Bob Carr may have been Foreign Affairs Minister for only 12 months, but he started talking to United States diplomats about internal Labor politics nearly 40 years ago.

Previously secret US embassy and consulate reports incorporated into a new searchable database unveiled by WikiLeaks on Monday reveal that Mr Carr was a source for US diplomats seeking information on the Whitlam government and the broader Labor movement in the mid-1970s.

Long-time friend of the US: Foreign Minister Bob Carr. Credit:Penny Bradfield

Then a rising star in NSW Labor, Mr Carr was quick to join in criticism of prime minister Gough Whitlam as the federal Labor Government encountered growing political and economic difficulties after the May 1974 federal election.

In August 1974, the US Embassy in Canberra reported at length on what it described as "a pervasive sense of gloom and anxiety" as the Whitlam government “struggle[d] in [a] disorganised fashion to stem growing inflation”.