Homer Adams Holt (March 1, 1898January 16, 1975) was a

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

lawyer and politician who served as that state's 20th governor from 1937 to 1941. Born in Lewisburg, West Virginia, he attended the

Greenbrier Military School The Greenbrier Military School was a boys-only, private, military, boarding high school and Junior College, located in Lewisburg, West Virginia. The school was founded in 1812 and closed in 1972, when the campus was converted into the West Virgin ...

there and then went on to graduate from

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexingto ...

in 1918, where he was a member of the

Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pen ...

fraternity. After serving in the army during World War I, he returned to Washington and Lee in 1920 and studied law, receiving his degree in 1923. In 1924, he married Isabel Wood. Holt taught law at

Washington and Lee University School of Law The Washington and Lee University School of Law (W&L Law) is the professional graduate law school of Washington and Lee University. It is a private American Bar Association-accredited law school located in Lexington in the Shenandoah Valley reg ...

for two years, and then practiced law in Fayetteville, West Virginia from 1925 to 1933. He was elected state attorney general in 1932, and served until becoming governor in 1937. Holt had been attorney general of West Virginia during the time of the Hawks Nest Tunnel tragedy and "During his term as attorney general, Holt successfully defended Union Carbide in the Supreme Court Trial, ''United States V. State of West Virginia'', 295 U.S. 463 (1935)". Holt was governor during the time the Writers' Project of the Works Project Administration (WPA) began work on West Virginia: A Guide to the Mountain State in 1939. Holt did not want the guide to be published, he believed that it would discredit the state and was "propaganda from start to finish". After his term as governor he resumed his career as a lawyer by becoming general counsel for the Union Carbide Company in New York (same company behind the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster).Williams, West Virginia, 163; "Holt, Homer Adams," in Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, ed. by Robert Sobel and John Raine (Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 1978), 1706-07. Holt was a trustee of Washington and Lee University from 1940 to 1969, when he became a trustee emeritus. Holt's grandfather Homer A. Holt (1831–1898) was a lawyer and justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals; he died shortly before Holt's birth and Holt was presumably named in his honor.

References

West Virginia Archives and History - Homer A. Holt6. Family Tree Confirming lineage of descendants

External links

West Virginia & Regional History Center The West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC), is the largest archival collection housing documents and manuscripts involving West Virginia and the surrounding central Appalachian region. Because of name changes over the years, it is some ...

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

Homer Adams Holt, Papers
1898 births 1975 deaths Military personnel from West Virginia United States Army personnel of World War I American Presbyterians Democratic Party governors of West Virginia Greenbrier Military School alumni People from Lewisburg, West Virginia United States Army soldiers Washington and Lee University alumni West Virginia Attorneys General West Virginia lawyers Washington and Lee University School of Law faculty People from Fayetteville, West Virginia Washington and Lee University School of Law alumni 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians Washington and Lee University trustees {{WestVirginia-politician-stub