Holt, Thaddeus 1929-

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HOLT, Thaddeus 1929-

PERSONAL: Born November 26, 1929, in Birmingham, AL; son of Thaddeus and Sarah Ames (Oliver) Holt; married Waring Inge, December 1, 1956 (died 2002); children: Sarah, Harrison. Education: University of the South, B.A., 1951; Yale University, M.A., 1952; Oxford University, B.A., 1954; Harvard University, LL.B., 1956. Religion: Episcopalian.

ADDRESSES: Home—P.O. Box 440, Point Clear, AL 36564.

CAREER: Admitted to the Bar of the State of Alabama, 1956, to the Bar of Washington, DC, 1959, to the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1960, to the Bar of the State of New York, 1969, and to the Bar of the State of Pennsylvania, 1985. Cabaniss & Johnston, Birmingham, AL, associate, 1956-58; Covington & Bulring, Washington, DC, associate, 1958-65; Department of the Army, Washington, DC, deputy undersecretary, 1965-67; Leacock Pennebaker, Inc., New York, NY, president, 1968-69; Corporation for Public Broadcasting, New York, NY, and Washington, DC, secretary, 1970-71; Breed, Abbott & Morgan, Washington, DC, and New York, NY, partner, 1972-86; attorney in sole practice, Washington, DC, Carlisle, PA, and Point Clear, AL, 1986.

MEMBER: American Law Institute, American Society for Legal History, Washington Institute for Foreign Affairs, Metropolitan Club (Washington, DC).

AWARDS, HONORS: Decorated for distinguished civilian service by the U.S. Army, 1967.

WRITINGS:

The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in theSecond World War, Scribner (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including New York Times Book Review, Journal of Military History, and Virginia Quarterly Review.

SIDELIGHTS: Thaddeus Holt's specialized background in intelligence, counterintelligence, and communications security has given him expert insight into the subject of his book The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War. In it, Holt details the many operations the Allies conducted to mislead their Axis enemies, disseminating false information on numerous military operations, including D-Day itself. Gaining access to Pentagon documents that had long been classified, Holt begins his book by describing British operations in Africa and the Middle East, and proceeds to the final operations of the war, such as the D-Day deception that convinced Hitler that the major Allied landing would come at Calais, not Normandy. This "elegantly written and comprehensive book is the first to tell the full story behind these operations," according to a Military Ink reviewer. "Exactly how the Allies engaged in strategic deception has remained secret for decades. Now, with the help of newly declassified material, Holt reveals this secret to the world in a riveting work of historical scholarship." A Publishers Weekly reviewer stated that The Deceivers is a "colossal and valuable study," and found that the book "reads with the fluency of a thriller for any reader with a minimal knowledge of and interest in the war."