Paul Burney Johnson Jr. (January 23, 1916October 14, 1985) was an American attorney and
Democratic politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
from
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
, serving as governor from 1964 until January 1968. He was a son of former Mississippi
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Paul B. Johnson Sr.
Paul Burney Johnson Sr. (March 23, 1880December 26, 1943) was an American attorney, judge, and politician, serving as United States Representative from Mississippi, 1919–1923, and as Governor of Mississippi, 1940–1943.
Early career
From 190 ...
Early life and education
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 for
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
based on the days of his Congressman father's friendship with the then-Assistant Secretary of the Navy. (The families' children knew each other).
In 1938, Johnson Sr. was elected as Governor of Mississippi, dying in office in 1943.
Johnson attended local schools, which were
segregated under Jim Crow laws. He graduated from the
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...
, where he met his college sweetheart Dorothy Power. During his first year at
Ole Miss, he was a member of the freshman Ole Miss football team and was initiated into
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is t ...
social fraternity. He had the distinction of being the only sophomore ever elected as president of the Ole Miss student body. He also graduated from
Ole Miss Law and passed the bar exam.
Early career and military service
Johnson became a practicing attorney in Jackson and
Hattiesburg
Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County (where it is the county seat and largest city) and extending west into Lamar County. The city population was 45,989 at the 2010 census, with the populat ...
. 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 the
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
. Upon his release from the service, Johnson wanted to enter politics. He gained an appointment as the Assistant
U.S. Attorney
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
for the Southern District of Mississippi from 1948 to 1951.
As described by writer
Theodore White
Theodore Harold White (, May 6, 1915 – May 15, 1986) was an American political journalist and historian, known for his reporting from China during World War II and the ''Making of the President'' series.
White started his career reporting for ...
, Johnson had, for a Southerner, a liberal early record. He supported
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
for president in 1948 (Truman received just over ten percent of the vote in Mississippi),
Adlai Stevenson in 1952.
[ White, Theodore H. (1965), ''The Making of the President, 1964'', New York: Atheneum, p. 218] Johnson ran for governor three times: in
1947,
1951
Events
January
* January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).
* January 9 – The Government of the United ...
, and
1955, 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 1959, Johnson ran for
lieutenant governor and won, serving under Governor
Ross Barnett
Ross Robert Barnett (January 22, 1898November 6, 1987) was the Governor of Mississippi from 1960 to 1964. He was a Southern Democrat who supported racial segregation.
Early life
Background and learning
Born in Standing Pine in Leake Count ...
, who became a
segregationist
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Interna ...
icon. Johnson played a prominent role in trying to prevent
James Meredith
James Howard Meredith (born June 25, 1933) is an American civil rights activist, writer, political adviser, and Air Force veteran who became, in 1962, the first African-American student admitted to the racially segregated University of Missi ...
from enrolling at Ole Miss in 1962, physically blocking (for the benefit of photographers) the
federal marshal
The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforcem ...
s 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 governor
James P. Coleman
James Plemon Coleman (January 9, 1914 – September 28, 1991) was an American judge and the 52nd Governor of Mississippi and a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
...
by tying his opponent to President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
'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 faced
Rubel Phillips
Rubel Lex Phillips (March 29, 1925 – June 18, 2011) was an American politician and lawyer. Growing up poor in Alcorn County, Mississippi, he served in the United States Navy during World War II and, upon returning, earned a law degree. Haili ...
, originally from
Corinth
Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government refor ...
. He was the first strong
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
candidate for Mississippi governor since the end of
Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
in 1876, as the party was hobbled after the state passed a
disfranchising 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.
![Inauguration, P](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Inauguration%2C_P.B._Johnson%2C_Jr_1964..png)
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 candidate
Stanford Morse, a
state senator from
Gulfport, represented the best hope for preserving Mississippi's traditional "way of life", while at the same time making overall progress.
Governor of Mississippi
In historian
Theodore 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.
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 the
murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in June 1964, Johnson offered little or no help. He praised
Neshoba County Sheriff
Lawrence A. Rainey
Lawrence Andrew Rainey (March 2, 1923 – November 8, 2002) was Sheriff of Neshoba County, Mississippi during the 1960s. He gained notoriety for allegedly being involved in the June 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner. Rainey was ...
and deputy sheriff
Cecil Price
Cecil Ray Price (April 15, 1938 – May 6, 2001) was accused of the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in 1964. At the time of the murders, he was 26 years old and a deputy sheriff in Neshoba County, Mississippi. He was a member of the Wh ...
. He also dismissed fears that the trio had been murdered, saying "Maybe they went to Cuba," a reference to the country's
communist 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 the Citizens 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."
At the same time, he officially welcomed federal officials,
Allen Dulles and
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation ...
, to Mississippi for the investigation. He fired several members of the
Ku 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 in
Pike 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", the State Sovereignty Commission, lapsed into desuetude from deliberate withholding of gubernatorial appointments, and the Citizens Council prepared its own death watch.[Silver, James W. (1966), ''Mississippi: The Closed Society'', New Enlarged Edition, New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, pp. 269–270.]
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 passed
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...
in 1965. He declared: "The day for a lot of bull-shooting is over."
[Silver, p. 355] 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 the
Ingalls Shipyard in
Pascagoula
The Pascagoula (also Pascoboula, Pacha-Ogoula, Pascagola, Pascaboula, Paskaguna) were an indigenous group living in coastal Mississippi on the Pascagoula River.
The name ''Pascagoula'' is a Mobilian Jargon term meaning "bread people". Choctaw ...
. Like many other southern governors, Johnson quietly observed the 1965 Civil War centennial of the defeat of the Confederacy. In addition, his 1966 fight to
repeal
A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...
the prohibition on alcohol, a
state law which for 48 years had been largely ignored by
moonshiners, 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 fatal
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
in 1985 at his home in Hattiesburg, and died surrounded by wife and family.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Paul B. Jr.
1916 births
1985 deaths
American white supremacists
United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
United States Marines
Democratic Party governors of Mississippi
Lieutenant Governors of Mississippi
People from Hattiesburg, Mississippi
American United Methodists
Southern Methodists
United States Attorneys for the Southern District of Mississippi
University of Mississippi alumni
University of Mississippi School of Law alumni
20th-century American politicians
20th-century Methodists