Gale Encyclopedia Of American Law 3Rd Edition Volume 6 P5 doc

National League in the 1890s and, after the turn of the century, the influential author and activist W. E. B. Du Bois. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP), established in 1909, became the most powerful force for the repeal of Jim Crow laws during the next half century. The NAACP fought numerous battles in two important arenas: the court of public opinion and the courts of law. At first, legal progress came slowly. In a series of decisions in the 1940s, the U.S. Supreme Court began to dismantle individual Jim Crow laws and practices. The Court ruled that political parties could not exclude voters from primary elections on the basis of race (Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649, 64 S. Ct. 757, 88 L. Ed. 987 [1944]). It ruled that black passengers on interstate buses need not follow the segregation laws of the states through which those buses passed (Morgan v. Virginia, 328 U.S. 373, 66 S. Ct. 1050, 90 L. Ed. 1317 [1946]). It also held that the judiciary could no longer enforce private agreements—called restrictive covenants—that excluded ownership or occu- pancy of property based on race (Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1, 68 S. Ct. 836, 92 L. Ed. 1161 [1948]). By 1950, legal changes were coming in droves. The Court decided in favor of black student Heman Marion Sweatt concerning his appeal for entrance to the University of Texas Law School. In Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629, 70 S. Ct. 848, 94 L. Ed. 1114 (1950), the Court ruled that the educational opportunities offered to white and black law students by the state of Texas were not substantially equal, and that the EQUAL PROTECTION Clause of the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT required that Sweatt be admitted to classes with white students at the University of Texas law school. Four years later came the Court’s most significant decision affecting Jim Crow: BROWN V . BOARD OF EDUCATION, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S. Ct. 686, 98 L. Ed. 873 (1954). Over- turning the precedent that had existed since Plessy in 1896, the Court in Brown decreed unconsti- tutional the policy of separate-but-equal educa- tional facilities for blacks and whites. Brown marked a turning point in the battle against the institution of segregation that Jim Crow laws had created. It was not the death knell, however. Much remained to be done, not only to topple legal restrictions but also to remove the barriers of prejudice and violence that stood in the way of full integration. The final blows were administered by the civil rights movement, whose boycotts, sit-ins, and lawsuits continued over the next two decades. By the mid-1960s the last vestiges of legal segregation were ended by a series of federal laws, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C.A. § 2000a et seq.), the VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 (42 U.S.C.A. § 1971 et seq.), and the FAIR HOUSING ACT OF 1968 (42 U.S.C.A. § 3601 et seq.). FURTHER READINGS Chafe, William H., Robert Korstad, and Raymond Gavins, eds. 2003. Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell about Life In The Segregated South. New York: New Press. Quarles, Benjamin. 1996. The Negro in the Making of America. New York: Touchstone. White, Tony. ND. “The Origin of Jim Crow.” Afro-American Newspapers Balck History Month Supplements. Available online at http://www.afroam.org/history/jcrowwork/ whoisjc.html; website home page: http://www.afroam. org (accessed August 3, 2009). CROSS REFERENCES Civil Rights; Equal Protection; Ku Klux Klan; Ku Klux Klan Act; School Desegregation. J.N.O.V. See JUDGMENT NOTWITHSTANDING THE VERDICT. JOBBER A merchant, middle person, or wholesaler who purchases goods from a manufacturer in lots or bulk and resells the goods to a consumer, or to a retailer, who then sells them to a consumer. One who buys and sells on the stock exchange or who deals in stocks, shares, and securities. In the law of TRADEMARKS and trade names, the term jobber refers to an intermediary who receives goods from manufacturers and sells them to retailers or consumers. In this context a jobber may acquire a trademark and affix it to the goods, even though the jobber did not manufacture the products. In the law governing monopolies, jobbers are referred to as wholesalers. This body of law involves PRICE-FIXING scenarios, in which, for example, a manufacturer enters into contracts with numerous wholesalers, wherein the latter agree to resell the manufacturer’s product at prices set by the manufacturer. Antitrust laws also concern scenarios where, for example, a patent owner who deals through wholesalers GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 28 J.N.O.V. restricts the resale of the patented article to a specified territory, thereby limiting righ tful competition between wholesalers. JOHN DOE OR JANE DOE A fictitious name used for centuries in the law when a specific person is not known by name. The name John Doe can be used in a hypothetical situation for the purpose of argu- ment or illustration. For example, the action of ejectment may be used in some states by a person who has possession of a parcel of land but wishes to clear up some doubt concerning his or her right to hold it. Rather than wait until someone else sues to challenge his or her right to the land, that person may bring