Mr. Holmes served in the United States Marine Corps in 1954 - 1957 as captain. He was an intelligence research analyst in the Department of State in 1958 - 1959 and entered the Foreign Service in 1959 as consular and political officer in Yaounde. In the Department he was Foreign Affairs Officer (1961 - 1963) and Staff Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (1963). In 1963 - 67 he was political officer in Rome and was Foreign Affairs Officer in the Department in 1967 - 1970. He was Counselor for Political Affairs in Paris in 1970 - 1974. He attended the Executive Seminar in National and International Affairs at the Foreign Service Institute in 1974 - 1975 and was Director of the Office of NATO and Atlantic Affairs in the Bureau of European Affairs in 1975 - 1977. He was Deputy Chief of Mission in Rome in 1977 - 1979 and, since 1979, has been Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs.

Mr. Holmes was born January 11, 1933, in Bucharest, Romania, of American parents. He graduated from Princeton University (A.B., 1954) and received a certificate in 1958 from the University of Paris. His foreign languages are French and Italian.