Victor Samuel Johnson Jr. (June 12, 1916 – January 19, 2008) was an American lawyer who was president of

Aladdin Industries Aladdin is a brand notable for its line of character lunchboxes including Hopalong Cassady, Superman, Mickey Mouse and The Jetsons. Today, Aladdin continues to be a food and beverage products brand and is owned by Pacific Market International, ...

, a manufacturer of vacuum bottles, kerosene lamps, and stoves. He was notable for creating the market for decorative

lunch box A lunch box (alt. spelling lunchbox) refers to a hand-held container used to transport food, usually to work or to school. It is commonly made of metal or plastic, is reasonably airtight and often has a handle for carrying. In the United ...

es. The company was further diversified under Johnson's leadership. He was a businessman in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

Aladdin Industries

Aladdin was founded by his father Victor S. Johnson Sr. The younger Johnson graduated from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

in 1941. When his father died in 1943, the younger Johnson took over the company after his discharge as a second lieutenant from the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

in February 1946.

Lunch boxes

Johnson moved Aladdin's operation from

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1949 to Nashville to save money on natural gas needed for glass making. In 1950, in an effort to increase

vacuum flask A vacuum flask (also known as a Dewar flask, Dewar bottle or thermos) is an insulating storage vessel that greatly lengthens the time over which its contents remain hotter or cooler than the flask's surroundings. Invented by Sir James Dewa ...

sales, Aladdin attached Hopalong Cassidy decals to plain metal

es they had been selling since the 1940s. Sales jumped from 50,000 to 600,000 units the first year and transformed the lunch box industry.

Litigation over "thermos"

Because their lunch boxes included a vacuum flask for holding

beverage A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoo ...

s, Aladdin became embroiled with King-Seeley over use of the term

Thermos A vacuum flask (also known as a Dewar flask, Dewar bottle or thermos) is an insulating storage vessel that greatly lengthens the time over which its contents remain hotter or cooler than the flask's surroundings. Invented by Sir James Dewa ...

, which was a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...

. According to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, "In a 1963 court ruling, it was established that Aladdin and its customers use the word thermos in all lowercase, never use the word in solid capitals letters and can only have an initial capital letter if the rules of grammar require it. Additionally, the word thermos must be preceded by a possessive of the name Aladdin and in advertising it must clearly identify material as Aladdin."

Development of downtown Nashville

In 1956 Johnson was elected president of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce. Johnson worked on the consolidation of city and county governments in 1963. Aladdin, in 1958, was selected as the subject of a ''New Horizons'' network television documentary, with special emphasis on its clean, efficient manufacturing, a welcomed improvement over smokestack factories prevalent at that time. In 1963, Aladdin was honored with presentation of an E-Award as designated by the late 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 ...

for excellence in export expansion. Johnson was one of the developers for MetroCenter during the redevelopment of downtown Nashville in the 1970s. Nashville banker William F. Earthman said in 1979, "Without Victor Johnson, we never would have had Metropolitan government. He had a vision and absolute determination to see it through when an awful lot of people didn't like the idea."

Later life

Johnson remained active in philanthropic causes throughout his life. He was chairman of the board of trustees of

Meharry Medical College Meharry Medical College is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Medical school in the United States, medical school affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Nashville, Te ...

in Nashville from 1956 to 1983 and was honored with a life membership on the board. He was also a member of the board of trustees of George Peabody College for Teachers from 1954 to 1964. The Judge William E. Miller Prize at Yale Law is a gift from Victor S. Johnson Jr. in memory of judge William E. Miller. He and his wife founded the Nancy and Victor S. Johnson Jr. Foundation. In 2005, Johnson figured by happenstance in the

Seigenthaler incident In May 2005, an unregistered editor posted a hoax article onto Wikipedia about journalist John Seigenthaler. The article falsely stated that Seigenthaler had been a suspect in the assassinations of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and U.S. Attorney ...

, a controversy over a hoax posted as a

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

article about prominent Nashville resident

John Seigenthaler Sr. John Lawrence Seigenthaler ( ; July 27, 1927 – July 11, 2014) was an American journalist, writer, and political figure. He was known as a prominent defender of First Amendment rights. Seigenthaler joined the Nashville newspaper ''The ...

Seigenthaler told reporters that Johnson was the first person who alerted him about the article. Johnson died in Nashville of colon cancer, at the age of 91. He was survived by wife Nancy, son Victor S. Johnson III, daughter Christine Tyler, and five grandchildren.

References

External links

Aladdin Industries Inc. Records, 1889-2003 #844
via the

. *Honorable Bob Clement (Extension of Remarks — November 16, 1989)
A Tribute to Victor S. Johnson Jr.
via Library of Congress. {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Victor S. Jr. 1916 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople People from Nashville, Tennessee Yale Law School alumni Deaths from colorectal cancer Deaths from cancer in Tennessee United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army officers