an action of ejectment against a fictitious DEFENDANT, some- times called a CASUAL EJECTOR. John Doe has traditionally been used for the name of this nonexistent party, but he has also been named Goodtitle. John Doe may be used for a specific person who is known but cannot be identified by name. The form Jane Doe is often used for anonymous females, and Richard Roe is often used when more than one unknown or fictitious per son is named in a lawsuit. The tradition of fictitious names comes from the Romans, who also had names that they commonly used for fictitious parties in lawsuits. The two names most commonly used were Titius and Seius. v JOHNSON, ANDREW ANDREW JOHNSON ascended to the U.S. presidency after the ASSASSINATION of ABRAHAM LINCOLN.He was the seventeenth president and the first to undergo an impeachment trial. Johnson was born December 29, 1808, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Little is known of his early life. His ancestry is usually traced only to the family of his father, Jacob Johnson, who raised his family in Raleigh and served as the city’s CONSTABLE and sexton, was a porter to the state bank, and was a respected captain in the MILITIA of North Carolina. He was viewed as a hero after saving two men from drowning in a pond outside Raleigh. He died of health com- plications only a year later, leaving the Johnson family in poverty. From the age of ten to the age of 17, Johnson worked as an apprentic e to a Raleigh tailor, J. J. Selby. Shortly after, he settled in Greeneville, Tennessee, where he opened his own tailor shop. Before he reached the ag e of 19, he had met Eliza McCardle, a respected teacher in Greeneville, whom he married on May 17, 1827. Andrew Johnson. THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Andrew Johnson 1808–1875 ❖ ❖ 1808 Born, Raleigh, N.C. ◆ 1825 Moved to Greeneville, Tenn. and set up a tailor shop ◆ 1830 Elected mayor of Greeneville 1861–65 U.S. Civil War ▼▼ ▼▼ 18001800 18501850 18751875 19001900 18251825 1835–43 Participated in Tenn. legislature 1887 Tenure of Office Act repealed 1812–14 War of 1812 1843–53 Served in U.S. House 1853–57 Served as governor of Tenn. 1868 Acquitted in Senate impeachment trial 1865–69 Served as seventeenth U.S. president 1864 Became vice president for Lincoln's second term 1865 Lincoln assassinated ◆ ◆ 1857 Elected to U.S. Senate 1875 Elected to U.S. Senate; died, Carter Station, Tenn. 1867 Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act ◆◆ ◆ ◆ GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION JOHNSON, ANDREW 29 Johnson’s wife encouraged his aspirations to become politically active, and Johnson turned his tailor shop into a center for men throughout Greeneville to debate and practice their oratory. In 1828 Johnson was overwhelmingly elected city alderman. Two years later his supporters elected him mayor. From 1835 to 1843 he served in the Tennessee legislature. For the next ten years he served in the U.S. House of Representatives. He returned to Tennessee in 1853 and was elected governor of the state. When his term expired in 1857 , he became a member of the U.S. Senate, where he served until 1862. He was the only southern senator who refused to resign during the Civil War. Johnson attracted the attention of President Lincoln. In 1862 Lincoln appointed the Ten- nessee congressman to serve as military governor of the state. After Johnson effectively managed the state throughout the Civil War, Lincoln selected him to run for VICE PRESIDENT in the 1864 election. The pro-Union ticket of Lincoln and Johnson was victorious. Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, and Johnson assumed the duties of president on April 15. He had been left with the daunting task of assimilating the former confederacy of southern states into the United States. Johnson sought to overlook the secession of the South. He granted many pardons and allowed southern politicians to restore oppressive practices to- ward former slaves, such as forcing them to give land back to their old masters and depriving them of the right to vote. A group of con- gressional Republicans, led by Thaddeus Stevens, a representative from Pennsylvania, opposed Johnson’s practices. Against Johnson’s wishes, the South was put under military rule. The CIVIL RIGHTS Act of 1866, passed in spite of Johnson’s veto, granted blacks the right to vote. In 1867 Congress passed the TENURE OF OFFICE ACT (14 Stat. 430), also over Johnson’s veto. This act declared that the president could not, without the Senate’s permission, remove from federal office any official whose appoint- ment had been approved by the Senate. In August 1867 Johnson refused to follow the Tenure Act when he request ed the removal of Secretary of War EDWIN M. STANTON.Hedidso on the ground that Stant on had conspired with radical Republicans against the president. In removing Stanton from his position, Johnson aroused the wrath of even moderate Republicans in Congress. On February 24, 1868, the House passed resolutions to IMPEACH John- son for HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS. By early March, the House had drawn up 12 ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT against Johnson. Eight of these concerned his alleged violations of the Tenure of O ffice Act. The ninth alleged a lesser charge, that he had overstepped his boundaries in suborning a U.S. general. The tenth and eleventh articles accused Johnson of defaming