| Review of: | The Life and Death of Harold Holt by Tom Frame |
|---|---|
| Reviewed By: | Paul Williams |
| Reviewed in: | Australian Journal of Politics and History |
| Date accepted online: | 14/01/2008 |
| Published in print: | Volume 53, Issue 03, Pages 465-504 |
Book Reviews
Most Australians would have only two colourful memories of Harold Holt, Liberal Prime Minister of Australia, 1966-67. The first would be his "off-the-cuff" 1966 remark declaring Australia's close relationship with the United States, a declaration that was also about his close personal friendship with President Lyndon B. Johnson. Perhaps imprudently, Holt gushed during his American visit that Australia would be "all the way with LBJ". In the minds of many, the remark forever labelled Holt, at best, as inept; at worst, a US lickspittle.
The second memory would no doubt be the bizarre circumstances of Holt's death. While not the first prime minister to die in office, he was certainly the first to die accidentally; the fact that his body was never recovered after drowning in rough seas off Cheviot Beach, Portsea, Victoria on the Sunday morning of 17 December, 1967, fuelled conspiracy theories on which many an Australian still holds an opinion.
These iconic yet relatively unimportant facts are among Dr Tom Frame's rationale for writing an excellent biography that is both scholarly and accessible. Holt was forever in the shadow of political leviathan Robert Menzies, Liberal Party founder and prime minister for sixteen years, a context that would, in itself, make for an interesting book. But, in Frame's very reasonable view, Holt's legacy is so much more, and indeed belies his very short tenure. Holt can, perhaps, be seen as a genuinely liberal politician in the Deakinite mould - one who acted as an ideological and cultural pioneer who set the tone for later progressives such as (Liberal) John Gorton and (Labor) Gough Whitlam. Holt is quoted as extolling, for example, that "we are liberal always, radical often and reactionary never" (p. 134). Holt, for example, steered Australia's referendum on Aboriginal affairs in 1967, subtly changed our formal relationship with Great Britain, began the first unravelling of the White Australia Policy, and held moderate views on trade unions. He was also the first Australian prime minister to use television extensively, and he cultivated among media and voters a sense of familiarity - one that may have later been his political undoing. On many other issues, of course, Holt remained "hawkish", including vehement support for National Service (over which he was once a minister), against communism, and for Australia's participation in the Vietnam War - a conflict he appeared to support more vigorously than even Robert Menzies.
There is a paucity of good research on Holt, a prime minister very much worthy of at least one biographical account in his own right. Frame's point of entry is not only to fill this vacuum but also to right some historical wrongs: he affirms, firstly, that Holt has until now endured "unfair personal and professional denigration" (p. xiii) and, secondly, that Holt made "important contributions to Australian political, social and economic life that have not been adequately recognised" (p. xiv). There is ample evidence to each claim.
There have been the inevitable parallels between Holt's career as a loyal and longstanding deputy, and that of another long-serving Treasurer, Peter Costello. It's therefore appropriate for Costello to write the Foreword.
The book is divided into two neat but asymmetrical parts. The first, "The Life", spans nine chapters; the second, "And Death", covers seven chapters but only two years of the subject's life. Many readers drawn to more salacious topics will want to go straight to Chapter 15: "Myths and Mysteries" - a discussion of any number of opinions as to Holt's demise, ranging from accident (which his drowning almost certainly was), to suicide (suggested because 1967 was, politically, his
There is some attempt to engage in psycho-biography, and we learn from Frame that Holt undoubtedly sought affection (publicly and personally - from women especially) to compensate for childhood emotional deprivations. It's a commonly cited theory and could easily be adapted to any number of political leaders. But, in supporting it in Holt's case, Frame needs to tell more of his subject's boyhood.
There will inevitably be critics who see Frame as ideologically motivated. Frame, himself, concedes he is sympathetic to Holt, but it's appropriate that Frame should be Holt's first major biographer. Frame, an Anglican Bishop for the Australian Defence Academy, has written extensively on related chapters in Australian history, including the