Paul Johnson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 54thGovernor of Mississippi | |
| In office January 21, 1964 – January 16, 1968 | |
| Lieutenant | Carroll Gartin |
| Preceded by | Ross Barnett |
| Succeeded by | John Bell Williams |
| 23rdLieutenant Governor of Mississippi | |
| In office January 19, 1960 – January 21, 1964 | |
| Governor | Ross R. Barnett |
| Preceded by | Carroll Gartin |
| Succeeded by | Carroll Gartin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Paul Burney Johnson Jr. January 23, 1916 Hattiesburg, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | October 14, 1985(1985-10-14) (aged 69) Hattiesburg, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Dorothy Power |
| Relations | Pete Johnson (nephew) |
| Children | 1 daughter, 2 sons |
| Parent | Paul B. Johnson Sr. (father)Corinne Venable (mother) |
| Education | University of Mississippi |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Marine Corps |
| Battles/wars | World War II • South Pacific |
Paul Burney Johnson Jr. (January 23, 1916 – October 14, 1985)[1] was an American attorney andDemocraticpolitician fromMississippi, serving as the 54th governor from January 1964 until January 1968. He was a son of former MississippiGovernorPaul B. Johnson Sr.
Paul B. Johnson Jr. grew up in a political family, as his father was a notable Democratic Party leader, serving as US Congressman from 1919 to 1923. The younger Johnson had an affectionate reverence forFranklin D. Roosevelt based on the days of his Congressman father's friendship with the then-Assistant Secretary of the Navy (the families' children knew each other).[2] In 1938, Johnson Sr. was elected as Governor of Mississippi, dying in office in 1943.
Johnson attended local schools, which weresegregated underJim Crow laws. He graduated from theUniversity of Mississippi, where he met his college sweetheart Dorothy Power. During his first year atOle Miss, he was a member of the freshman Ole Miss football team and was initiated intoSigma Alpha Epsilon social fraternity. He had the distinction of being the only sophomore ever elected as president of the Ole Miss student body.[3] He also graduated fromOle Miss Law and passed the bar exam.
Johnson became a practicing attorney in Jackson andHattiesburg. After beginning his career, he married Dorothy Power in 1941. They had 4 children.
During World War II, Johnson served in the South Pacific with theUnited States Marine Corps. Upon his release from the service, Johnson wanted to enter politics. He gained an appointment as the AssistantU.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi from 1948 to 1951.
As described by writerTheodore White, Johnson had, for a Southerner, a liberal early record. He supportedHarry S. Truman for president in 1948 (Truman received just over ten percent of the vote in Mississippi),Adlai Stevenson in 1952.[2] Johnson ran for governor three times: in1947,1951, and1955, but was unsuccessful. In 1947, prior to his first try for the governor's mansion, he also ran for an open U.S. Senate seat, but lost.
In 1951, when Johnson ran for governor of Mississippi,Percy Greene, a black newspaper editor publicly supported the Johnson ticket and rallied black voters to support him; this angered white voters who rallied to Mr. Johnson's opponent.[4] When Johnson lost the election he blamed Percy Greene and said Greene gave him the "kiss of death".[5]
In 1959, Johnson ran forlieutenant governor and won, serving under GovernorRoss Barnett, who became asegregationist icon. Johnson played a prominent role in trying to preventJames Meredith from enrolling at Ole Miss in 1962, physically blocking (for the benefit of photographers) thefederal marshals who were escorting the African-American veteran.
Although Johnson felt that state politics were ill-suited for him, he ran for governor again in 1963. He defeated former governorJames P. Coleman by tying his opponent to PresidentJohn F. Kennedy's civil rights legislation proposed that year. During the campaign, he asked voters to "Stand tall with Paul" against those wanting to change Mississippi's "way of life", in reference to his confrontation with federal marshals at Ole Miss.
