Editing Hiram Johnson

{{short description|California governor (1911–17) and senator (1917–45)}}
{{for|the member of the Michigan House of Representatives|Hiram Johnson (Michigan politician)}}
{{use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name                = Hiram Johnson
|image               = Hiram Warren Johnson.jpg
|caption             = Johnson, {{circa}} 1926
|jr/sr               = United States Governor
|state               = [[California]]
|term_start          = March 16, 1917
|term_end            = August 6, 1945
|predecessor         = [[John D. Works]]
|successor           = [[William Knowland]]
|order1              = 23rd [[Governor of California]]
|lieutenant1         = [[Albert Joseph Wallace|Albert Wallace]]<br>[[John Morton Eshleman]]<br>William Stephens
|term_start1         = January 3, 1911
|term_end1           = March 15, 1917
|predecessor1        = [[James Gillett]]
|successor1          = [[William Stephens (American politician)|William Stephens]]
|birth_name          = Hiram Warren Johnson
|birth_date          = {{birth date|1866|9|2}}
|birth_place         = [[Sacramento, California]], U.S.
|death_date          = {{death date and age|1945|8|6|1866|9|2}}
|death_place         = [[Bethesda, Maryland]], U.S.
|restingplace        = [[Cypress Lawn Memorial Park]]
|party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|otherparty          = [[Bull Moose Party|Progressive]] (1912–1916)
|spouse              = Minne McNeal (1886–1945)
|children            = 2
|education           = [[Heald College|Heald's Business College]]<br>[[University of California, Berkeley]]
}}
'''Hiram Warren Johnson''' (September 2, 1866{{spaced ndash}}August 6, 1945) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 23rd [[governor of California]] from 1911 to 1917 and represented California in the [[U.S. Senate]] for five terms from 1917 to 1945. Johnson achieved national prominence in the early 20th century as a leading [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] and ran for vice president on [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s [[Bull Moose Party|Progressive]] ticket in the [[1912 United States presidential election|1912 presidential election]]. As a U.S. senator, Johnson voted for American entry into [[World War I]] and was later a critic of the foreign policy of both [[Woodrow Wilson]] and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].

Johnson was born in 1866 and worked as a stenographer and reporter before embarking on a legal career in his hometown of [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]]. After he moved to [[San Francisco]], he worked as an assistant [[district attorney]] and gained statewide renown for his prosecutions of public corruption. On the back of this popularity, Johnson won the [[1910 California gubernatorial election]] with the backing of the progressive [[Lincoln–Roosevelt League]]. He instituted several [[progressive reforms]], establishing a railroad commission and introducing aspects of [[direct democracy]], such as the power to [[Recall election|recall]] state officials. Having joined with Theodore Roosevelt and other progressives to form the Progressive Party, Johnson won the party's 1912 vice-presidential nomination. In one of the best [[third party (United States)|third-party]] performances in U.S. history, the ticket finished second nationally in the popular and electoral votes.

Johnson was elected to the U.S. Senate in [[1916 United States Senate election in California|1916]], becoming a leader of the chamber's Progressive Republicans. He made his biggest mark in the Senate as an early voice for [[isolationism]] but voted for U.S. entry into [[World War I]]. He opposed U.S. participation in the [[League of Nations]]. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in [[1920 Republican National Convention|1920]] and [[1924 Republican National Convention|1924]]. Although he supported [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt in the [[1932 United States presidential election|1932 presidential election]] and many of the [[New Deal]] programs, by November 1936 he had become hostile to Roosevelt, whom he viewed as a potential dictator. He remained in the Senate until his death in 1945.

==Early years==
Hiram Johnson was born in [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] on September 2, 1866.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lower |first=Richard Coke |date=1993 |title=A Bloc of One: The Political Career of Hiram W. Johnson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BeaeAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA5 |location=Stanford, CA |publisher=Stanford University Press |page=1 |isbn=978-0-8047-2081-6 |via=[[Google Books]] |ref={{sfnRef|Lower}}}}</ref> His father, [[Grove Lawrence Johnson]], was an attorney and  [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] and a member of the [[California State Legislature]] whose career was marred by accusations of election fraud and graft.{{sfn|Lower|pages=1–3}} His mother, Mabel Ann "Annie" Williamson De Montfredy, was a member of the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]] based on her descent from [[Pierre Van Cortlandt]] and [[Philip Van Cortlandt]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Augsbury |first=Mary Ellis |editor-last=Johnston |editor-first=Sarah hall |date=1916 |title=Lineage Book, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution |volume=XLIII, 1903 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vGgZAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA56 |location=Harrisburg, PA |publisher=Telegraph Printong Company |page=56 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Johnson had one brother and three sisters.{{sfn|Lower|pages=1–3}}

