of Corangamite. However his new proximity to the Federal parliament (still located in Melbourne) and representation of a safe seat afforded many more political opportunities and freedoms, and soon Scullin was a prominent figure on the Labor campaign trail and appearing at events around the country. In these years Scullin's renown increased considerably within the party and the nation at large. He became one of the leading lights of the parliamentary opposition, and was quickly elevated to the Australian Labor Party National Executive in February 1923.

During his years as an opposition backbencher, Scullin spoke frequently and passionately. He was an able debater and parliamentary performer, but also carved out a niche as a leading voice on several issues, particularly taxation and economic policy. Some of Scullin's charges on land-tax avoidance by wealthy pastoralists were so damning that the Bruce government called a Royal Commission specifically to investigate his claims. Scullin's competence on financial matters proved useful to the government as well, and several of his suggestions from the opposition bench made their way into government legislation. In March 1927 Scullin became the parliamentary ALP's deputy leader.

Leader of the Opposition
As Deputy Leader, Scullin excelled in taking the case to the government. Throughout 1927 Scullin earned particular acclaim in keeping the ageing Bruce government to account on economic and financial matters. A series of speeches by Scullin that year on the Government's mishandling of the economy, and the generally dangerous trajectory of Commonwealth financial policy, predicted catastrophe. He accused the government of spending too much, borrowing too much from overseas sources, and not rectifying a worrying excess of imports over exports: a three-part recipe for disaster. This alarming analysis of the Australian economy would prove to be correct within three years, however relatively few paid attention to Scullin's warning at the time, nor the prescient 1927 volume The Boom of 1890 – And Now by E.O.G. Shann, on which Scullin based many of his arguments.

In March 1928, Matthew Charlton resigned as federal Labor leader and was replaced by Scullin in a unanimous motion, although some had their eye on newcomer Ted Theodore as a more promising replacement. The ensuing contest over the position of Deputy Leader saw Theodore denied once again in a close vote, foreshadowing some of the future controversy he would stir up within the party under Scullin.

Scullin led Labor at the 1928 election. He visited widely around the country, and made especial focus on Western Australia, Tasmania and Queensland – states where the Labor party's fortunes had greatly declined in previous years. Scullin was well received and made ground in these areas, as well as in rural districts to counteract the increasingly urban nature of Labor. Labor managed to take eight seats, significantly reducing the Coalition's previously large majority. This was due to a swing against the government rather than a swing towards Labor, but was still enough to put Labor within striking distance of winning the next election. Although Labor came up well short of forming government, the campaign was viewed as a success and Scullin's reputation remained intact as leader.

1929 was dogged by industrial disputes, the worst of which occurred within the waterfront, timber and coalmining sectors. The Bruce government struggled to manage these episodes – its proposal by referendum for greater Commonwealth industrial powers had been rejected in 1926. After months of deadlock and protests over decisions of the Federal Arbitration Court, Bruce reversed course entirely by proposing that the Commonwealth dismantle federal arbitration and hand industrial matters back entirely to the states. The proposal was a radical departure from one of the pillars of the so-called "Australian settlement", and several MPs, led by former PM Billy Hughes, ultimately voted against the government and forced Bruce to seek an additional mandate from the people, at the 1929 election. Crucially, it would be a House-only election as the 1925 Senate term had not expired. Just 9 months after the previous campaign, Australia was in campaign mode once more. Amidst a background of industrial strife and heavy handed government proposals to deal with it, Scullin, who preached conciliation and negotiation between the parties, seemed the moderate choice, despite the more radical stances otherwise held by Labor. Fighting on their home territory and in favour of what was a still popular status-quo in industrial relations law, Scullin and Labor romped home in the polls, winning 46 seats in the 75 seat chamber, the most they had ever won at the time. Labor even managed to oust Bruce in his own seat. The party was jubilant and Scullin enthusiastically accepted commission to become Prime Minister. He was to be Australia's first Catholic prime minister.