Congress in public speeches. A twelfth and final article, dubbed the omnibus article, was intended to induce senators who migh t have qualms about specific charges against Johnson to find him guilty on general grounds. Under the Constitution at least two-thirds of the Senate must vote to impeach the president. In Johnson’s case this meant that 36 senators would have to vote for impeachment. The defense knew that vote would have to come from the Senate’s 42 Republican members—the Senate’s 10 Democrats and 2 Johnsonites were bound to support his ACQUITTAL. Johnson’s lawyers were confident that if they could appeal to the senses of moderate Republicans—whom the defense presumed were loyal to the restora- tion of the Union—the impeachment effort would fail. On May 16 and May 26, 1868, the Senate voted 35–19 against Johnson on three of the articles of impeachment. By only one vote less than the two-thirds majority necessary to remove him, Johnson was acquitted of the most serious charges. The Senate subsequently ad- journed its court, and Johnson was allowed to finish his term. His presidency ended in 1869, and he returned to Tennessee. The people of Tennessee welcomed Johnson home and elected him to the U.S. Senate in 1875. However, he died soon after the election, on July 31, 1875, near Carter Station, Tennessee. In 1887 the Tenure of Office Act was repealed. In 1926 the Supreme Court rendered an ex post facto (retroactive) judgment declaring the act unconstitutional (272 U.S. 52, 47 S. Ct. 21, 71 L. Ed. 160 1926). Most scholars and histori ans have con- cluded that the impeachment charges against Andrew Johnson were motivated by partisan politics and that removing Johnson on any one of the charges would have set a dangerous precedent. In effect Congressional Republicans were trying to use impeachment as a political AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OUGHT NOT BE TOO FREQUENTLY MADE ; … [IF] CONTINUALLY TINKERED WITH IT WOULD LOSE ALL ITS PRESTIGE AND DIGNITY , AND THE OLD INSTRUMENT WOULD BE LOST SIGHT OF ALTOGETHER IN A SHORT TIME . —ANDREW JOHNSON GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 30 JOHNSON, ANDREW tool to overcome Johnson’s repeated attempts to impede their legislative efforts. However, the Founding Fathers, by devising a constitutional system of checks and balances in which the three co-equal branches of government are each delegated certain specific, enumerated authority, tried to prevent any one branch from acquiring too much power and wielding it in a despotic fashion. Had Congress been successful in removing Johnson, impeachment might have become a favored political weapon against future U.S. presidents, thereby severely weaken- ing the presidency and removing any incentive for the House and Senate to cooperate and compromise with the EXECUTIVE BRANCH. Many scholars and historians have also concluded that the Johnson impeachment proceedings helped narrow the class of im- peachable offenses. The U.S. Constitution provides that the “President … of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for … high Crimes and Mis- demeanors,” but fails to define what those terms mean. U.S. Const. art. II § 4. The Johnson impeachment proceedings, in the minds of many observers, have come to stand for the proposition that before an offense may be deemed an impeachable offense it must not only constitute a crime but the crime itself must be of a serious or grave nature. However, this precedent only advanced the discussion so far, as it failed to determine how serious or grave the criminal activity must be for it to be considered an impeachable offense, a question that re- curred throughout the impeachment proceed- ings against WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, who was acquitted by the Senate on charges that he committed the crimes of PERJURY and OBSTRUC- TION OF JUSTICE to conceal his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. FURTHER READINGS Castel, Albert. 1979. The Presidency of Andrew Johnson. Lawrence: Univ. Press of Kansas. Field, P. F. December 1, 2000. “The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson.” Choice Magazine. Foner, Eric, and Olivia Mahoney. 1997. America’s Recon- struction: People and Politics after the Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press. Horowitz, Robert F. 1986. The Great Impeacher: A Political Biography of James M. Ashley. Lanham, MD: Univ. Press of America. Jones, James S. 2007. Life of Andrew Johnson, Seventeenth President of the United States. Reprint. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger. Lomask, Milton. 1973. Andrew Johnson: President on Trial. New York: Octagon. Rehnquist, William H. 1999. Grand Inquests: The Historic Impeachments of Justice Samuel Chase and President Andrew Johnson. New York: Harper. Simpson, Brooks D. 1987. Advice after Appomattox: Letters to Andrew Johnson, 1865–1866. Edited by Leroy P. Graf and John Muldowney. Knoxville, TN: Univ. of Tennessee Press. Stalcup, Brenda, ed. 1995. Reconstruction: Opposing View- points. