Edwin C. Johnson

Edwin C. Johnson
Edwin C. Johnson
26th and 34th Governor of Colorado
	In office; January 11, 1955 – January 8, 1957
Lieutenant	Stephen L.R. McNichols
Preceded by	Daniel I.J. Thornton
Succeeded by	Stephen L.R. McNichols
	In office; January 10, 1933 – January 1, 1937
Lieutenant	Ray Herbert Talbot
Preceded by	William Herbert Adams
Succeeded by	Ray Herbert Talbot
United States Senator; from Colorado
	In office; January 3, 1937 – January 3, 1955
Preceded by	Edward P. Costigan
Succeeded by	Gordon L. Allott
25th Lieutenant Governor of Colorado
	In office; 1931–1933
Governor	Billy Adams
Preceded by	George Milton Corlett
Succeeded by	Ray Herbert Talbot
Member of the Colorado House of Representatives
	In office; 1923–1931
Personal details
Born	Edwin Carl Johnson; January 1, 1884; Scandia, Republic County; Kansas, USA
Died	May 30, 1970 (aged 86); Denver, Colorado
Resting place	Fairmount Mausoleum of Fairmount Cemetery in Denver
Political party	Democratic
Profession	Railroad dispatcher; Baseball official
Signature

Edwin Carl Johnson (January 1, 1884 – May 30, 1970) was a Democrat who served as both governor and U.S. senator from the U.S. state of Colorado.

Background

Edwin Carl Johnson was born in Scandia in Republic County in northern Kansas. As a child, he moved with his family to Lincoln, Nebraska. Johnson attended Lincoln High School under the tutelage of William Jennings Bryan, who was serving as a substitute teacher. After graduation in 1903, Johnson pursued his dream of becoming a railroad man, and after numerous positions became a train dispatcher/telegrapher at Fairmont in Fillmore County in southeastern Nebraska. In 1909, Johnson contracted tuberculosis and was advised to relocate to Colorado, where the climate was believed helpful in his medical situation.

Career

Beginning in 1923, Johnson served in the Colorado House of Representatives for four terms. He was lieutenant governor from 1931 to 1933. He represented Colorado for three terms in the United States Senate from 1937 until 1955, during which time from 1937 to 1940 he was an intraparty critic of the New Deal policies of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.^[1] Johnson served as the 26th and 34th governor of Colorado from January 10, 1933 until January 1, 1937 and from January 12, 1955 until January 8, 1957.

He was perhaps best known for making a speech on the Senate floor criticizing the extramarital affair of actress Ingrid Bergman, who at the time was married to Petter Lindström. Bergman's affair with Italian director Roberto Rossellini became a cause celebre as a result of Johnson's speech, forcing her to relocate to Europe for several years until her return to Hollywood in the 1956 blockbuster film Anastasia. In 1972, Senator Charles H. Percy of Illinois entered an apology into the Congressional Record for the attack made on Bergman twenty-two years earlier.

Johnson is also known for the alternative he presented to mankind in November 1945: "God Almighty in His infinite wisdom [has] dropped the atomic bomb in our lap." Now for the first time the United States, "with vision and guts and plenty of atomic bombs," could "compel mankind to adopt the policy of lasting peace … or be burned to a crisp."^[2]

Johnson was also the President of the Western League, a Class A baseball league, from 1947 to 1955. He was instrumental in the construction of Bears Stadium / Mile High Stadium, and was inducted in 1968 into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. He died in Denver and is interred at the Fairmount Mausoleum at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver. The eastbound bore of the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel is named for Johnson.

References

^ David M. Jordan, FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944 (Blomington: Indiana University Press, 2011), p. 276, ISBN 978-0-253-35683-3
^ John Lewis Gaddis, The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947, (New York & London: Columbia University Press, 1972), p 245.

External links

Governor Edwin Carl Johnson Collection at the Colorado State Archives
"Colorado Governor Edwin Carl Johnson," National Association of Governors biography

United States Congress. "Edwin C. Johnson (id: J000127)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Edwin C. Johnson at Find a Grave
Guide to the Johnson papers at the University of Denver Retrieved 2014-09-26.

Other sources

McCarthy, William T. Horse Sense: The Divided Politics of Edwin C. Johnson, 1923 - 1954 (Greeley, Co.: University of Northern Colorado, Unpublished Masters Thesis, 1996)
McCarty, Patrick Fargo Big Ed Johnson: A Political Portrait (Boulder, Co.: University of Colorado, Unpublished Master’s Thesis, 1958)

Political offices
Preceded by George Milton Corlett	Lieutenant Governor of Colorado 1931–1933	Succeeded by Ray Herbert Talbot
Preceded by William Herbert Adams	Governor of Colorado 1933–1937	Succeeded by Ray Herbert Talbot
Preceded by Dan Thornton	Governor of Colorado 1955–1957	Succeeded by Stephen L.R. McNichols
U.S. Senate
Preceded by Edward P. Costigan	U.S. senator (Class 2) from Colorado 1937–1955 Served alongside: Alva B. Adams, Eugene D. Millikin	Succeeded by Gordon L. Allott

[1] David M. Jordan, FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944 (Blomington: Indiana University Press, 2011), p. 276, ISBN 978-0-253-35683-3

[2] John Lewis Gaddis, The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947, (New York & London: Columbia University Press, 1972), p 245.

[1]

[2]

v t e Governors of Colorado
Territorial (1861–1876)	Gilpin Evans Cummings Hunt McCook Elbert McCook Routt
State (since 1876)	Routt Pitkin Grant Eaton A. Adams Cooper Routt Waite McIntire A. Adams Thomas Orman Peabody A. Adams McDonald Buchtel Shafroth E. Ammons Carlson Gunter Shoup Sweet Morley W. Adams E. Johnson Talbot T. Ammons Carr Vivian Knous W. Johnson Thornton E. Johnson McNichols Love Vanderhoof Lamm Romer Owens Ritter Hickenlooper Polis

v t e United States senators from Colorado
Class 2	Teller Chilcott Tabor Bowen Wolcott Patterson Guggenheim Shafroth Phipps Costigan Johnson Allott Haskell Armstrong Brown Allard Udall Gardner Hickenlooper
Class 3	Chaffee Hill Teller Hughes Thomas Nicholson Adams Means Waterman Walker Schuyler Adams Millikin Carroll Dominick Hart Wirth Campbell Salazar Bennet

v t e Chairs of the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Commerce and Manufactures (1816–1825)	Hunter Sanford Dickerson
Commerce (1825–1947)	Lloyd Johnston Woodbury Forsyth King Silsbee Goldsborough Davis King Huntington Haywood Dix Hamlin Dodge Clay Chandler Conkling Gordon Ransom McMillan Frye Ransom Frye Nelson Clarke Fletcher Jones H. Johnson Stephens Copeland Bailey
Interstate Commerce (1887–1947)	Cullom Butler Cullom Elkins Clapp Newlands Smith Cummins Smith Watson Couzens Dill Wheeler
Interstate and Foreign Commerce/Commerce (1947–1977)	White E. Johnson Tobey Bricker Magnuson
Commerce, Science, and Transportation (1977–present)	Magnuson Cannon Packwood Danforth Hollings Pressler McCain Hollings McCain Hollings McCain Stevens Inouye Rockefeller Thune Wicker Cantwell

Authority control databases
International	FAST VIAF
National	Germany United States
People	US Congress
Other	NARA SNAC