Harold Holt

Harold Holt was born on 5 August 1908 in Stanmore, New South Wales, Australia. He was the son of Thomas James Holt, a schoolteacher and later a theatre manager, and Olive May Williams, a dressmaker. He attended Wesley College in Melbourne and then studied law at the University of Melbourne, graduating with honours in 1930. He practised law and was a lobbyist for cinema operators before entering politics. He was first elected to the House of Representatives at the age of 27, becoming a member of parliament (MP) for the division of Fawkner at a by-election in 1935. A member of the United Australia Party (UAP), he was made a minister without portfolio in 1939, when his mentor Robert Menzies became prime minister. He served as Minister for Labour and National Service from 1940 to 1941, and then as Minister for Immigration from 1949 to 1956 under Menzies' second term. He also served as Treasurer from 1958 to 1966, overseeing a period of economic growth and stability. He became Prime Minister of Australia in January 1966, following the retirement of Menzies. He was a staunch supporter of the United States and its involvement in the Vietnam War, famously declaring that Australia would be all the way with LBJ (referring to US President Lyndon B. Johnson). He also introduced several reforms in immigration, education, social services and Aboriginal affairs, such as abolishing the White Australia policy, establishing the Australian Council for the Arts, increasing pensions and benefits, and granting citizenship rights to Indigenous Australians. He was popular with the public and won a landslide victory in the 1966 federal election. However, his term in office was cut short by his sudden disappearance on 17 December 1967, while swimming in the sea near Portsea, Victoria. An enormous search operation was mounted in and around Cheviot Beach, but his body was never recovered. Holt was presumed to have died, and his memorial service five days later was attended by many world leaders. It is generally agreed that his disappearance was a simple case of an accidental drowning, but a number of conspiracy theories surfaced, most famously the suggestion that he was a spy from the People's Republic of China and had been collected by a Chinese submarine. Holt was the third Australian prime minister to die in office, after Joseph Lyons in 1939 and John Curtin in 1945. He was initially replaced in a caretaker capacity by John McEwen, and then by John Gorton following a Liberal Party leadership election. Holt's death has entered Australian folklore, and was commemorated by, among other things, the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre¹².