Gough Whitlam was elected to power in 1972 following a fiery election campaign. The election was like know other. Whitlam managed his campaign in a way that made the majority of Australians warm to his unique style of political salesmanship. The election of the Whitlam government was a turning point in politics as the victory signalled a dramatic change to the political arena. Whitlam had a new vision for Australia that appealed to the Australian people. He was a charismatic man who possessed strong leadership characteristics, and maintained the opinion in his campaign that he was born to govern. However, Whitlam's victory was twenty-three years in the making. The Labor party had long been divided by party politics and lacked the strong leaders it needed to achieve power. The spoiling tactics of the DLP played a role in the unsuccessful attempts to gain power. Long standing Prime Minister, Robert Menzies and his successors possessed total dominance of the political environment during the 1950's to the 1970's. The new Labor government elected in 1972 revitalised the party as Labor had new visions for Australia. Whitlam saw himself as an alternative to conservative politics because unlike his predecessors he wanted to revolutionize Australia's politics to make them modern and less predictable. However, Labor did have a minority in the Senate that made legislation difficult to pass. The government was also embarrassed by scandals within the Caucus. As a consequence of these problems the Governor General, Sir John Kerr dismissed the Whitlam government on the 11th of November 1975. This would become one of the most significant events in Australia's political history. Gough Whitlam was elected to power in 1972 following a fiery election campaign. The election was like know other. Whitlam managed his campaign in a way that made the majority of Australians warm to his unique style of political salesmanship. The electio...