Hugh Samuel Johnson

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For other persons of the same name, see Hugh Johnson.

Hugh Samuel Johnson (1882 - 1942) American soldier and National Recovery Administration official.

He was born in Kansas in 1882. After graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1903, Johnson became an officer in the US Army. Johnson served under General John J. Pershing in Mexico during 1916 and the following year became deputy provost marshal general in Washington.

When the United States entered the First World War, Johnson helped draft the Selective Service Act. By 1918 Johnson had reached the rank of brigadier general. His main duty was coordinating Army's purchases with the War Industries Board. He retired in 1919 and became an executive of Moline Plow Company. He left to become an advisor to Bernard Baruch in 1927, and campaigned for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.

In 1933 Roosevelt appointed Johnson to administer part of the National Recovery Administration (NRA). This involved organizing thousands of businesses under codes drawn up by trade associations and industries. He was recognized for his efforts when Time Magazine named the colorful New Dealer Man of the Year of 1933. "Old Iron Pants" could mix theorizing about industrial reorganization with evangelism for the NRA's omnipresent symbol, the "Blue Eagle." He was faltering badly by 1934, which historians ascribe to the profound contradictions in NRA policies, compounded by heavy drinking on the job. Roosevelt replaced him in September 1934, reassigning him to a Works Progress Administration position. Johnson, who some said to have Fascist inclinations, praised Benito Mussolini as a "shining name" in his farewell speech for the NRA. Johnson supported Roosevelt in 1936, but when the Court-packing plan was announced in 1937 he denounced Roosevelt as a would-be dictator. He supported Wendell Willkie the Republican candidate in 1940, and in retaliation Roosevelt denied him any role in World War II.

[edit] References

• Ohl, John Kennedy. Hugh S. Johnson and the New Deal (1985), academic biography.
• Johnson, Hugh S. The Blue Eagle, from Egg to Earth 1935, his memoir

[edit] External links

• Time Magazine article- Time's 1933 Man of Year article on Johnson
• Hugh Samuel Johnson (1882-1942)
• Hugh Samuel Johnson at Find-A-Grave

Persondata
NAME	Johnson, Hugh Samuel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American administrator
DATE OF BIRTH	1882
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kansas
DATE OF DEATH	1942
PLACE OF DEATH