In the general election, Johnson facedRubel Phillips, originally fromCorinth. He was the first strongRepublican candidate for Mississippi governor since the end ofReconstruction in 1876, as the party was hobbled after the state passed adisfranchising constitution in 1890, effectively barring most blacks from the political system. In the 1960s, however, in contrast to Reconstruction, the Republican Party was appealing to white conservatives in the South.[citation needed]
Phillips, a recent Democratic state Public Service Commissioner, ran under the slogan "K.O. (knock out) the Kennedys", and tried to tie Barnett and Johnson to the national Democrats. Phillips worked to convince voters that he and GOP lieutenant governor candidateStanford Morse, astate senator fromGulfport, represented the best hope for preserving Mississippi's traditional "way of life", while at the same time making overall progress.
In historianTheodore H. White's initial description of Johnson, he wrote:
this was no Northern cartoon of a Mississippi Governor; this was a man of civilization and dignity whose deep, serious voice spoke not cornpone but a cultured English—and spoke at once in fear, perplexity, and wistfulness. In his plight one could see half the tragedy of his state.[6]
In his inaugural address in 1964, Johnson chose the "Pursuit of Excellence" as his term's theme and said, "Hate, or prejudice, or ignorance, will not lead Mississippi while I sit in the governor's chair." To many, that comment had a hollow ring five months later, when during the investigation of themurders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in June 1964, Johnson offered little or no help. He praisedNeshoba County SheriffLawrence A. Rainey and deputy sheriffCecil Price. He also dismissed fears that the trio had been murdered, saying "Maybe they went to Cuba," a reference to the country'scommunist regime; opponents of the civil rights movement often suggested the movement was a communist plot.
James W. Silver, a history professor at Ole Miss, published a book condemning Mississippi's segregated society; it became a bestseller and he had to leave the state. He wrote of the governor:
Probably satisfying no one, Johnson kept his own counsel, and his mouth closed to demagogic outbursts, while treading the uneasy path between the demands of theCitizens Council (which had helped elect him) and the imperatives of the situation. As one astute observer saw it, the governor was "tempering political expedience with common sense, yet still attempting to ease down the more radical, emotional, ignorant groups without losing those votes." And so "ambivalent Paul" could denounce in picturesque and biting language the impending civil rights law and could declare that "It is an odd thing that so much hell is being raised over three people missing in Mississippi when 10,000 are missing in New York."[7]
At the same time, he officially welcomed federal officials,Allen Dulles andJ. Edgar Hoover, to Mississippi for the investigation. He fired several members of theKu Klux Klan from the Highway Patrol. He criticized civil rights workers and refused to meet with major African American leaders, but supported law enforcement and ending violence inPike County. Historians believe that:
the two Johnsons, President and Governor, likely kept each other informed, though neither could have admitted that to his public ... In the meantime, the old "watchdog of segregation", theState Sovereignty Commission, lapsed into desuetude from deliberate withholding of gubernatorial appointments, and the Citizens Council prepared its own death watch.[7]
After recognizing the potentially damaging effects of racism on the state's image and business climate, particularly in terms of attracting investment and new businesses, Johnson worked to tone down racist rhetoric. He adopted moderate policies, and asked residents to comply with the newly passedVoting Rights Act in 1965. He declared: "The day for a lot of bull-shooting is over."[8] His leadership was believed to have contributed to the decrease in racial violence in the state and to its solid economic growth. Johnson worked hard to pass a $130 million bond issue to finance a major expansion of theIngalls Shipyard inPascagoula. Like many other southern governors, Johnson quietly observed the 1965 Civil War centennial of the defeat of the Confederacy. In addition, his 1966 fight torepeal the prohibition on alcohol, astate law which for 48 years had been largely ignored bymoonshiners, was another issue that gained him popular appeal. Johnson left politics following the end of his term.
He suffered a stroke in the late 1970s, and continued to struggle with his health in his final years. He suffered a fatalheart attack in 1985 at his home in Hattiesburg, and died surrounded by wife and family.
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forLieutenant Governor of Mississippi 1959 | Succeeded by Carroll Gartin |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of Mississippi 1963 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor ofMississippi January 21, 1964 – January 16, 1968 | Succeeded by |
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