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HOLT, ANDREW DAVID 1904-1972

NEA PRESIDENT

The Last NEA President of the Decade

As the president of the National Education Association (NEA), the world's largest teachers' organization, Andrew David Holt took control of the organization in 1949 at a point when education in America was at a crossroads. By the time of his inauguration the organization boasted a membership of eight hundred thousand. One significant event of his election year was the adoption of a resolution by the NEA called "Preservation of Democracy," which facilitated the purging of Communists from the ranks of the NEA and from the schools. The doctrine became part of the McCarthyism of the 1950s.

Early Preparation

Holt reached the presidency of the NEA after serving for twelve years in the Tennessee Education Association (TEA) while he worked as principal of the training school and director of teacher training at West Tennessee State College. In 1937 he completed his Ph.D. from Columbia University, was elected secretary-treasurer of the TEA, and was named editor of The Tennessee Teacher. He also joined the board of directors of the Tennessee Congress of Parents and Teachers, spending a great deal of time traveling around Tennessee and the rest of the country talking to teachers, students, and civic organizations. Among his greatest accomplishments during this period was his successful lobbying of the Tennessee legislature for laws establishing many benefits for teachers—including sick leave, continuing contracts, retirement pay and insurance, and guaranteed nine-month contracts. During World War II Holt was commissioned as a captain in the army. His main task was to visit schools and lecture to students and faculty about what they could do for the war effort. Holt was promoted to the rank of major and visited all forty-eight states.

Legislative Bulldog

Holt's greatest achievement came with his election as president of the NEA. He had served the organization as chairman of the NEA-American Legion Committee in 1946 and as first vice-president of the NEA in 1948. He was proud that during his twelve years of service in Tennessee he had been responsible for legislation directing that each teacher with a bachelor's degree would receive a $470 raise. Holt stated that he was "gratified over this…but at the same time I see it only as one more incident in a nationwide move to show teachers in a tangible way the public is behind them."

NEA President

Holt's experience paved the way for his election in 1949, the year in which the "Preservation of Democracy" resolution was passed. Ironically, he had witnessed firsthand the purging of teachers because of their beliefs, suspected or otherwise. A portion of the resolution's draft read, "The whole spirit of free American education will be subverted unless teachers are free to speak for themselves. It is because members of the Communist party are required to surrender this right as a consequence of becoming part of a movement characterized by conspiracy and deceit, that they shall be excluded from employment as teachers and from membership in the National Education Association." The resolution also stated that "as a measure of defense…American schools should teach about communism and all forms of totalitarianism." While ostensibly protesting the suppression of free speech under communism, the resolution did the same thing within American education.