Holden was born in
Mound Bayou, Mississippi on September 12, 1931. He attended public school in Mississippi and
Chicago, Illinois. Holden graduated from the
University of Chicago in 1950 and received a B.A. degree in political science from
Roosevelt University in 1954. He received an M.A. from
Northwestern University in 1956 and his Ph.D. in 1961. Holden served in the
Korean War from 1955 to 1957. Holden taught political science at the
University of Illinois,
Wayne State University, and the
University of Pittsburgh. He was a professor of Political Science/Public Policy Administration at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1969 to 1981. He joined the
University of Virginia faculty in 1981 and became the Henry L. and Grace M. Doherty Professor Emeritus of Politics. He served on the
Public Service Commission of Wisconsin from 1975 to 1977 and on the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 1977 to 1981. According to his University of Virginia Department of Politics biography, he published articles in political science and other journals including the
Journal of Politics and the
American Political Science Review. Holden became President of the
American Political Science Association in 1989. He retired in 2002. Holden died on January 26, 2025, at the age of 93. ==References==