TESTY TIMES IN THE US-AUSTRALIAN ALLIANCE
* 1973 - Prime Minister Gough Whitlam clashed with President Richard Nixon over a series of bombings during the Vietnam War.
* 1985 - Prime Minister Bob Hawke backed away from a Fraser government commitment to allow the US to test two super accurate MX nuclear missiles by firing them from California towards waters east of Tasmania. Ronald Reagan was president at the time.
* 1999 - Prime Minister John Howard and President Bill Clinton fought over lamb tariffs.
* 2003 - Howard backed President George W Bush to invade Iraq despite the unpopularity of the war in Australia.
