Hiram Johnson

(b. Sacramento, California, 2 Sept. 1866; d. 6 Aug. 1945) US; Governor of California 1911 – 17, US Senator 1917 – 45 After two years at the University of California in Berkeley, Johnson worked in his father's law office in San Francisco and was admitted to the California bar. He gained prominence as a prosecutor, which enabled him to win the Republican nomination for Governor of California in 1910. In the 1910 campaign he displayed the characteristics which became his hallmark of a feisty progressive reformer with a fiery oratorical style and with a dedication to battle against vested interests on behalf of the people. As governor of California 1911 – 17 he established himself as one of the major figures of the progressive movement. He enacted reforms of major significance to curb the power of vested interests, such as the establishment of a Railroad Commission to control the power of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and to give more power to the people over the state government, such as by means of the initiative, referendum, and recall.

In 1912 he bolted the Republican Party and was vice-presidential candidate on the Progressive Party ticket led by Theodore Roosevelt. He was re-elected Governor of California in 1914 as a Progressive, but with the demise of the Progressive Party, he rejoined the Republican Party and won election to the US Senate as a Republican in 1916. He supported with reluctance America's intervention in the First World War but was highly critical of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and was one of the leading "irreconcileables" in opposition to American participation in the League of Nations. In 1920 he sought the Republican nomination for President and was bitterly critical of the undemocratic procedure in the "smoke-filled room" at the Republican national convention in Chicago which led to the nomination of Warren Harding. He opposed the policies of the conservative Republican presidents of the 1920s and was particularly critical of the policies of President Hoover. In 1922 and 1928 he was easily re-elected to the Senate but he increasingly took an independent position in support of progressive reform on domestic issues and isolationism in foreign policy.

In 1932 he did not support Hoover's re-election but endorsed the Democratic candidate, Franklin Roosevelt. He was offered the post of Secretary of the Interior in Roosevelt's administration, but he declined since he preferred to maintain his independence as a Senator. He supported the New Deal in its early years and was one of the most prominent of the progressive Republicans whose support was important for the passage of New Deal legislation. But by 1936 – 7 he turned against Roosevelt and the New Deal and reverted to his more customary position of opposition. He feared that Roosevelt's landslide re-election victory in 1936 and his plan to pack the Supreme Court were signs of an excessive increase in the power of the President. Even more so, he became increasingly distrustful of Roosevelt's foreign policy. Johnson was one of the most outspoken isolationists during the 1930s. He sponsored the Johnson Act of 1934, which prohibited further loans to nations in default on previous loans from the United States, and he supported the Neutrality Acts of 1935 – 7. He was fiercely critical of Roosevelt's policies of aid to the Allies in 1939 – 41, such as Lend-Lease, which he was certain would take America into war. After Pearl Harbor, he accepted that America had no alternative other than involvement in the Second World War, but he opposed American international involvement after the War, especially American participation in the United Nations. Although he had been easily re-elected to the Senate in 1934 and 1940, he was in failing health after 1941 and his position was becoming increasingly isolated and outmoded. His death, which occurred symbolically on the same day as the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, marked the death of the isolationist standpoint which he had embodied.

Hiram Warren Johnson (1866-1945), American politician, was a reform governor of California. As a U.S. senator, he was a leading spokesman for isolationism in international affairs.

Hiram Johnson was born in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 2, 1866. After finishing high school, he worked in his father's law office for a year. He entered the University of California in 1884. He left school in 1886 to marry and once again studied law in his father's office, where he became a partner in 1888. After disagreements with his conservative father over political issues, he moved to San Francisco and opened a law office in 1902.

Johnson's swift rise in politics began in 1906, when he became a prosecuting attorney in San Francisco's graft trials and won the conviction of a party boss. A critic of corporate influence in California politics, Johnson was selected by Progressive Republicans as their gubernatorial candidate in 1910.

As governor, Johnson organized his followers for aggressive reform. Under his leadership his adherents pushed many Progressive ideas through the legislature: a public utilities commission, a railroad commission, a conservation commission, women's suffrage, workingmen's compensation, restrictions on child labor, and direct primary elections.

