Haynes Bonner Johnson (July 9, 1931May 24, 2013) was an American journalist, author, and television analyst. He reported on most of the major news stories of the latter half of the 20th century and was widely regarded as one of the top American political commentators.
Biography
Johnson was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
to journalist
Malcolm Johnson and Emma Ludie (née Adams), a pianist.
He earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
in 1952 and his master's in American history from the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
in 1956. He then served in the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
as a first lieutenant in artillery during the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
.
Johnson had begun his newspaper career earlier in Manhattan as a copy boy for ''
The New York Sun
''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New Yor ...
'', where his father worked. In 1956 he began reporting for the ''Wilmington (Delaware) News-Journal'', and the following year, Johnson joined the ''
Washington Evening Star
''The Washington Star'', previously known as the ''Washington Star-News'' and the Washington ''Evening Star'', was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C., between 1852 and 1981. The Sunday edition was known as the ''Sunday Sta ...
'' where he worked for 12 years, variously as a reporter, copy editor, night city editor and national reporter. He covered conflicts in the Dominican Republic and India, as well as the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. Johnson joined ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' in 1969, serving first as a National correspondent, as a special assignment correspondent at home and abroad, then as the paper's Assistant Managing Editor and finally, as a national affairs columnist.
![Haynes Johnson 1970](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Haynes_Johnson_1970.jpg)
Johnson won a
Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting – National.
Li ...
in 1966, for his coverage of the civil rights crisis in
Selma, Alabama.
The award marked the first time in Pulitzer Prize history that a father and son both received awards for reporting; his father, Malcolm Johnson, won in 1949 for the New York Sun series, "Crime on the Waterfront," which was the basis for the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning film, ''
On the Waterfront''.
He was the author or editor of sixteen books, five of them best-sellers, including his most recent work, co-authored with ''Washington Post'' political reporter Dan Balz, ''The Battle for America: 2008.'' Johnson also was a regular commentator on the
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
television shows ''
Washington Week in Review
''Washington Week''—previously ''Washington Week in Review''—is an American Public affairs programming, public affairs television program, which has aired on PBS and its predecessor, National Educational Television, since 1967. Unlike other p ...
'' and ''
The News Hour
''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events.
Anchored by Judy Woodruff, the prog ...
''.
He held academic appointments at
Duke University,
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
,
University of California at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...
, the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
and
George Washington University
The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...
and served as the Knight chair of public affairs journalism at the
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
from 1998 until 2013.
Personal
He married Julia Ann Erwin in 1954; they had five children, and later divorced.
In 2002, he married
Kathryn Oberly.
Death
On May 24, 2013, he died of a heart attack in
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...
. Johnson's survivors include his wife, Kathryn A. Oberly, a former associate judge on the
District of Columbia Court of Appeals, and three daughters and two sons from his previous marriage, to Julia Erwin.
Dan Balz, senior political reporter at the ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
'', paid tribute to Johnson's reporting skills: "I don't say this lightly. He was a great journalist."
Professor and noted former editor of ''
The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...
'' and ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''
Gene Roberts observed “He made his subjects come alive,” adding that “His writing had a flow and a polish.”
[ ]
Former advisor to Presidents
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
and
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
, former ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' political writer and current
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
senior political analyst
David Axelrod stated: "When I was a young political reporter, Haynes Johnson was one of the great, iconic journalists we all aspired to be. May he rest in peace."
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
President
Wallace Loh
Wallace Dao-kui Loh ( zh, c=陸道逵, p=Lù Dàokuí; born 1946) was the president of the University of Maryland, College Park, a position assumed November 1, 2010. He retired from the presidency on June 30, 2020 and was succeeded by Darryll ...
said of Johnson: "He helped anchor a new generation of journalists."
Johnson was scheduled to be inducted into the
Society of Professional Journalists Washington DC chapter's hall of fame in June, 2013.
Bibliography
*''Dusk at the Mountain'' (1963)
''The Bay of Pigs: The Leaders' Story of Brigade 2506''(1964)
''Fulbright: The Dissenter'' with Bernard M. Gwertzman (1968)
*''Army in Anguish'', with George C. Wilson (1972)
*''The Unions'', with Nick Kotz (1972)
*''Lyndon'', with Richard Harwood (1973)
*''The Fall of a President'', editor (1974)
*''The Working White House'' (1975)
''In the Absence of Power: Governing America''(1980)
*''The Landing: A Novel of Washington and World War II,'' with Howard Simons (1986)
''Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years''(1991)
[ Hyland, William G.br>Review of ''Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years,'' by Haynes Johnson]
'' Foreign Affairs'', Vol. 70, No. 3, Summer 1991, p. 168. . Archived fro
the original
*''Divided We Fall'' (1994)
*''The System: The American Way of Politics at the Breaking Point,'' with David Broder (1996)
''The Best of Times: America in the Clinton Years''(2001)
*''The Age of Anxiety: McCarthyism to Terrorism'' (2005)
*''The Battle for America 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election'' with Dan Balz (2009)
*''Herblock: The Life and Work of the Great Political Cartoonist'' with Harry Katz (2009)
References
External links
at
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
*
reportingcivilrights.loa.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Haynes
1931 births
Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners
Missouri School of Journalism alumni
American male journalists
American political writers
The Washington Post people
University of Maryland, College Park faculty
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
2013 deaths
Journalists from New York City