Peter Johnson Sr. (1921 – December 3, 2012) was an American lawyer. Johnson was the son of a longshoreman and a seamstress, and began working as a stevedore at the age of 17. A

Marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

during World War II, Johnson was wounded at the

Battle of Iwo Jima The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and United States Navy (USN) landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJ ...

in 1945. He worked his way through school as a member of the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

, graduating from

St. John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) **St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus *College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and Col ...

in 1947, and from the

St. John's University School of Law St. John's University School of Law is a Roman Catholic law school in Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States, affiliated with St. John's University. The School of Law was founded in 1925, and confers Juris Doctor degrees and degrees for Maste ...

in 1949.Beekman, Daniel.
"Peter Johnson Sr., brave World War II veteran, NYPD officer, political power broker and lion of the law, dies at 91".''New York Daily News''.
2012-12-04. Retrieved 2012-12-09."In Memory of Peter James Johnson, Sr.".St. John's University School of Law.
2012-12-06. Retrieved 2012-12-09. In 1951, Johnson helped lead a

wildcat strike The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

by longshoremen against shipping companies and the International Longshoremen's Association, which had purportedly colluded to underpay workers and to demand kickbacks from their pay. In the same year, he organized slates of delegates to run against

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

leaders, whom he accused of corruption; Johnson himself ran against

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

's Democratic district leader, Carmine DeSapio, described as "Tammany's chieftain".Martin, Douglas
"Peter Johnson, Crusader Against Corruption, Dies at 91".''New York Times''.
2012-12-08. Retrieved 2012-12-09. Neither the strike nor the political campaign produced immediate results, but they led to a subsequent purge of the union's leadership and to Tammany's adopting a more open mode of selecting its district leaders. Johnson co-founded the legal firm Leahey and Johnson. He advised New York Governor Mario Cuomo, and served on mayoral commissions on justice and healthcare. Johnson died of pulmonary fibrosis at the age of 91.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Peter 1921 births 2012 deaths Deaths from pulmonary fibrosis St. John's University (New York City) alumni St. John's University School of Law alumni New York City Police Department officers 20th-century American lawyers United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II