Nash, Walter

Nash, Walter

 

Born Feb. 12, 1882, in Kidderminster, England; died June 4, 1968, in Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealand politician and statesman.

Nash moved to New Zealand in 1909. From 1919 to 1937 and from 1950 he was a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party and from 1950 to 1963 the leader of the New Zealand Labour Party. Nash was the party’s chief theoretician. In 1935 he formulated a program to establish a welfare state in New Zealand. A member of parliament from 1929, Nash held several ministerial posts in Labour governments from 1935 to 1949 and was deputy prime minister from 1940 to 1949. He was prime minister of New Zealand from 1957 to 1960. [18–498–2; updated]