Joseph F. Holt III, a 4-Term GOP Congressman, Dies at 73

Joseph Franklin Holt III, a four-term Republican congressman from the San Fernando Valley who once helped disarm a gunman who was one of a group of Puerto Rican nationalists who opened fire on a session of the House of Representatives, has died.

Holt died Monday in Santa Maria of complications from a stroke. He was 73, according to a his attorney, William F. Price.

Holt was the youngest candidate elected to the House when he took office at age 28 in 1952, a teammate of Richard Nixon. He served until 1960.

Born July 6, 1924, in Springfield, Mass., Holt’s family moved when he was a baby to Los Angeles, where his father was at one time head of Arden Farms, a local dairy.

Holt attended public school in Los Angeles, served as a lieutenant in the Marine Corps in World War II and graduated from USC in 1947.

Working in the insurance business and in public relations, he served as president of the California Young Republicans, and in 1948 was volunteer chairman for Los Angeles Mayor Norris Poulson’s campaign for Congress.

Two years later, he served as field manager for Nixon’s successful campaign for the Senate. Nixon returned the favor by publicly endorsing Holt when he ran for Congress in 1952 in the newly established 22nd Congressional District that covered most of the Valley and part of Hollywood.

In 1951, Holt was recalled to active duty in the Marine Corps. Volunteering for service in Korea, he was wounded by a land mine but recovered.

Holt gained notice in the House not just for his youth, but for his work on various committees. He served on the House education and labor committee, the House military operations committee, and was assigned to meet with Mexican government officials to discuss methods to control the narcotics trade, which he called the nation’s most pressing problem.

In 1954, the same year Holt married his secretary, he made headlines for helping police disarm and hold one of three gunmen who opened fire from a gallery onto the floor of the House during a congressional session, shouting, “Free Puerto Rico! Free our country!” No one was injured.

In 1955, Holt was involved in a diplomatic incident while visiting Moscow when he attempted to take photographs in a “no pictures” zone. A Soviet soldier held the congressman and his companion at gunpoint until an English-speaking Soviet colonel intervened an hour later.

Upset by the restrictions imposed on Americans visiting the Soviet Union, upon returning to the United States, Holt stepped up his efforts to curtail visits by Soviet delegations to the United States.

In 1960, Holt retired from Congress and became a business consultant, then made an unsuccessful bid for another term in 1968.

At the time of his death, Holt was confined to a nursing home in Santa Maria, where he was moved after suffering a debilitating stroke 10 years ago.

Holt is survived by his sister, Lois Mary Billings, of Santa Barbara.

Funeral arrangements are pending.