[3] Benjamin Holland was a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War, serving as a member of the Georgia State Line under Company I of the 2nd Regiment.

Here he served with Lieutenant George E. Goldthwaite as a gunner and aerial observer, gathering information and taking photographs in reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines.

[3] Holland's return to his law practice was short-lived; he accepted an appointment as the Polk County prosecutor in late 1919.

[12] His campaign platform called for expanding assistance to the elderly through increasing a tax on horse and dog tracks, making highways safer, continuing a ban on poll taxes for state elections, creating Everglades National Park, giving state financial aid for economic development, regulating salary buyers, repealing the gross receipts tax, and improving working conditions in Florida.

Whitehair said in a speech that Holland was a candidate for "'an invisible government' of duPont interests, chain stores, and a fertilizer trust."

He began those preparations with a review of $7 million in State Road Department contracts made during the administration of his predecessor as governor, Fred P. Cone.

Holland and his wife attended President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third inauguration and while in Washington, D.C., he spoke with federal authorities and Florida's congressional delegation about getting more money for defense road construction; he was successful in obtaining the funds.

Holland's first challenge came on May 12, 1941, when 22-year-old A.C. Williams, an African-American accused of raping a 12-year-old girl and committing a robbery, was abducted in Quincy, Florida and lynched.

Tripp submitted a report to Governor Holland on May 25, 1941, and in July 1942 the case was given to the United States Department of Justice, which reviewed it.

[19] When American involvement in World War II began with the attack on Pearl Harbor, Holland promoted new military bases in Florida and co-ordinated state defenses with the federal government.

Governor Holland put the Florida Highway Patrol on standby to assist the Federal Bureau of Investigation with taking Japanese Americans and foreigners into custody.

[21] When the United States entered World War II, German admiral Karl Dönitz launched Operation Drumbeat starting in January 1942, in an effort to cause significant damage to American shipping along the Eastern seaboard and the Gulf Coast.

As a result of the U-boat activity, tourism declined in the state, and the idea of building the Cross Florida Barge Canal was revived.

Holland was neutral on the canal compared to U.S. senators Charles O. Andrews and Claude Pepper, who strongly supported it.

He traveled throughout the state making public appearances in an attempt to generate interest in the election, trying to get a gas tax amendment passed.

Regarding the absentee-voting law, Holland thought that it did a good job when it came to initial primaries except in instances of those who became 21 prior to leaving the state.

[22] During a conference in Denver, Colorado, Holland promoted new railroad freight prices, helping the Florida economy.

[24] On September 25, 1946 Holland assumed the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Charles O. Andrews, who had died a week earlier[3] after being appointed by Governor Caldwell.

[25] In November Holland defeated Republican J. Harry Schad to win a full six-year term.

[28] Holland's views contrasted with those of Claude Pepper, the senior U.S. senator from Florida during his first four years, who was a more outspoken liberal.

[27] Holland had bad relations with governors Daniel T. McCarty, who he described as being "cold" or "thorny," and LeRoy Collins, who openly disliked his record in the Senate.

3199 was introduced; it passed the House on July 26, 1949, on a 273-116 vote, but failed to get past the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.

[31][4] In 1952 Holland ran for re-election, winning a significantly larger margin of the vote (99.82%) than in the previous race in 1946 (78.65%).

[32] He, along with all other senators from the former Confederate states (except Lyndon B. Johnson, Estes Kefauver, and Albert Gore, Sr.), signed the 1956 "Southern Manifesto", which condemned the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), declaring that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, and promised to resist its implementation.

After fending off Pepper's challenge, he easily defeated his Republican opponent, Leland Hyzer, in November to win a third term.

During the 87th Congress, Holland finally succeeded in his long-standing quest to ban the poll tax federally.

[36][37] Holland won a fourth term in 1964, this time defeating Republican Claude R. Kirk, Jr. (who would be elected governor in 1966).

He actively campaigned for Democrat Lawton Chiles, who defeated Republican U.S. Representative William C. Cramer in the general election.

[3] General James Van Fleet was a personal friend of Holland and supported his candidacy for governor.

[3] While teaching in Georgia, he was known to have owned a motorcycle and crashed it many times; once he was flung 60 feet from it and landed scraping much of the skin from his back.