Hale Johnson (August 21, 1847 – November 4, 1902) was an American attorney and politician who served as the Prohibition Party's vice presidential nominee in 1896 and ran for its presidential nomination in 1900.

Life

Hale Johnson was born on August 21, 1847, in

Montgomery County, Indiana Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 United States census, it had a population of 37,936. Its county seat is Crawfordsville. The county is divided into eleven townships which provide local services. Montg ...

to John B. Johnson and Sarah Ann Davisson and named after the abolitionist Senator John P. Hale. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

his father served as assistant surgeon while he enlisted into Company D, 135th Indiana Infantry at the age of 17. At the end of the Civil War his family moved to Illinois. Hale Johnson Button, 2

He was a lawyer and became mayor of

Newton, Illinois Newton is a city in and the county seat of Jasper County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,849 at the 2010 census, down from 3,069 at the 2000 census. Newton is home to a large coal-fired power plant operated by Illinois Power Gen ...

. In 1882, Johnson left the Republican Party after supporting every Republican presidential candidate from 1868 to 1880 because it did not support a constitutional amendment for national alcohol prohibition. In 1884, Johnson was the Prohibition Party's candidate for

Illinois Attorney General The Illinois Attorney General is the highest legal officer of the state of Illinois in the United States. Originally an appointed office, it is now an office filled by statewide election. Based in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, the attorne ...

. In 1892, he was elected as the Prohibition Party's national chairman and served in that position until 1896. In 1896, he was the Prohibition Party candidate for governor of Illinois, but later that year he was nominated party's candidate for vice president in the 1896 presidential election and campaigned in over 30 states. He was a narrow gauger who supported a platform with one plank for prohibition unlike the broad gaugers who supported free silver and women's suffrage being added to the platform. During the 1900 presidential election he ran for the Prohibition Party's presidential nomination, but withdrew shortly before balloting and supported John G. Woolley who was able to narrowly defeat Silas C. Swallow for the nomination with 380 delegates to 320 on June 28, 1900. Johnson was shot to death by a farmer, Harry Harris in Bogota, Illinois, in

Jasper County, Illinois Jasper County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 9,698. Its county seat is Newton. History Jasper County was formed in 1831 out of Clay and Crawford Counties. It was named ...

on November 4, 1902, while trying to collect a debt that Harris had refused to pay even after being ordered to by a court. Johnson was with a local sheriff when he was shot in the face by a shotgun and killed instantly; Harris was grabbed by the sheriff, but not before he swallowed a fatal dose of poison which he died from hours later. Johnson was interred in the Riverside City Cemetery in Newton, Illinois. In 1903, a monument of Johnson was created in Newton with former Prohibition presidential candidate John G. Woolley, former Representative George W. Fithian and national Prohibition chairman

Oliver W. Stewart Oliver Wayne Stewart (May 22, 1867 – February 15, 1937) was an American politician who served as the chairman of the Prohibition Party and in the Illinois state House of Representatives. Life Oliver Wayne Stewart was born in Mercer County, Ill ...

were at the ceremony.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Hale 1847 births 1902 deaths American temperance activists Burials in Illinois 19th-century American politicians Union Army officers People of Illinois in the American Civil War Deaths by firearm in Illinois Illinois Republicans Illinois Prohibitionists Mayors of places in Illinois People from Montgomery County, Indiana People from Newton, Illinois People murdered in Illinois Male murder victims Prohibition Party (United States) vice presidential nominees 1896 United States vice-presidential candidates