Prime Minister
Scullin came to Canberra amid rapturous applause from his supporters and the largest majority that Labor had ever won at the time. However, the party had many diverse interests and factions within it, ranging from metropolitan socialist radicals to rural professional politicians. The Scullin government immediately rolled back several of the Bruce government's measures deemed to be anti-labor – including changes made to industrial arbitration and competition, and the immediate abolition of compulsory military training. Scullin also chose not to take residence in The Lodge, which had only been completed two years prior, citing its unnecessary extravagance and cost to the taxpayer. In 1929, the Scullin government established the Canberra University College.

But the government's attention would soon shift to the economy. On the very day Scullin arrived in Canberra after the 1929 election, The Sydney Morning Herald announced large losses on Wall Street. On 24 October, two days after Scullin's cabinet was sworn in, news of Black Thursday reached Australia and the government. The effect these developments would have on the Australian economy were not yet known, as economic conditions were already agreed to be poor, but the portents of future disaster were there. Three of the last four Commonwealth budgets had been in substantial arrears funded by overseas borrowing, and the value of Australian debt had been steadily declining in foreign markets. Sluggish years for the agricultural and manufacturing sectors were compounding the problem, but the most worrying statistic was unemployment, which was just over 13% at the end of 1929. A further problem was the decline in Australian trade. Price for wool and wheat – Australia's two principal exports – had fallen by almost a third during 1929. With debts rising and the ability to repay diminishing, Australia was faced with a seriously troubled financial outlook when Scullin took office.

Scullin's government faced significant limitations on its power to implement its response to the economic crisis. There had been no half-Senate election in 1929, meaning that the Nationalist majority elected at the 1928 election was still in place. The conservative Senate proved hostile to much of Labor's economic program. Scullin also had to contend with a financial establishment in Australia (most notably Commonwealth Bank Board chairman Sir Robert Gibson) and in the United Kingdom (such as Bank of England representative Sir Otto Niemeyer) that was firmly opposed to any deviation from orthodox economics in responding to the Great Depression. On the contrary, there was much disagreement with Scullin's parliamentary party as to how to respond to the crisis, and a great many were sympathetic to the then radical ideas of inflationary finance and other proto-Keynesian approaches. Furthermore, Scullin and his Treasurer Ted Theodore were vehemently opposed to suggestions from the Opposition and Commonwealth Bank to reduce the deficit by cutting Federal welfare emoluments. Thus began two-years of clashes between the government and its opponents, which would prove to be some of the most turbulent in Australian political history.

Crisis and deadlock
Ongoing industrial disputes on the coalfields of the Hunter Valley and Newcastle dragged on throughout Scullin's government, the Commonwealth lacking the power to coerce a solution and numerous negotiations between owners and workers collapsed. As a Labor Prime Minister, expectations ran high that Scullin would force the mine owners to submit to worker demands. Scullin was sympathetic, but refused to go beyond negotiations and inducements to end the disputes. Many within the New South Wales Labor branch were infuriated and felt they had been betrayed, catalysing a beginning of a separation between the state branch (led by fiery demagogue Jack Lang) and the federal party led by Scullin.

Heavily indebted and with conditions worsening, Scullin and Theodore took many novel steps in an attempt to turn the economy around. Appeals were made, both to the Australian public and on overseas markets, to bolster confidence and boost government bond subscriptions. A "Grow More Wheat" campaign was launched in 1930 to encourage farmers to plant a record crop and attempt to improve Australia's serious trade deficit, although ultimately Scullin was unsuccessful in convincing the Senate or the Commonwealth Bank to support this program through price guarantees. At the same time unemployment had hit a record high of 14.6% in the March quarter of 1930. Scullin's election promise of unemployment insurance was discussed in this period, but with dire predictions for government finance the promise was continually stalled. Scullin made major proposals to change the constitutional amendment process; expand Commonwealth powers over commerce, trade and industry; and to break apart the Commonwealth Bank to separate out its reserve bank and trading bank functions. The Senate blocked them all, or made amendments which rendered them unrecognisable. A double dissolution was threatened, though for various reasons both practical and political, Scullin never took this step. In June 1930 the government suffered a heavy loss when Theodore was forced to resign after he was criticised by a Royal Commission enquiring into a scandal known as the Mungana affair, claims of corrupt deals dating back to Theodore's time as Premier of Queensland. Scullin took over the Treasury portfolio in the interim while Theodore went to Queensland to face charges, and was compelled to bring down the 1930 budget personally.

