Holmes Paul Tuttle

Holmes P. Tuttle (June 17, 1905 – June 16, 1989) was a successful California businessman and autodealer, and headed President Ronald Reagan's unofficial "Kitchen Cabinet".

Early life and career Tuttle was born in Tuttle, Oklahoma. The city is named for Tuttle's father. In 1923, at the age of seventeen, Tuttle began his automotive career by going to work at the Ford Parts facility in Oklahoma City. Although Ford had a policy of not hiring anyone under the age of twenty-one, Tuttle, who stood well over 6 feet, was referred by a banker who knew Tuttles' father. He traveled west in 1926, to Los Angeles, aboard a freight train, until he and his friend, who had talked him into moving to California, were caught by a train agent and thrown off. They convinced a well-to-do lady, whose driver had broken his leg, to let them drive her to California. He was employed as a parts manager at a Ford dealership. He opened his own dealership in 1945, which became known as Holmes Tuttle, Inc. The business was a resounding success and evolved into fourteen dealerships in California and Arizona.

Political involvement

Though he never held public office, Tuttle was very involved in political affairs of the times. His political involvement began in 1952, when he campaigned for General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Upon Reagan's election, Tuttle assisted in screening people for cabinet positions.

Family His son Robert Holmes Tuttle worked in the White House under President Reagan, and was later Ambassador to the UK during George W. Bush's second term.

His grandnephew is Jim Click, one of the largest auto dealers in southern Arizona.

Holmes Tuttle was Chickasaw and was inducted into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame in 2017.

Death Tuttle died at Cottage Hospital in Montecito, California, aged 83 in 1989. According to his son, Tuttle died of complications stemming from a stroke he suffered several weeks prior.

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