In 1912 Johnson supported Theodore Roosevelt over incumbent William Howard Taft for the Republican presidential nomination. When Roosevelt bolted the party, Johnson accepted the vice-presidential nomination of Roosevelt's Progressive party. The ticket lost, but that it carried California testified to the strength of Johnson's reform organization. In 1914 Johnson ran for governor again as a Progressive. His legislative record, which included some conservative measures (notably the Alien Land Law of 1913 directed against resident Japanese in California), sufficed to reelect him without Republican endorsement. In 1916, however, he successfully sought the Republican nomination for senator and returned to leadership in that party.

As U.S. senator from 1917 until 1945, Johnson took Progressive positions on domestic issues but was an isolationist in foreign affairs and helped defeat President Woodrow Wilson's League of Nations proposal. He bolted the Republican party in 1932 and 1936 to endorse Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal. However, his support for Roosevelt's domestic policies was matched by his hostility to the administration's proposals for American membership on the World Court, reciprocal trade agreements, and a peacetime draft. He also opposed Roosevelt's campaigning for a third term. During World War II he voted against American membership in the United Nations. Although Johnson had been an outstanding Progressive governor, by the time of his death on Aug. 6, 1945, his views on foreign affairs made him part of an outdated isolationist minority in Congress.

Further Reading

Materials on Johnson's career after he entered the Senate are not readily available. For a scholarly account of his years as governor see George E. Mowry, The California Progressives (1951), and Spencer C. Olin, Jr., California's Prodigal Sons: Hiram Johnson and the Progressives, 1911-1917 (1968).

Additional Sources

Weatherson, Michael A., Hiram Johnson: a bio-bibliography, New York: Greenwood Press, 1988.

Weatherson, Michael A., Hiram Johnson: political revivalist, Lanham: University Press of America, 1995.

Hiram Johnson
United States Senator from California
In office March 16, 1917 – August 6, 1945
Preceded by	John D. Works
Succeeded by	William F. Knowland
23rd Governor of California
In office January 3, 1911 – March 15, 1917
Lieutenant	A. J. Wallace (1911-1915) John Morton Eshleman (1915-1916) William Dennison Stephens (1916-1917)
Preceded by	James Gillett
Succeeded by	William Stephens
Born	September 2, 1866(1866-09-02) Sacramento, California
Died	August 6, 1945 (aged 78) Bethesda, Maryland
Political party	Progressive, Republican
Spouse(s)	Minne L. McNeal
Alma mater	University of California-Berkeley
Profession	Politician
Religion	Episcopalianism

Hiram Warren Johnson (September 2, 1866 – August 6, 1945) was a leading American progressive and later isolationist politician from California; he served as Governor from 1911 to 1917, and as a United States Senator from 1917 to 1945.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Governor 1.3 Senator 1.4 Presidential Bid 1.5 Death 1.6 Posthumous Recognition 2 References 3 External links

Biography

Early life

Johnson was born in Sacramento, California; his father was Grove Lawrence Johnson, a Republican Representative and a member of the California State Legislature famous for his support of personal interests. His mother was Annie DeMontfredy, descendant of a family of Huguenots who had left France to escape religious persecution there. Annie was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, claiming descent from a general of the Continental Army. Johnson had a brother and three sisters.^[1]

After attending public schools, Johnson first worked as a shorthand reporter and stenographer in law offices. He eventually decided on a legal career, studying at the University of California Berkeley, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity. He was admitted to the bar in 1888 and commenced practice in his hometown. In 1902 he moved to San Francisco. He served as assistant district attorney and became active in reform politics, taking up an anti-corruption mantle. He attracted statewide attention in 1908 when he assisted Francis J. Heney in the graft prosecution of Abe Ruef and Mayor Eugene Schmitz, his success due in large measure to the fact that after Heney had been gunned down in the courtroom, he took the lead for the prosecution and won the case. He married Minne L. McNeal; the couple had two sons.