Tarred with the political scandal, the budget, which raised taxes, cut spending and still did not deliver a surplus, was very unpopular with all sections of the community. What is more, the budget proved overly optimistic as Australian revenues continued to plunge and the deficit rose. By August 1930, crisis meetings were held in which Sir Robert Gibson and Sir Otto Niemeyer were demanding further economies in Commonwealth spending. Niemeyer, a representative of the Bank of England, had arrived in Australia to inspect financial conditions on behalf of creditors and had a grim report – that "Australian credit is at a low ebb...lower than that of any of the other dominions" and that without drastic steps default and financial collapse was assured. Gibson agreed, and as Chairman of the Commonwealth Bank Board had the power to deny the Australian government loans to finance the budget unless more cuts were made by both the national and state governments. After meeting with Scullin and state premiers, the 'Melbourne Agreement' was reluctantly struck in which further major spending cuts were agreed to, although opposed by a significant minority of Scullin's party.

In the heat of this crisis, matters were made worse still by Scullin's decision to travel to London to seek an emergency loan and to attend the Imperial Conference. While in London, Scullin succeeded in gaining loans for Australia at reduced interest. He also succeeded in having King George V appoint Sir Isaac Isaacs as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia, despite the King's personal opposition and the strong objections of both the British establishment and the conservative opposition in Australia, who attacked the appointment as tantamount to republicanism. However a leadership vacuum was left behind, with Scullin out of the country for the whole second half of 1930, James Fenton (as acting Prime Minister) and Joseph Lyons (as acting Treasurer) were left in charge. They insisted on pursuing deflationary policies and orthodox solutions to degrading Commonwealth budgetary position, arousing great opposition in the Labor caucus. In regular contact with Fenton and Lyons in London through the awkward means of cables, Scullin felt he had no choice but to agree to the recommendations of economic advisers, supported by Lyons and Fenton, that government spending be heavily cut, despite the suffering this caused and the disillusionment of the Labor party's base, whom were most affected by these cuts. Party unity began to crumble, and the gulf between the moderate and radical wings of the party began to grow.

Internal divisions and the Theodore Plan
Returning to Australia in 1931, Scullin was faced with a party now deeply divided over how to respond to the Depression. Jack Lang had won election as Premier of New South Wales and had become a leading alternative voice within Labor, advocating radical measures including repudiation of interest on debts to Britain and printing money to pay for public works programs to relieve unemployment and inflate the currency. The NSW contingent in Federal parliament was sympathetic to Lang's views and had become disillusioned with Scullin's leadership and his compromises with conservative interests. At the first meeting of cabinet upon his return, Scullin made things worse by reappointing Theodore as treasurer, despite his name not having been yet cleared over the Mungana Affair. Although arguably Theodore was the most competent man available to implement Scullin's economic program, Lyons and Fenton (as well as several others) were strongly opposed and resigned from the cabinet in protest. Making matters worse, Theodore had become a fierce personal rival of Lang within the New South Wales branch, and his return as treasurer further isolated radical elements of the party. At the same time, the economy had continued to decline and unemployment had soared, with most of the government measures designed to combat the crisis still in limbo due to opposition either from the Senate or refusal of funding by the Commonwealth Bank.

