V o L u m e I : a d

Australian Liberal Party politician and prime minister (1966–1967). Born on

5 August 1908 in Sydney, Harold Holt, the son of a well-known theater direc-

tor, graduated with a law degree from the University of Melbourne and

worked for a short time as a solicitor before being elected to the federal par-

liament in 1935, where he became a protégé of Liberal Party leader Robert

Gordon Menzies. Holt briefly served in the Australian Army during World

War II.

After eight years in opposition during 1941–1949, the new Menzies

government of 1949 named Holt minister for labor and national service. He

held this post until 1958. He also served as minister of immigration during

1949–1956. He became deputy leader of the Liberal Party in 1956 and was

appointed finance minister (treasurer) in 1958, a post he held until he suc-

ceeded Menzies as prime minister in 1966.

The major issue that confronted the Holt government was the Vietnam

War. Consistent with the conservative Liberal Party’s policies, Holt held fast

to the U.S.-Australian alliance and increased troop deployments to Vietnam,

which was very controversial. By tapping into the traditional American affin-

ity among the Australian populace, the Holt government continued to main-

tain its popularity.

On 17 December 1967, Holt drowned while swimming at a resort in

Portsea, Victoria. His remains were never found, and he was officially pre-

sumed dead on 19 December.

Josh Ushay

See also

Australia; Menzies, Robert Gordon; Vietnam War

References

Albinski, Henry Stephen. Politics and Foreign Policy in Australia: The Impact of Vietnam

and Conscription. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1970.

Holt, Zara. My Life and Harry: An Autobiography. Melbourne: The Herald, 1968.

Welsh, Frank. Great Southern Land: A New History of Australia. London: Allen Lane,

2004.

Spanish-speaking nation in the north-central portion of Central America.

Honduras, with a 1945 population of 1.37 million people, covers 43,278 square

miles and is bordered by Guatemala and the Caribbean Sea to the north

and east, Nicaragua to the south, and El Salvador and the Pacific Ocean to

the south-southwest. Honduras became a key Cold War ally of the United

States, serving as a staging area from which insurrections were launched

against Guatemala in 1954 and Nicaragua during the 1980s. Despite its close

Honduras

919

Holt, Harold Edward

(1908–1967)

Honduras

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relationship with Washington, Honduras has remained one of the poorest

countries in Latin America.

By 1907, Honduras had endured seven revolutions in fifteen years and

was stricken with a foreign debt of $124 million. By the 1920s the all-powerful

United Fruit Company (UFCO) had begun to exert strong influence in Hon-

duras and by 1924 owned 88,000 acres of land. In 1929, UFCO paid $32 mil-

lion to buy out its Honduran competitor, thus completing its takeover of fruit

production in Honduras.

By the start of the Cold War, Honduras was the archetypal banana re-

public, the entire economy of which was controlled by large American fruit

companies. In 1954, however, the political landscape in Honduras began to

change. UFCO’s workers went on strike, marking a significant change in

Honduran labor practices. The series of coups and countercoups that fol-

lowed the strike led to the rise to power of Dr. Villeda Morales in 1957. Mod-

eling himself on Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz and Costa Rican leader

José Figueres Ferrer, Morales introduced a labor code, social security, and

agrarian reforms. However, the high level of control that U.S. investors held

in Honduras stymied many of his reforms.

Honduras was critical to the United States in both geostrategic and

financial terms, as its location served as an ideal base from which to influence

other Central American nations. As such, Honduras was used as a base for

the U.S.-armed and -trained forces that would march into Guatemala and

overthrow the leftist Arbenz in 1954.

By the time President John F. Kennedy introduced the Alliance for

Progress in 1961, Honduras was a key strategic U.S. ally. In 1963 Morales was

overthrown and replaced by an army junta, causing great consternation in

Washington. Kennedy severed all ties with Honduras, seeking to deter other

ambitious militaries in Latin America. Ironically, however, Washington was

largely responsible for creating the Honduran Army through a 1954 agree-

ment and was forced to recognize that without the support of the Honduran

junta, the Alliance for Progress had little chance of success. The net result

in Honduras was to instigate a class war, which was further compounded in

1969 when El Salvador invaded Honduras in the infamous Soccer War, which

broke out during a soccer match between the two countries.

By the end of the 1970s, Honduras had become a vast U.S. military base.

Consequentially, the Honduran Army became even more powerful, while

mounting social and economic ills were overlooked. Honduras had its place

in the U.S. world order spelled out when President Gerald Ford’s adminis-

tration offered little help to Hondurans after a 1975 hurricane in retaliation

for a proposed land redistribution policy. By the end of the decade, as Wash-

ington’s policies in Central American began to disintegrate, Honduras again

became a critical U.S. ally.

Deteriorating U.S.-Nicaraguan relations only heightened the impor-

tance of Honduras in Central America, especially during Ronald Reagan’s

presidency. During 1980–1984, U.S. military aid to Honduras jumped from

$4 million annually to $77.5 million. Washington’s focus on short-term strate-

gic and military objectives backfired, however, when political instability in

920

Honduras

By the start of the

Cold War, Honduras

was the archetypal

“banana republic,”

the entire economy

of which was

controlled by large

American fruit

companies.

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