Diplomatic history of Australia the democratic world. In a country gripped by this fear, the government's defence policy was dominated by the idea of "forward defence", in which Australia would seek to prevent the Communist "thrust into South-East Asia". The committal of troops to the Vietnam War was viewed as an attempt by the Menzies Government to strengthen the alliance with the USA following Great Britain's withdrawal "east of Suez". With his arrival in October 1966, Lyndon Baines Johnson became the first US President to visit Australia. The visit came in the light of increasing international criticism over the war in Vietnam. The majority
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom Newman, who had lived in the area and walked around the park. The visit of the Pope was the first state visit of a Pope to Britain; the visit of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, had been a pastoral visit, and as such the British government did not pay the costs of that visit, although expenses were incurred by local governments in areas that he visited. The final cost to the British taxpayer (excluding policing costs) of the visit was £10 million. The cost to the taxpayer was criticised, with a ComRes poll showing that 76% of people in