Robert Erwin Johnson (3 February 1923 – 28 January 2008, aged 84) was aUniversity of Alabama professor of history and considered "one of the finest scholars of the nineteenth centuryU.S. Navy andU.S. Coast Guard".[1]
Johnson was born inMarshfield, Oregon to Franz Oscar Johnson, a farmer, and his wife, Agnes Sandquist. Johnson enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1941 and served until 1946 onUSCGC Haida[2] After his wartime service at sea as aquartermaster, he attended theOregon State Agricultural College from 1946 to 1948, then transferred to theUniversity of Oregon, where he earned hisBachelor of Arts degree and was electedPhi Beta Kappa in 1951. From 1951–52, he served again on active duty in theU.S. Naval Reserve, rising toPetty Officer First Class. On release from active duty, Johnson went on to complete hisMaster of Arts degree in 1953. Going on for further graduate work, he attended theClaremont Graduate School, where he earned hisPh.D. in 1956 with a thesis on "United States Naval Forces on Pacific Station, 1818–1923". On 19 December 1959, he married Vivian Ellis.
Immediately on completion of his doctoral work in 1956, theUniversity of Alabama appointed himassistant professor in the faculty of history. He was promoted toassociate professor in 1963, and toprofessor of history in 1967. He retired in 1993 after serving as interim chairman of the history department during a critical time of transition for the history department.
A member of theDemocratic Party, he was also a member of theAmerican Historical Association,Society for Nautical Research,World Ship Society,Naval Historical Foundation, and theUnited States Naval Institute.
He received numerous awards for his publications on naval history, including his book,Guardians of the Sea, which won theTheodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Prize in Naval History from the New York Council of theNavy League of the United States, theNorth American Society for Oceanic History'sJohn Lyman Book Award for the best book in U.S. naval history, and the U.S. Naval Institute's Special Award of Merit.
Johnson died inTuscaloosa, Alabama on 28 January 2008.
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