United States presidential visits to Australia and New Zealand United States presidential visits to Australia and New Zealand Several United States presidents have made presidential visits to Australia and New Zealand. The first visit by an incumbent to these Australasian nations was made in 1966 by Lyndon B. Johnson. His three-day five-city visit to Australia was intended as a show of gratitude to the Australian nation for its then emphatic support for the Vietnam War. Four presidents have traveled there since. Prior to arriving in Australia, Johnson visited New Zealand. He went primarily to shore up support for the war in Vietnam. Only one sitting president has visited since.
Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to Australia hosted for a dinner reception at Yarralumla, the residence of the Governor-General. The centrepiece of Diem's visit was a speech to a joint sitting of the Parliament of Australia on Tuesday, September 3, with both the House of Representatives and the Senate in attendance. President Diem said that "moral and spiritual rearmament" and the "moral unity" of the people were the key factors in fighting the spread of communism. After the speech, Menzies called for three cheers for Diem at an official parliamentary luncheon. Doc Evatt, the leader of the opposition Australian Labor Party joined in, proclaiming that peace, stability