In February Scullin and Theodore presented a comprehensive plan at a conference of the state premiers that attempted to straddle both orthodox and radical approaches. While maintaining heavy budgetary cuts, it also planned to provide economic stimulus to help the unemployed and farmers, as well as repaying short-term debts and overdrafts held by British banks. This would require substantial further funds to be advanced by the Commonwealth Bank, however Gibson soon made it clear he would not do so unless significant cuts to social spending (particularly pensions) was also implemented. Scullin refused, instead planning to pay for the plan through the expanding the note issue. This 'Theodore Plan' was approved by narrow majorities of the state premiers and then the parliamentary party. However, Jack Lang rejected the plan, stating instead that Australia should default on its British debts until more equitable repayment terms were agreed to. Lyons and the conservatives within the party were horrified, as were the Opposition, seeing note issue as a sure path to hyperinflation and complete economic ruin.

In March matters came to a head. The 1931 East Sydney by-election saw Eddie Ward elected on a specifically pro-Lang platform, and the bitter campaign within the seat saw federal Labor and NSW Labor mutually expel each other from the party. Scullin and the Federal party refused to admit Ward to the caucus, and subsequently Jack Beasley led five others out of the party room to sit on the cross-benches as "Lang Labor". With chaos in Labor ranks and parliament facing a highly controversial plan for economic rehabilitation, the Opposition presented a motion of no confidence. Lyons, Fenton and four others on the conservative wing resigned from Labor and crossed over to the opposition benches. Scullin was reduced to a minority government of just 35 members, depending on the Lang faction to stay in power. Having built a large and popular following among the public, Lyons and his ex-Labor followers joined the Nationalists and the erstwhile followers of Hughes in United Australia Party, with Lyons becoming the new Leader of the Opposition. With a possible default by the Commonwealth looming in June, Scullin's minority government attempted to push through the Theodore Plan. Although under pressure given the prospect of bankruptcy, the Senate and Gibson did not relent, and nearly all the bills needed to implement the Theodore Plan were rejected. Nationwide opinion was divided on the government plan, however many were extremely concerned about the prospect of excessive inflation should the government start printing money to pay its bills.

Premiers' Plan and downfall
Now May, with unemployment at 27.6% widespread suffering across much of the population, Scullin called another conference of the state premiers to try and forge a new deal, now resigned to the fact that compromise with the Opposition was inevitable if any plan could be implemented. A new orthodox plan calling for 20% reductions in spending across the board for all governments was struck, and such cuts to also apply to social welfare spending. Combined with a mass loan conversion that would reduce the interest rates paid on government bonds by 22.5%, Australia now had a consensus as to how to reduce the annual deficit from some £41.08m to £14.65m. Although he had finally secured parliamentary and state approval for a plan, Scullin now faced a revolt from his own party. Cuts to pensions and the poor were particularly hard for Scullin, and many core Labor supporters felt deeply betrayed by this compromise of society's most vulnerable groups. Scullin ardently defend the program, but Lang's influence as an alternative opinion leader of Labor was growing, now with state branches in Victoria and South Australia rebelling against the Premiers' Plan.

Traumatic as it was, the government finally now was implementing an economic plan, and things began to improve. Domestic confidence, and confidence in the British loan market, began to recover and default was averted. Voluntary acceptance of lower bond rates on government debt had been extremely successful in a patriotic campaign, wool and wheat prices finally began to rise, and government finances at both Commonwealth and state level were largely under control by October. But with unemployment still rising (it would not peak until 1932), Scullin still faced disillusionment from many within his party, and further gains in ground by Lang. Lang felt threatened by the apparent success of the Premier's Plan though, and renewed talks of unity between the factions had appeared with the improvement of economic conditions. Lang Labor subsequently forced a showdown with the Scullin government in November. With allegations arising that Theodore had abused his position as treasurer to buy support in New South Wales away from the Lang faction, Beasley and his followers called for a royal commission into the charges. Scullin refused. To the surprise of many observers, the Beasley group crossed the floor to join the Opposition, thereby defeating the government. A snap poll, the 1931 election, was called. Scullin for the first time in Australian politics made heavy use of the radio to reach voters. The campaign was one of the shortest in history, but with open warfare between pro-Lang and pro-Scullin forces in Victoria and New South Wales, and much of the country still facing hardship and grievances against the government, a Labor defeat was virtually assured. Labor was defeated in a massive landslide. The official Labor Party was reduced to a mere 14 seats (Lang Labor won another 4), and Lyons became Prime Minister. However, Scullin was not held responsible for the debacle and stayed on as Labor leader. To date, it is the last time that a sitting Australian government has been defeated after a single term.

