Prime minister Gough Whitlam's ''impulsive'' style and foreign policy ''hobby horses'' caused the United States diplomatic concern, but US defence and intelligence bases in Australia were not in doubt under his government, according to mid-1970s declassified US embassy cables.

US embassy reports incorporated into a new searchable database unveiled by WikiLeaks on Monday show US diplomats considered the 1972 election of the Whitlam government began ''a completely new period in Australian-American relations''.

Gough Whitlam. Credit:Fairfax Archives

A secret foreign policy review by US ambassador Marshall Green described Mr Whitlam as ''physically imposing, keen-witted, energetic'' with a ''well-developed'' self-esteem that led him to dominate Australian diplomacy. But the ambassador thought Mr Whitlam ''not a profound thinker''.

American complaints about the Whitlam government's ''impulsive style'' included ''intemperate, abusive language'' by Labor ministers directed against the US bombing operations in Vietnam.