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven. CROSS REFERENCES Assassination; Civil Rights Acts; Ex Post Facto Laws; Lincoln, Abraham; Stanton, Edwin McMasters; Tenure of Office Act; Veto. v JOHNSON, FRANK MINIS, JR. As a federal judge in Alabama during the tumu- ltuous CIVIL RIGHTS era, Frank Minis Johnson Jr. earned an outstanding reputation. Serving on the U.S. district court for the Middle District of Alabama (1955–79) and the U.S. COURTS OF APPEALS for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits (1979–91), Johnson was a strong, if sometimes cautious, defender of constitutional liberties for all U.S. citizens, regardless of race or social status. Johnson was one of only a few judges to apply vigorously the U.S. Supreme Court’s SCHOOL DESEGREGATION decision in BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S. Ct. 686, 98 L. Ed. 873 (1954). He made history in 1956 when he and another judge overturne d a Montgomery, Alabama, ordinance requiring segregation on city buses (Browder v. Gayle, 142 F. Supp. 707 [M.D. Ala.]). That decision gave the nascent CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT an encourag- ing victory and helped catapult MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr., who had led a boycott of Montgomery buses, to the forefront as a civil rights leader. During the 1970s Johnson issued court orders requiring sweeping changes in Alabama’s mental health institutions and prisons. Although his judicial decisions brought death threats to himself and his family from whites who opposed integration, Johnson remained faithful to his convictions regarding individual rights. Johnson was born October 30, 1918, in Delmar, a town in northern Alabama’ s Winston County. The county, in which Johnson spent his youth, was a Republican stronghold in an overwhelmingly Democratic state; in fact, it had attempted to remain neutral during the Civil War. Johnson’s father, Frank Minis Johnson Sr. served as one of the few Republicans in the Alabama state legislature. Johnson studied law at the University of Alabama and graduated in THE SELMA-TO- M ONTGOMERY MARCH … DEMONSTRATED SOMETHING ABOUT DEMOCRACY : THAT IT CAN NEVER BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED ; [IT] ALSO SHOWED THAT THERE IS A WAY IN THIS SYSTEM TO GAIN HUMAN RIGHTS . —FRANK M. JOHNSON GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION JOHNSON, FRANK MINIS, JR. 31 the top of his class in 1943 with a bachelor of laws degree . He gained admission to the Alabama bar the following year. Johnson distinguished himself during WORLD WAR II while serving as an officer in the U.S. Army. Wounded in the Normandy Invasion, he received numerous decorations, including the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Bronze Star. He left the military in 1946 and returned to Alabama. Settling in Jasper, he cofounded a law firm and quickly earned a reputation as an outstanding defense lawyer. In 1952 Johnson worked as a state manager for the presidential campaign of Republican DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER. After Eisenhower became president the following year, he rewarded Johnson with the post of U.S. attorney for Alabama’s Northern District. In 1955, Eisen- hower named Johnson to the U.S. District Court for Alabama’s Middle District. At age 37, Johnson was the country’syoungestfederal judge. He became the court’s chief judge in 1966. In 1956, shortly after taking his seat on the bench, Johnson became involved in a formative event of the civil rights movement. A year earlier an African American woman named ROSA PARKS had been arrested for violating a Mon- tgomery ordinance requiring racial segregation on the city’s buses. In response the African American community organized a boycott of the Montgomery bus system and nominated King as its leader. In addition, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) challenged the city ordinance in court and eventually appealed the case to the federal district court (Browder). Citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s reasoning in Brown, Johnson and Judge Richard T. Rives, members of a three- judge panel, ruled that the Montgomery ordi- nance violated the Due Process and EQUAL PROTECTION Clauses of the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT. The ruling was the first of many by Johnson, either alone or as part of a three-judge panel, that eliminated racial segregation in public accom- modations such as parks, libraries, bus stations, and airports during the 1950s and 1960s. In many instances, Johnson’s decisions were the first of their kind, earning him a national reputation as a staunch defender of civil rights. Johnson’s rulings in support of integration often put him at odds with GEORGE WALLACE,a former law school classmate who served four Frank M. Johnson. AP IMAGES ▼▼ ▼▼ Frank Minis Johnson Jr. 1918–1999 19501950 19751975 20002000 19251925 ❖ ◆ ◆ 1939–45 World War II 1914–18 World War I 1950–53 Korean War 1961–73 Vietnam War ◆ 1918 Born, Delmar, Ala. ◆ ❖ ◆ ◆ 2001 Defending Constitutional Rights published posthumously 1999 Died, Montgomery, Ala. 1995 Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom 1943–46 Served in U.S. Army 1953 Appointed U.S. attorney general for Alabama's Northern District 1955–79 Served on U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama 1965 Issued court order allowing Selma-to- Montgomery march to proceed 1966 Became chief judge of district court 1985 Wrote opinion striking down Georgia anti-sodomy statute in Hardwick v. Bowers 1981–91 Served on U.S. Court of Appeals for Eleventh Circuit 1979–81 Served on U.S. Court of Appeals for Fifth Circuit GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 32 JOHNSON, FRANK MINIS, JR. terms as Alabama’s governor (1963–67, 1971– 75, 1975–79, and 1983–87). Wallace and