Later career
The heavy task of leading the country through the brunt of the depression, beset as he was by many enemies and few friends, left deep marks on Scullin's character. As one Country Party parliamentarian observed, "the great burden that was imposed upon him then almost killed him". Scullin won much praise for his performance as Opposition Leader, as he had before coming Prime Minister. His grasp of economic and trade matters was still formidable, and on several matters he succeeded in forcing changes to government policy or banding with the Country Party to force amendments to government legislation. However failure to reunite the party and dislodge Lang as the alternative voice of the party failed in the lead-up to the 1934 election left the party at a distinct disadvantage. Ultimately, Scullin and his Commonwealth supporters' implementation of the Premiers' Plan was too much of a betrayal for many to accept, and opposing Lang and Scullin Labor factions continued to plague NSW and Victorian state politics for years. The election proved to be a dispiriting defeat for Scullin. Despite an admirable and vigorous term as opposition leader, Scullin's Labor gained just four seats and actually suffered a small swing against it, with Labor and the UAP losing ground to Lang Labor, which gained 5 seats on a swing of almost 4%.

Scullin markedly declined in vigor for his role as Opposition Leader after he was reconfirmed in it after the 1934 election. Tired of the infighting, he took little part in the renewed conciliation talks between the opposition party wings, which in the event failed to resolve the now entrenched divide between Lang and anti-Lang forces. Scullin at many points had stated his resolve to remain leader until such time that he could be sure he would not be succeeded by Lang forces at the federal level, but fate intervened and Scullin's health, always middling, declined significantly in 1935. Bedridden several times, Scullin tendered his resignation on 23 September 1935, citing a physical inability to continue as leader. By the time of Scullin's resignation Australia's economy had recovered significantly and business confidence had returned to a large extent. The belligerent actions of Japan in China, and then Germany in Europe, began to overtake the economy as the predominant concern of Australian politics. James Scullin was succeeded by John Curtin, who proved a necessary salve to Labor wounds. Under Curtin's leadership, most of the Lang Labor faction returned to the mainline Labor fold, though Lang and some supporters remained obdurate. During these years Scullin was far quieter in the backbenches, only occasionally taking an active role in parliament, though still an active local member in his seat of Yarra. He was a passionate advocate for Australian arts, and with the Fellowship of Australian Writers, was responsible for a dramatic boost to the Commonwealth Literary Fund's budget in 1939.

Curtin became Prime Minister in 1941 after two independents joined Labor in voting down the government's budget. Curtin came to rely on Scullin greatly for his counsel. Scullin took no portfolio nor played any part in military strategy or much of the overall war effort, except where finance was concerned. However, he was given the office between Curtin and Treasurer Ben Chifley's, and his advice would have significant bearing upon the policy and political tactics of the Curtin government. Scullin was a leading voice in caucus in support of the new PM, urging it to give Curtin the powers to run his own government without the caucus interference Scullin himself had so frequently fallen afoul of a decade earlier. To Scullin's delight, rafts of social and economic policies, so long out of reach for Labor governments, finally became law during the wartime government. Scullin continued to be a leading voice in the movement in favour of further social welfare plans and was influential within the party in the nature and direction these took. Another of Scullin's long held ambitions – eradication of the Federal structure in favour of a unified state – was advanced when he was appointed as one of three on a committee to recommend means of implementing uniform taxation. That committee soon proposed eliminating state governments' ability to levy income tax, a proposal which Curtin accepted and greatly weakened the Federal system by making states fiscally dependent on the Commonwealth. Scullin's committee work shone out again in 1944, where he led the charge to change the tax code to operate on a pay-as-you-go basis, which was accepted and implemented by the Curtin government.

