The Honorable Robert James Lee Hawke (born 1929) was first elected as a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives in 1980. After becoming prime minister in 1983, he led the Labor Party government to reelection four times through 1990, a new record for Australia.

Robert Hawke was born on December 9, 1929. He earned his bachelor of law degree and bachelor of arts in economics from the University of Western Australia and was an honorary fellow at University College, having won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford in 1953. He married Hazel Masterson in 1956 and had one son and two daughters.

He made labor his career. Between 1958 and 1969 he was research officer and advocate for the Australian Council of Trade Unions (A.C.T.U.), the peak and powerful organization of the trade union movement. He was its president between 1970 and 1980. As a union leader Hawke was committed to the trade union movement as...