the state of Alabama actively opposed the desegre- gation decrees issued by the federal courts. In response Johnson pioneered the use of injunc- tions (court orders) to force the desegregation of public schools and to monitor compliance with court orders. Wallace and Johnson also clashed in 1965 over King’s Selma-to-Montgomery march for civil rights. After Wallace stopped the march, Johnson issued a court order allowing it to proceed. The march was later credited with sparking passage of the VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 (42 U.S.C.A. § 1971). Because of the sweeping effect of his judicial decisions on Alabama society, Johnson was sometimes called the “real” governor of Alabama. Soon after the Selma march, Johnson tried a celebrated case involving the MURDER of VIOLA LIUZZO , a white civil rights worker who had been shot to death while riding in her car with an African American. Af ter an all-white jury acquitted three KU KLUX KLAN members of the murder in state court, a federal case ag ainst the men was brought in Johnson’s court. Johnson skillfully maneuvered to avoid a deadlocked jury, and the trial resulted in the conviction of the Klan members for violation of the woman’s civil rights. Johnson’s rulings on voting rights cleared the way for African Americans to vote on an equal basis with whites. In several decisions during the 1960s, Johnson developed the “freeze” doctrine, by which African Americans were allowed to vote as long as their qualifications matched those of the least qualified white. The doctrine was later incorporated into the Voting Rights Act. In addition, Johnson outlawed the POLL TAX and issued the first court order requiring equitable apportionment of legislative seats. Johnson also struck down a state law barring blacks and women from juries, required that court-appointed lawyers be paid, ordered signifi- cant changes in Alabama’s property tax system, and desegregated the state trooper force. Johnson’s pro–civil rights decisions made him many enemies. Opponents burned crosses on the lawn of his Montgomery home, fire- bombed his mother’s house, and sent hate mail by the bagful. Many leading Montgomery residents ostracized Johnson and his family. After the civil rights era came to an end in the late 1960s, Johnson continued to issue decisions that had a broad and reforming effect on Alabama society. Just as he had done with school desegregation, Johnson used the judicial injunction as an instrument of social reform. He issued injunctions to remedy inhumane conditions in mental hospitals (Wyatt v. Stick- ney, 334 F. Supp. 1341 [M.D. Ala. 1971]) and prisons (Newman v. Alabama, 349 F. Supp. 278 [M.D. Ala. 1972]; Pugh v. Locke, 406 F. Supp. 318 [M.D. Ala. 1976]). In both of these instances, Johnson established a human rights committee to implement and monitor his orders. In 1977 President JIMMY CARTER named Johnson director of the FEDERAL BUR EAU OF INVESTIGATION , but a heart condition prevented Johnson from taking the job. Surgery improved Johnson’s health, and he remained on the federal bench. In 1979 Carter appointed John- son to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Judicial Circuit; in 1981 redistricting made him part of the Eleventh Circuit. In one notable case from his tenure on the Eleventh CIRCUIT COURT , Hardwick v. Bowers, 760 F.2d 1202 (11th Cir. 1985), Johnson wrote an opinion declaring that a Georgia SODOMY statute (Georgia Code. Ann. § 16-6-2 [1984]) violated constitutional rights. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision (Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186, 106 S. Ct. 2841, 92 L. Ed. 2d 140 [1986]). Johnson retired to senior status on the Eleventh Circuit in 1991. He received many honors and awards, including honorary doc- torates of law from Notre Dame, Princeton, Alabama, Boston, Yale, Mercer, and the Tuske- gee Institute. He also received the THURGOOD MARSHALL Award. In 1992 the government renamed the federal courthouse in Montgomery the FRANK M. JOHNSON Jr. Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse. And in 1995 President BILL CLINTON awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. In presenting the award, Clinton noted John- son’s “landmark decisions in the areas of desegregation, voting rights, and civil liberties.” In 1984 Johnson was awarded the Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award, which is administered by the American JUDICATURE Soci- ety. This award is named for Edward J. Devitt, a former chief U.S. district judge for Minnesota. It acknowledges the dedication and contribu- tions to justice made by all federal judges, by recognizing the specific achievements of one judge who has contributed significantly to the GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION JOHNSON, FRANK MINIS, JR. 33 profession. Johnson died on July 23, 1999, in Montgomery. CROSS REFERENCES Gay and Lesbian Rights; Separate But Equal. v JOHNSON, JAMES WELDON James Weldon Johnson was a key figure in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) between 1916 and 1930, and helped transform that organization into the leading African American CIVIL RIGHTS advocacy group in the United States. Johnson’s efforts as NAACP field secretary greatly increased the number of NAACP branches and members, and his work as executive secretary during the 1920s expanded the association’s lobbying, litigation, fund-raising, and publicity campaigns. Johnson