Ill-health continued to return in bouts, but Scullin remained active if subdued in parliament after Curtin's death and Chifley's succession in 1945. He continued to be influential in fiscal and taxation matters, and the impact of his experience was still occasionally felt in Chifley-era legislation. However his health declined significantly in 1947, and he did not appear in parliament again after June of that year, announcing he would retire at the 1949 election.

Death and funeral
Scullin was frequently bedridden in these last 18 months, and unable to attend many gatherings. His condition deteriorated further after retirement, suffering cardio-renal failure in 1951 and becoming almost permanently bedridden and under the care of his wife.

Scullin died in his sleep on 28 January 1953 in Hawthorn, Melbourne from complications arising from pulmonary edema. He was accorded a state funeral in St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne with a Requiem Mass presided over by Archbishop Daniel Mannix. He was buried in the Catholic section of Melbourne General Cemetery. Over his grave the federal Labor executive and the ACTU erected a monument on behalf of the Labor movement of Australia. The inscription reads: "Justice and humanity demand interference whenever the weak are being crushed by the strong." Scullin's wife, Sarah, was interred with him in 1962. Labor stalwarts Arthur Calwell, Esmond Kiernan, Herbert Cremean and Edward Grayndler are all buried adjacent to the Scullin plot.

Legacy
Scullin had defended his record in government throughout his later career, and took pride in having been Prime Minister in times which might have broken a lesser figure. However he lived long enough to see many of his economic ideas vindicated by history, particularly inflationary financing, which was quite radical by the standards of his times but an accepted pillar of Keynesian economics adopted by Australia and most other Western governments in the late 1930s and 1940s. Indeed, John Maynard Keynes himself would state of Scullin's Premier's Plan which caused him so much woe and electoral unpopularity that it "saved the economic structure of Australia". The Economist admitted after the 1931 election that Scullin "had already done much to place Australia on the high road to recovery".

Several measures which had been proposed and defeated by the UAP opposition (particularly on gold shipments for loan repayments) were subsequently reintroduced and passed by the UAP once in government, giving Scullin some satisfaction. Furthermore, Scullin consoled himself with the fact that the Depression destroyed most of the political careers of those who occupied government through it – only one Australian premier won re-election from 1927 to 1935, and Scullin's foreign contemporaries Herbert Hoover (in the United States of America), Ramsay MacDonald (United Kingdom), Richard Bennett (Canada) and George Forbes (New Zealand) all suffered similarly devastating elections in the wake of the depression. In 1951, 114 manufacturers in Melbourne donated to a fund for Scullin's retirement. Having not forgotten his advocacy of tariffs during their height of unpopularity in the depression, several companies went as far to state that Scullin's efforts had "commenced a new era in the secondary industry field in Australia" and that the success of Australia's wartime industry was due to Scullin's protection of industry during its most vulnerable period a decade earlier.

Scullin's years following his term of government also proved fruitful – he exerted a surprising amount of influence over government policy as Opposition Leader. Scullin was for decades the foremost expert in the Australian parliament on taxation and a variety of other fiscal matters, a fact which rendered his advice very influential within the Curtin government and many of his ideas, having been denied during his own term of government, would eventually be enshrined in the wave of sweeping reforms made by the Curtin/Chifley governments. Scullin was a well-respected figure in politics. Although the target of much bile and disagreement over his policies, he was personally extremely well regarded and had a reputation as a fearless and stoic leader of great personal integrity and fortitude. His resignation as leader in 1935 caused even longtime critic Jack Beasley to admit that Scullin was "a fearless fighter in the exposition of what he believes to be the right course".

Scullin, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra, is named after him, as is the Division of Scullin, a House of Representatives electorate. The Scullin monolith in Antarctica was also named in his honour.

title: James Scullin