Walter Nash, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Walter Nash

New Zealand politician

Date of Birth: 12-Feb-1882

Place of Birth: Kidderminster, England, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 04-Jun-1968

Profession: politician, diplomat

Nationality: New Zealand

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Sir Walter Nash (12 February 1882 – 4 June 1968) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 27th Prime Minister of New Zealand in the Second Labour Government from 1957 to 1960.
He is noted for his long period of political service, having been associated with the New Zealand Labour Party since its creation. Nash was born in Kidderminster, England, and is the most recent New Zealand prime minister to be born outside the country.
He arrived in New Zealand in 1909, soon joined the original Labour Party, and became a member of the party's executive in 1919.
Nash was elected to Parliament in the Hutt by-election of 1929.
He was from the moderate wing of the Labour Party.
Appointed as Minister of Finance in 1935, Nash guided the First Labour Government's economic recovery programme during the Great Depression and then directed the government's wartime controls.
He succeeded Peter Fraser as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of Opposition in 1951. In the 1957 election, the Labour Party won a narrow victory and Nash became Prime Minister.
The Second Labour Government's "Black Budget" of 1958, in response to a balance of payments crisis, increased taxes on luxuries such as beer and tobacco.
Public hostility toward the budget contributed to Labour's heavy defeat in the 1960 election.
Leaving office at 78 years of age, Nash is to date New Zealand's most elderly prime minister.