Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC (born 11 July 1916), known as Gough Whitlam (pronounced /ˈɡɒf ˈwɪtləm/ GOFF WHIT-ləm), served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia from 1972 to 1975. He was dismissed as Prime Minister by the Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis; he is the only Prime Minister to have his commission terminated in that manner.
Whitlam entered Parliament in 1952, representing the Australian Labor Party (ALP). In 1960 he was elected deputy leader of the ALP and in 1967, after party leader Arthur Calwell retired, he assumed the leadership and became Leader of the Opposition. After narrowly losing the 1969 election, Whitlam led Labor to victory at the 1972 election after 23 years of Liberal-Country Party government.