Born in
Springfield, Massachusetts, Holt moved to
Los Angeles, California, with his parents, at the age of one. He grew up there, and attended the public schools.
World War II Holt later enlisted as a private in the
United States Marine Corps and was called to active duty in July 1943 during
World War II. He was discharged as a
second lieutenant in October 1945.
Education and early career He returned home and attended the
University of Southern California where he received a
Bachelor of Science degree in 1947. He later went into the insurance business and then entered the field of public relations. Eventually he became the state president of the
Young Republicans of California and was
Richard Nixon's field director during Nixon's
1950 Senate race against
Helen Gahagan Douglas. In January 1951, he was recalled to active duty with the Marine Corps and volunteered for duty in the
Korean War. He was wounded in action and awarded the
Purple Heart.
Congress Holt was elected as a
Republican to the
83rd United States Congress in 1952. He stayed for three terms until he declined to run for re-election in 1960. In the 1952 Republican primary for the newly drawn
22nd congressional district in southern California, he was aided by the strong endorsement of Richard Nixon. His opponent, the state senator
Jack Tenney, felt that Nixon, a popular U.S. senator, should have remained neutral in the race, but Nixon countered by saying that Holt represented the sort of young veteran that Congress needed. During a visit to the
Soviet Union in 1955, Holt was held at gun point by a Soviet Army officer, who demanded that he cease taking photographs of a church near Moscow. Holt voted in favor of the
Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the
Civil Rights Act of 1960.
Comeback attempt Holt attempted, unsuccessfully, to return to Congress in 1968, but was defeated in the general election by the incumbent,
James Corman. He spent the rest of his career as a business consultant and died in
Santa Maria, California, on July 14, 1997. == Electoral history ==