Governor

Hiram Johnson at 1913 California State Fair

In 1910 Johnson won the gubernatorial election as a member of the Lincoln-Roosevelt League, a liberal Republican movement running on an anti-Southern Pacific Railroad platform. He toured the state in an open automobile. In office, Johnson was a populist who implemented many important reforms. Among them was the popular election of U.S. Senators, which stripped away the sole franchise of the California State Legislature to vote for federal Senators. Johnson's administration also pushed for women's suffrage and the ability of candidates to register in more than one political party, a reform that he believed would cripple the influence of what he viewed as a monolithic political establishment. In 1911, Johnson and the Progressives added initiative, referendum, and recall to the state government, giving California a degree of direct democracy unmatched by any other U.S. state.

Johnson supported the California Alien Land Law of 1913.

Nationally, Johnson was a founder of the Progressive Party in 1912. That same year, he was the party's vice presidential candidate, sharing a ticket with former President Theodore Roosevelt; his selection helped Roosevelt to carry California by 0.2 percent of the votes. The Progressives finished second nationally (ahead of the incumbent Republican, President William Howard Taft) but still lost the election to the Democrats and their candidate, Woodrow Wilson.

Senator

Johnson was re-elected governor in 1914 and in 1916 ran successfully for the U.S. Senate, taking office on March 16, 1917. It was this year that he spoke the words that he is best remembered for today: "the first casualty when war comes, is truth", referring to the United States's entry into World War I.

Presidential Bid

Following Roosevelt's death in January 1919, Johnson was regarded as the natural leader of the Progressive Party. In 1920, however, he did not attempt to revive the Progressive Party, but ran for President as a Republican. He was defeated for the Republican presidential nomination by Warren Harding. He received ten votes for the nomination against Calvin Coolidge in 1924. As a senator, Johnson proved extremely popular. In 1934, he was re-elected with 94.5 percent of the popular vote.

During the early presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, Johnson supported the president's economic recovery package, the New Deal, frequently crossing the floor to aid the Democrats and even backing FDR in the 1932 and 1936 presidential elections, although he never switched party affiliation. He became disenchanted with Roosevelt and the New Deal following FDR's unsuccessful attempt to increase the size of the Supreme Court. As a staunch isolationist (he was the only senator to vote against both the League of Nations and the United Nations), Johnson was much less supportive of Roosevelt on foreign policy than domestic policy. He achieved senate seniority as Chairman of the Committee on Cuban Relations in the Sixty-sixth Congress; he was also a member of the Patents, Immigration, Territories and Insular Possessions and Commerce Committees.

Death

Having served in the Senate for almost thirty years, Johnson died in the Naval Hospital Bethesda, Maryland, on August 6, 1945. News of his death, however, was overshadowed by the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, Japan, which occurred that same day. He was interred in Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California.

Johnson gained some recognition in the media and general public during the 2003 California recall election because he was the most important person behind the introduction of the law that allowed state officials to be recalled. Also, then-gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger referred to Johnson's progressive legacy in his campaign speeches.

Posthumous Recognition

On August 25, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Johnson would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony is on December 1, 2009 in Sacramento, California.

References

1. ^ Lewis Francis Byington, “History of San Francisco 3 Vols” (1931), Vol. 2, pages 347-350.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Hiram Johnson

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hiram Johnson

• JOHNSON, Hiram Warren at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Historical archive of the Sacramento, California newspaper The Sacramento Bee
• Hiram Johnson at Find-A-Grave

Political offices
Preceded by James Gillett	Governor of California January 3, 1911 – March 15, 1917	Succeeded by William Stephens
United States Senate
Preceded by John D. Works	United States Senator (Class 1) from California March 16, 1917 - August 6, 1945 Served alongside: James D. Phelan, Samuel M. Shortridge, William Gibbs McAdoo, Thomas M. Storke, Sheridan Downey	Succeeded by William F. Knowland
Party political offices
Preceded by New party	Progressive Party Vice Presidential nominee 1912 (lost, 2nd)	Succeeded by N/A
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Leo H. Baekeland	Cover of Time Magazine 29 September 1924	Succeeded by William Allen White

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