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Paul Burney Johnson Jr. (January 23, 1916October 14, 1985) was an American attorney and Democratic
politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
from
Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
, serving as the 54th governor from January 1964 until January 1968. He was a son of former Mississippi
Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Paul B. Johnson Sr.


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), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
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 The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...
laws. He graduated from the
University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...
, where he met his college sweetheart Dorothy Power. During his first year at
Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...
, he was a member of the freshman Ole Miss football team and was initiated into
Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon () is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on March 9, 1856.Baird, William Raimond, ed. (1905).Baird's Manual of American College Fratern ...
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 most populous city) and extending west into Lamar County. The city population was 48,730 in 2020, making it the 5th m ...
. 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 or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...
. Upon his release from the service, Johnson wanted to enter politics. He gained an appointment as the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi from 1948 to 1951. As described by writer Theodore White, 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. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...
for president in 1948 (Truman received just over ten percent of the vote in Mississippi),
Adlai Stevenson Adlai Stevenson may refer to: * Adlai Stevenson I Adlai Ewing Stevenson (October 23, 1835 – June 14, 1914) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the 23rd vice president of the United States from 1893 to 1897 under President Gr ...
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 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...
,
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 Uni ...
, 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 1951, when Johnson ran for governor of Mississippi,
Percy Greene Percy Greene (1897–1977) was an American newspaper editor, and journalist. Greene created the ''Jackson Advocate'', Mississippi's first and oldest black-owned newspaper. In the 1940s and 1950s, Greene had been a staunch civil rights activist; bu ...
, a black newspaper editor publicly supported the Johnson ticket and rallied black voters to support him; this angered white voters who rallied to Mr. Johnson's opponent. When Johnson lost the election he blamed Percy Greene and said Greene gave him the "kiss of death". In 1959, Johnson ran for
lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
and won, serving under Governor Ross Barnett, who became a
segregationist Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by peopl ...
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 United States Air Force veteran who became, in 1962, the first African-American student admitted to the racially segregated Univers ...
from enrolling at Ole Miss in 1962, physically blocking (for the benefit of photographers) the federal marshals 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 by tying his opponent to President
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...
'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, originally from
Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...
. He was the first strong Republican 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 Union ...
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. 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 A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...
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 On June 21, 1964, three Civil Rights Movement activists, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, were murdered by local members of the Ku Klux Klan. They had been arrested earlier in the day for speeding, and after being releas ...
in June 1964, Johnson offered little or no help. He praised Neshoba County Sheriff Lawrence A. Rainey and deputy sheriff Cecil Price. He also dismissed fears that the trio had been murdered, saying "Maybe they went to Cuba," a reference to the country's
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
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 Allen Welsh Dulles ( ; April 7, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was an American lawyer who was the first civilian director of central intelligence (DCI), and its longest serving director. As head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the ea ...
and
J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...
, to Mississippi for the investigation. He fired several members of the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
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 movem ...
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 Choctaw term meaning "bread eater". Choctaw native Am ...
. 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 State law refers to the law of a federated state, as distinguished from the law of the federation of which it is a part. It is used when the constituent components of a federation are themselves called states. Federations made up of provinces, cant ...
which for 48 years had been largely ignored by
moonshine Moonshine is alcohol proof, high-proof liquor, traditionally made or distributed alcohol law, illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of distilling the alcohol (drug), alcohol at night to avoid detection. In the first decades of the ...
rs, 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 Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
in 1985 at his home in Hattiesburg, and died surrounded by wife and family.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Paul B. Jr. 1916 births 1985 deaths United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Marines Democratic Party governors of Mississippi Lieutenant governors of Mississippi Politicians from Hattiesburg, Mississippi American United Methodists American segregationists 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 Sigma Alpha Epsilon members Neo-Confederates