Harold Holt

At 59 years old, Harold Holt physical status not available right now. We will update Harold Holt's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Early political career

Holt joined the Young Nationalists, the United Australia Party's youth branch, in 1933. He began developing a relationship with Mabel Brookes, and through Brookes, became familiar with senior members of Australia's influential Women's National League (AWNL). He acquired Robert Menzies' patronage, as well as his political convictions. Holt was a member of the United States Academy in the Division of Yarra during the 1934 federal election. It was a secure seat for the Labor Party, held by the party's leader (and former Prime Minister) James Scullin. Holt's campaigning paid him a lot. He ran for Clifton Hill – another safe Labor seat in Victorian state elections, losing to Bert Cremean early this year. Holt was eventually elected to parliament on his third attempt, winning federal by-election for Fawkner's seat in August 1935; his predecessor, George Maxwell, had died in office. He gained UAP preselection against five other candidates, a victory that Smith attributed to his "political godmothers" in the AWNL. His new seat was centered on Melbourne's wealthy inner-eastern suburbs.

Holt was twenty-seven years old when he entered parliament, making him the youngest member of parliament. In his first two years, he maintained a low profile, but he spoke on a variety of topics. Holt was one of four ministers without a portfolio when Robert Menzies became Prime Minister in April 1939. His appointment was made possible by the dissolution of the country party's coalition, meaning that a limited number of positions had been reserved for Country MPs, but that the new ministry was solely made up of UAP representatives. Although Holt had no portfolio, he served as an assistant minister to Richard Casey, who was in charge of the Department of Supply and Development. He was given charge of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and he served for a few years as Minister of Trade and Customs and Minister for Civil Aviation and Air when the incumbents were overseas. In March 1940, when the Country Party's alliance came to an end, Holt's first stint as a cabinet minister came to an end. Arthur Fadden, another potential prime minister, was named as his replacement.

Postwar ministerial career

The coalition won the federal election of December 1949 and Menzies' record-breaking second term as Prime Minister after eight years in opposition. Holt's majority in Fawkner barely vanished in a redistribution effort leading up to the election. He moved to Higgins, one of many new seats established in the 1949 redistribution process. The seat was created as a safe Liberal seat in Fawkner's wealthy areas; it had been carved out of Fawkner's richest parts. Holt took the trophy with a landslide. He was appointed to the prestigious portfolios of Labour and National Service (1949–1956), as both Minister of Education (1940–1956) and Minister for Immigration (1949–1956), by which time he was being heralded in the media as a "certain successor to Menzies and a potential Prime Minister." Holt continued and extended the massive immigration program started by Arthur Calwell, a student at the University of Ayo. However, he had a more flexible and caring attitude toward Calwell, who had been a vocal promoter of the White Australia policy. Lorenzo Gamboa, a Filipino man with an Australian wife and children who had been refused admission by Calwell due to his ethnicity, was one of his first acts. Gamboa was able to settle in Australia permanently, according to Holt.

Holt excelled in the Labour portfolio and has been dubbed one of the best Labour ministers since Federation. Although the conditions were set for industrial conflict, unemployment in the union movement was at its high point, and the right-wing faction in Cabinet was agitating for a showdown with the unions, with increased job turnover and Holt's enlightened approach to industrial relations seeing the number of working hours lost to strikes fall dramatically from 250,000 in 1949 to just 439,000 in 1958. In 1956, he was also charged with the Melbourne Olympics.

Holt encouraged greater collaboration between the government, the courts, teachers, and trade unions. He had positive interactions with union leaders like Albert Monk, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions; and Jim Healy, founder of the radical Waterside Workers Federation; however, his controversial decision to deploy troops during a waterside conflict in Bowen, Queensland, in September 1953, sparked intense criticism.

Holt's personal profile and political fame increased in the 1950s. He served on numerous committees and overseas delegations since being elected a Privy Counsellor in 1953, and he was named one of Australia's six best-dressed guys in 1954. He was elected Vice Leader of the Liberal Party in 1956 and later became Speaker of the House, and from this point forward, he was generally acknowledged as the Menzies' heir apparent.

Following Arthur Fadden's retirement, Holt succeeded him as Treasurer in December 1958. Holt had no expertise or passion in economics, but the position as Menzies' most likely successor solidified his employment. Holt, the Treasury Secretary, relying heavily on Treasury Secretary Roland Wilson's direction. His contributions included major reforms to the banking system (originated by Fadden) as well as the planning and preparations for the introduction of decimal currency. It was Holt who persuaded Cabinet to call the new currency the "dollar" rather than the "royal."

Holt's economy was increasing strongly, aided by the onset of new iron ore mines. In 1959, inflation stood at 4.8 percent, but the Treasury was alarmed. Holt was reluctant to act, but a deflationary package of tax reforms was introduced in November 1960. He reluctantly agreed to a Reserve Bank interest rate rise. The credit squeeze was dubbed the "Holt jolt." The economy went into recession, and unemployment increased to three percent, which was considered high at the time and in contrast to the government's policy of full employment.

The credit crunch brought the Coalition dangerously close to losing the 1961 election, with the Coalition returning a precarious one-seat majority. Holt was sacked, but Menzies retained their love. "My most difficult year in public life" was described as 1960–61 by the author later. The bulk of the deflationary steps were reversed in 1962, and unemployment fell to 1.4 percent in August 1963. Holt retreated to his Queensland holiday home when it was being planned in later budgets. The 1965 budget "has had the best reception of any in the series I have shown," he said.

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