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David Lowe (Australian Policy and History): Trump tumult and the Australian-American alliance in historical perspective The Trump phenomenon has caused many governments to think hard about the nature of their relationships with the United States. In the case of Australia, amidst the shock and confusion, it may even trigger the sort of questioning of the ANZUS Security Pact (1951) that historians have thus far been unable to stir. To date, ANZUS and the oft-recalled memory of 1 million American soldiers passing through Australia in the Second World War, have constituted mnemonic foundation stones for thinking about the intertwining of American and Australian security. But just as the numbers of US war veterans have rapidly dwindled, so too does ANZUS suddenly look fragile. While it would be rash to say recent events have opened up a new space for historians in public conversation – such has been the continuing bipartisanship on the virtues of the American alliance – they have invited greater reflection. I suggest that historical perspective has much to offer at this time. Through analysis of Australian foreign policy-making and Australian-US relations at different times since the creation of ANZUS, I venture that, far from a stable ‘insurance policy’, the security pact has often shifted ground for Australian leaders. This has produced both anxiety and opportunity. The imprecision in the Australian-US security relationship has encouraged Prime Ministers to narrate its importance in ways that strengthened their leadership. The arrival of Trump might break an executive hold on the story, and enable a healthier sense of historical perspective that informs policy thinking about next steps in the relationship. David Lowe is Chair in Contemporary History at Deakin University and co-founder of the Australian Policy and History Network. He has published widely on Australia in world affairs and modern international history, including the recent book with Carola Lentz, Remembering Independence (Routledge, 2018) and the edited book The Unfinished Atomic Bomb: Shadows and Reflections (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018) with Cassandra Atherton and Alyson Miller. He is currently working on three projects: histories of Australian overseas diplomatic posts; a history of Australia’s foreign aid program; and an international history of the Colombo Plan for aid to South and Southeast Asia.