Harold Holt

Harold Edward Holt CH (5 August 1908–17 December 1967) was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia, now best remembered for the bizarre circumstances of his death.

He was born in Sydney, the son of Tom Holt, a well-known theatre director, but he was educated at Wesley College in Melbourne and at the University of Melbourne, where he graduated in law. He practised briefly as a solicitor before being elected to the House of Representatives for the United Australia Party in 1935.

Early career

At 27 Holt was one of the youngest members of the House, but his obvious ability brought him rapid promotion to the ministry in 1939. In 1940 he joined the Army, without resigning his seat. Shortly afterwards three Cabinet ministers were killed in an air disaster at Canberra, and the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, recalled Holt from the Army to become Minister for Labour and National Service. This earned him the ironic nickname "Gunner Holt."

Holt had a reputation as a high-living playboy, but in 1947 he married Zara Fell, a fashion designer, and adopted her three young sons from her first marriage. After eight years in opposition from 1941 to 1949, Holt returned to office in Menzies's new Liberal government in 1949 as Minister for Labour and National Service and Minister for Immigration. In this position he continued and expanded the massive immigration program begun by his Labor predecessor, Arthur Calwell.

In 1956 Holt became Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and thus Menzies' heir apparent. In 1958, when Sir Arthur Fadden retired, Holt succeeded him as Treasurer. His career was nearly derailed in 1961 when his economic policies caused a recession which came close to losing the 1961 election for the Liberals. But his stocks, like the economy, soon recovered, and in January 1966 he finally succeeded Menzies as Prime Minister. He had been an MP for almost 31 years - the longest wait of any non-caretaker Australian Prime Minister.

Prime Minister

Holt's major challenge in office was the Vietnam War, to which Menzies had committed Australian troops in support of the United States. In October 1966 US President Lyndon B. Johnson toured Australia at Holt's invitation, and in December Holt called an election on the slogan "All the Way with LBJ." Holt had an enormous victory over Labor, whose leader, Arthur Calwell, bitterly opposed the war.

In 1967, however, Gough Whitlam succeeded Calwell as Labor leader and proved a much more effective opponent. At the 1967 half-Senate elections, the Liberals lost a number of seats. Some Liberals, free of the strict discipline of the Menzies years, began to plot against what they saw as Holt's weak leadership.

Disappearance

On 17 December 1967, Holt went swimming at Cheviot Beach on Point Nepean near the holiday resort of Portsea, south of Melbourne. Apparently seeking to impress his friends, Holt, who was 59 and had had a recent shoulder injury, plunged into the surf. He disappeared from view and was never seen again. Despite an extensive search, his remains were never found. He was officially presumed dead on 19 December 1967.

Holt was an affable and well-liked figure in politics, and Australians of all political views were saddened by his death. US President Lyndon B. Johnson returned to Melbourne for his memorial service.

There were many rumours about Holt's death, such as that he had committed suicide or faked his own death in order to run away with his mistress. In 1983, British journalist Anthony Grey published a book in which he claimed that Holt had been an agent for the People's Republic of China and had been picked up by a Chinese submarine off Portsea and taken to China. Another theory is that he was assassinated by the CIA. Most likely, however, Holt was caught in the strong undertow off the beach and swept out to sea.

No inquest was held at the time because Victorian law did not provide any mechanism for reporting presumed or suspected deaths to the Victorian Coroner. The law was changed in 1985, and in 2003 the Victoria Police Missing Persons Unit formally reopened 161 pre-1985 cases where drowning was suspected but no body was found. Holt's stepson Nicholas Holt said that after 37 years there were few surviving witnesses and no new evidence would be presented. On 2 September 2005, the Coroner's finding was that Holt had drowned in accidental circumstances on 17 December 1967.

After Harold Holt's death, his widow Zara was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE), becoming Dame Zara Holt. She later married for a third time, to a Liberal party colleague of Holt's, Jeff Bate, becoming Dame Zara Bate.

The United States Navy Knox class frigate USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) was named in his honour. He is also commemorated by the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre, a swimming pool complex in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern. (The complex was already under construction at the time of Holt's death, and since he was Malvern's local member it was named in his memory; the irony of commemorating him with a swimming pool has been the source of much amusement to Australians.) Several other memorials also exist.

Literature

Harold Holt and his mysterious death also appear in Bill Bryson's book Down Under (in the UK/AUS) resp. In a Sunburned Country (in the USA).

External links

Harold Holt - Australia's Prime Ministers / National Archives of Australia