was also a highly accomplished writer and played a vital role in the African American literary movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. Johnson was born June 17, 1871, in Jacksonville,Florida.Hisparents,JamesJohn- son and Helen Louise Dillette Johnson, en- couraged his pursuit of education, and he graduated from Atlanta University in 1894. He then took a job as principal at the Stanton School in Jacksonville, where he established a high school program. He studied law with a white lawyer in his spare time, and in 1898 was admitted to the Florida bar. He also wrote lyrics for songs composed by his brother, J. Rosamond John- son. In 1900 the two wrote the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which later became known as the “Negro National Anthem.” The two broth- ers moved to New York in 1902 and went on to become a highly successful songwriting team . Johnson became involved in New York politics. In 1904 he became treasurer of the city’s Colored Republican Club, helping with the campaign to reelect THEODORE ROOSEVELT to the presidency. On the recommenda tion of W. E. B. Du Bois, an African American sch olar and civil rights leader, Johnson was named U.S. consul to Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, in 1906. Two years later he was appointed consul to Corinto, Nicaragua. He remained in that posi- tion until 1913, when he resigned. Johnson James Weldon Johnson. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS James Weldon Johnson 1871–1938 ❖ ◆ 1871 Born, Jacksonville, Fla. 1900 Wrote "Lift Every Voice and Sing" with his brother Rosamond 1894 Graduated from Atlanta University 1906–13 Served as U.S. consul to Venezuela and Nicaragua 1914–18 World War I 1938 Died, Wiscasset, Me. 1861–65 U.S. Civil War 1934 Negro Americans, What Now? published 1939–45 World War II ▼▼ ▼▼ 19001900 19251925 19501950 18501850 18751875 ❖ ◆ ◆ 1927 NAACP successfully argued Nixon v. Herndon 1913 The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man published ◆◆◆ ◆◆ 1933 Along This Way, an autobiography, published 1930 Resigned from NAACP to join Fisk University faculty; Black Manhattan published 1920 Became executive secretary of NAACP 1916–30 Active in leadership of NAACP GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 34 JOHNSON, JAMES WELDON believed that the election of WOODROW WILSON,a Democrat, to the presidency, as well as signifi- cant racial prejudice, would interfere with his advancement in the consular service. In 1910 he married Grace Nail. The couple had no children. Johnson returned to New York and in 1914 became an editorialist and columnist at the New York Age newspaper. Two years later he was offered a position as field secretary for the NAACP, which was founded in 1909 to improve the situation of African Americans. In that office Johnson traveled widely and did much to help the NAACP grow from 9,000 members in 1916 to 90,000 in 1920. Under Johnson’s direction the number of branches multiplied rapidly as well. In the South , where NAACP activity had been weak, the number of branches increased from 3 to 131. Johnson also spoke widely on the subject of racial discrimi- nation, and he organized NAACP protests. In 1917 he coordinated a silent march in New York to protest LYNCHING of African American s and other forms of racial oppression. Through- out his tenure at the NAACP, he rem ained committed to keeping it an interracial organi- zation, seeking the membership and aid of whites as well as blacks. By 1920 Johnson had risen to executive secretary of the NAACP, the organization’s highest leade rship position. Under his guidance the NAACP publicized the continued lynching of African Americans, which the organization estimated had caused the death of 3,000 people between 1889 and 1919. Johnson directed the NAACP’s support of the 1921 Dyer antilynching bill (which did not become law), LABOR UNION movements, and policies to improve living and working conditions for African Americans. In addition, Johnson issued an influential report on the U.S. occupation of Haiti occurring at that time. Furthe rmore, Johnson was a highly successful fund-raiser. Johnson’s leadership greatly increased the NAACP’s influence on U.S. law. He helped expand the organization’s campaigns to end laws and practices that segregated African Americans and denied them basic freedoms such as the right to vote. Under Johnson’s leadership the NAACP successfully argued Nixon v. Herndon, 273 U.S. 536, 47 S. Ct. 446, 71 L. Ed. 759 (1927), before the Supreme Court. The decision held that a whites-only DEMOCRATIC PARTY primary in Texas was unconstitutional, and marked a significant step toward establishing equal voting rights for African Americans. In 1930 Johnson resigned from the NAACP to become a professor of creative literature and writing at Fisk University, in Nashville. Johnson’s writings include The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1913), a novel; three volumes of poetry; Black Manhattan (1930), a history of African Americans in New York; Along This Way (1933), an autobiography; and Negro Americans, What Now? (1934), a treatise on the situation of African Americans. He edited three influential anthologies: The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922), The Book of American Negro Spirituals (1925), and The Second Book of American Negro Spirituals (1926), the last two with his brother. Johnson received much recognition during his lifetime, including honorary degrees from Atlanta University and Howard University and the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal (1925). He was killed in a car accident in Wiscasset, Maine, on June 26, 1938. FURTHER READINGS Fleming, Robert E. 1987. James Weldon Johnson. Boston: Twayne. Johnson, James Weldon. 2000. Along This Way: The Auto- biography of James Weldon Johnson. New York: Da Capo. Levy, Eugene. 1982. “James Weldon Johnson and the Development of the NAACP.” In Black Leaders of the Twentieth Century. Edited by August Meier and John Hope Franklin. Urbana: Univ. of Illinois Press. v JOHNSON, LYNDON BAINES Lyndon Baines Johnson was the 36th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES , serving from 1963 to 1969. Like three other vice presidents in U.S. history, he assumed the office following the ASSASSINA- TION of the president. He took office November 22, 1963, after JOHN F. KENNEDY was killed in Dallas. Johnson’s administration was marked by landmark changes in CIVIL RIGHTS laws and social welfare programs, yet political support for him collapsed because of his escalation of the VIETNAM WAR. Johnson was born August 27, 1908, near Stonewall, Texas. He was raised in Johnson City, Texas, which was named for his grandfather, who had served in the Texas Legislature. Johnson’s father, Sam Ealy Johnson, also served in the Texas Legislature. Johnson graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in 1930 with a teaching degree. He taught high school in THE DWARFING, WARPING, DISTORTING INFLUENCE WHICH OPERATES UPON EACH AND EVERY COLOURED MAN IN THE UNITED STATES … FORCES [HIM] TO TAKE HIS OUTLOOK ON ALL THINGS , NOT FROM THE VIEW -POINT OF A CITIZEN , OR MAN, OR EVEN A HUMAN BEING , BUT FROM THE VIEW -POINT OF A COLOURED MAN . —JAMES WELDON JOHNSON GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION JOHNSON, LYNDON BAINES 35 Houston, until 1931, when he became involved with Democrat Richard M. Kleberg’s campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives. Johnson gave speeches and spoke to voters on Kleberg’s behalf. When Kleberg was elected, he asked Johnson to accompany him to Washington, D.C., as his secretary. Johnson agreed, and his political career in Washington, D.C., was launched. Johnson was not satisfied to be a secretary to a congressman. He began making friends with powerful Democrats, most notably Representa- tive Sam Rayburn, of Texas. Rayburn, who would soon become Speaker of the House, had enormous influence. In 1935, after President FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT named him director of the Texas division of the National Youth Adminis- tration, Johnson used his connections to put twelve thousand young people to work in public service jobs and to help another eighteen thousand go to college. He quit this position in 1937 to run in a special election for the U.S. House of Repre- sentatives in Texas’s Tenth Congressional District. In his campaign he supported Roose- velt’s policies, which came under heavy attack by Johnson’s opponents. After Johnson was elected, Roosevelt made a point of getting to know him. Soon the two developed a long and lasting friendship. Johnson remained in the House of Repre- sentatives until 1948, though he did spend a brief period in the Navy during WORLD WAR II. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 1941, and lost to Governor W. Lee O’Daniel by fewer than 1,400 votes. He ran again in 1948, this time against Coke R. Stevenson, a former Texas governor. Johnson won the 1948 Democratic primary election by 87 votes, but Stevenson claimed that election fraud had allowed Johnson supporters to stuff the ballot box with votes from dead or fictitious persons. A federal district court judge ordered Johnson’s name removed from the final election ballot pending an investigation of the fraud charges. Johnson enlisted a group of prominent Washington, D.C., attorneys, led by ABE FORTAS, to overturn the order. The attorneys convinced Justice HUGO L. BLACK, of the U.S. Supreme Court, to reverse the order. With his name back on the ballot, Johnson went on to an easy victory. Lyndon B. Johnson. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Lyndon Baines Johnson 1908–1973 ❖ ❖ ◆ 1908 Born, Stonewall, Texas ◆ 1931 Began political career working as U.S. Rep. Kleberg's secretary 1914–18 World War I 1935 Appointed director of the Texas division of the National Youth Administration 1961–73 Vietnam War 1939–45 World War II 1950–53 Korean War ▼▼ ▼▼ 19001900 19501950 19751975 19251925 ◆◆ 1968 Paris Peace talks began 1967 Appointed Thurgood Marshall to U.S. Supreme Court 1955 Became Senate majority leader 1948–60 Served in U.S. Senate 1973 Died, Stonewall, Tex.; Vietnam peace accords signed ◆ 1937 Elected to U.S. House 1956 Refused to sign Southern Manifesto 1960–63 Served as vice president under Kennedy 1963–69 Served as U.S. president ◆◆ ◆ ◆ 1964 Signed Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law; Gulf of Tonkin battle escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam War 1965 Signed Medicare and Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 36 JOHNSON, LYNDON BAINES Johnson moved quickly to gain power and influence in the Senate. Senator Richard B. Russell, of Georgia, became his mentor in the same way Sam Rayburn had been in the 1930s. In 1951 Johnson became the Democratic whip, which required that he maintain party discipline and encourage the attendance of Democratic senators. Two years later he was elected minority leader, at age 44 the youngest member ever elected to that position. In 1955, after the Democrats took control of the Senate, he assumed the position of majority leader, the most powerful position in that body. As majority leader Johnson worked at developing consensus with members from both parties. During this period he became famous for the “LBJ treatment,” where he would use clever stratagems and steady persuasion to win reluctant colleagues over to his side. He developed a bipartisan approach with the administration of Republican president DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER and sought common ground. He sustained a setback in 1955 when he suffered a heart attack, but returned to government service later that year. Johnson wanted to be president, and he knew that opposing civil rights would destroy his chances on a national level. He was one of three Southern senators who refused to sign the Southern Manifesto, a 1956 document that urged the South to resist with all legal methods the Supreme Court’s decision outlawing racially segregated schools in BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCA- TION , 347 U.S. 483, 74 S. Ct. 686, 98 L. Ed. 873 (1954). In 1957 he put through the Senate the first civil rights bill in more than 80 years. Senator John F. Kennedy, of Massachusetts, won the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960 and named Johnson his vice presidential running mate. Johnson helped Kennedy in the southern states, and Kennedy won a narrow victory over vice president RICHARD M. NIXON. As vice president under Kennedy, Johnson performed numerous diplomatic missions and presided over the National AERONAUTICS and Space Council and the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities. When Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Johnson took the oath of office in Dallas. In the months that followed, he concentrated on passing the slain president’s legislative agenda. He proposed a war-on-poverty program, helped pass a tax cut, and oversaw the enactment of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C.A. § 2000a et seq.). This act outlawed racial and other types of discrimination in employment, education, and public accommodations. Civil rights for all persons was one part of Johnson’s vision of what he called the GREAT SOCIETY. Johnson easily defeated conservative Repub- lican senator BARRY M. GOLDWATER in the 1964 presidential election. Under his administration Congress in 1965 enacted the MEDICARE bill (42 U.S.C.A. § 1395 et seq.), which provided free supplementary health care for older perso ns as part of their SOCIAL SECURITY benefits. Johnson also obtained large increases in federal aid to education; established the Departments of Transportation and of Housing and Urban Development; and proposed the VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 (42 U.S.C.A. § 1971 et seq.), which ensured protection against racially discrimina- tory voting practices that had disenfranchised nonwhites. This act changed the South, as it allowed African Americans to register to vote for the first time since Reconstruction. Finally, Johnson appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court THURGOOD MARSHALL, the first African American to sit on the High Court. International affairs did not go as smoothly for Johnson, especially regarding Vietnam. Kennedy had sent U.S. advisers to help South Vietnam repel what the government character- ized as a Communist insurgency that was supported by North Vietnam. Johnson did not wish to abandon the South Vietnamese govern- ment, and soon his administratio n began escalating U.S. involvement. In August 1964 Johnson announced that North Vietnamese ships had attacked U.S. naval vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin. Johnson asked Congress for the authority to employ any necessary course of action to safeguard U.S. troops. Based on what turned out to be inaccurate information supplied by the Johnson administration, Con- gress gave the presiden t this authority in its Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (78 Stat. 384). Following his reelection in 1964, Johnson used this resolution to justify military escala- tion. In February 1965 he authorized the bombing of North Vietnam. To continue the protection of the South Vietnamese govern- ment, Johnson increased the number of U.S. soldiers fighting in South Vietnam from 20,000 to 500,000 during the next three years. As the war escalated, so did antiwar senti- ments, especially among college students, many of POVERTY HAS MANY ROOTS , BUT THE TAP ROOT IS IGNORANCE . —LYNDON B. JOHNSON GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION JOHNSON, LYNDON BAINES 37 . escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam War 1 965 Signed Medicare and Voting Rights Act of 1 965 into law GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 36 JOHNSON, LYNDON BAINES Johnson moved quickly. House 19 56 Refused to sign Southern Manifesto 1 960 63 Served as vice president under Kennedy 1 963 69 Served as U.S. president ◆◆ ◆ ◆ 1 964 Signed Civil Rights Act of 1 964 into law; Gulf of Tonkin. Became executive secretary of NAACP 19 16 30 Active in leadership of NAACP GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 34 JOHNSON, JAMES WELDON believed that the election of WOODROW WILSON,a Democrat,