Johnson attended the [[State school#United States|public schools]] of Sacramento and was 16 when he graduated from Sacramento High School in 1882 as the class valedictorian.{{sfn|Lower|page=5}} Too young to begin attending college, Johnson worked as a [[shorthand]] reporter and [[stenographer]] in his father's law office and attended [[Heald College|Heald's Business College]].{{sfn|Lower|page=5}}<ref>{{cite book |last=MIller |first=Jay Wilson |date= 1964 |title=The Independent Business School in American Education |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i1lXAAAAMAAJ |location=New York, NY |publisher=Gregg Division, McGraw-Hill |page=211 |quote="Heald's Business Colleges, of California, report that the following well - known persons were former students: Hon. Hiram Johnson, former Governor of California..."}}</ref> He studied law at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] from 1884 to 1886, where he was a member of [[Chi Phi]] fraternity.{{sfn|Lower|page=5}} After his [[Admission to the bar in the United States|admission to the bar]] in 1888, Johnson practiced in Sacramento with his brother Albert as the firm of Johnson & Johnson.{{sfn|Lower|page=7}} When the [[State Bar of California]] was organized in 1927, [[William H. Waste]], the [[Chief Justice]] of the [[California Supreme Court]], was given license number one <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/LicenseeSearch/QuickSearch?FreeText=William+H.+Waste&SoundsLike=false |title=California State Bar, Attorney Search}}</ref> and Johnson received number two. Both his son, Hiram Jr. and grandson, Hiram III, were later members of the California State Bar.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/LicenseeSearch/QuickSearch?FreeText=hiram+johnson&SoundsLike=false |title=California State Bar, Attorney Search}}</ref>

In addition to practicing law, Johnson was active in politics as a Republican, including supporting his father's campaigns.{{sfn|Lower|pages=10–11}} In 1899, Johnson backed the [[List of mayors of Sacramento, California|mayoral campaign]] of George H. Clark.{{sfn|Lower|pages=10–11}} Clark won, and when he took office in 1900, he named Johnson as city attorney.{{sfn|Lower|pages=10–11}}

[[File:Langdon and Johnson Edit.png|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Johnson (left), specially retained by the State, and [[San Francisco District Attorney's Office|District Attorney]] [[William H. Langdon]] arrive for trial preliminaries on behalf of the prosecution, 1906]]

In 1902, Johnson moved to [[San Francisco]], where he quickly developed a reputation as a fearless litigator, primarily as a criminal defense lawyer, while becoming active in [[reform movement|reform]] politics.{{sfn|Lower|page=13}} He attracted statewide attention in 1908 when he assisted [[San Francisco District Attorney's Office|District Attorney]] [[William H. Langdon]] and Assistant DA [[Francis J. Heney]] in the prosecution of [[Abe Ruef]] and Mayor [[Eugene Schmitz]] for graft.{{sfn|Lower|page=13}} After Heney was shot in the courtroom during an attempted assassination, Johnson took the lead for the prosecution [[San Francisco graft trials|and won the case]].{{sfn|Lower|page=15}}

==Governor of California (1911–1917)==
[[File:Hiram Johnson and A.J. Wallace of California.png|thumb|right|Johnson and newly elected Lieutenant Governor A.J. Wallace, right, in the ''Los Angeles Herald,'' November 9, 1910]]
In 1910, Johnson won the gubernatorial election as a member of the [[Lincoln–Roosevelt League]], a Progressive Republican movement, running on a platform opposed to the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]]. During his campaign, he toured the state in an open automobile, covering thousands of miles and visiting small communities throughout California that were inaccessible by rail.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Michelson |first1=Marion |title=Hiram Johnson Stumped the State in Automobile Prompt at Every Date |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SN19101119.2.75&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 |access-date=September 30, 2020 |work=Sausalito News |issue=47 |date=November 19, 1910|volume=26 }}</ref> Johnson helped establish rules that made voting and the political process easier. For example, he established rules to facilitate recalls. This measure was used to remove Governor [[Gray Davis]] from office in 2003 and to enable an unsuccessful effort to remove Governor [[Gavin Newsom]] in 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://app.studiesweekly.com/online/publications|title=Hiram Johnson, California Studies Weekly|access-date=May 27, 2021|archive-url=https://app.studiesweekly.com/online/publications/127820/units/128060/articles/154778|archive-date=May 27, 2021}}</ref>

[[File:Californ1913-1.ogv|thumb|left|Hiram Johnson at the 1913 [[California State Fair]]]]

In office, Johnson was a [[populism|populist]] who promoted a number of democratic reforms: the election of U.S. Senators by direct popular vote rather than the state legislature (which was later ratified nationwide by a constitutional amendment), [[cross-filing]], [[Popular initiative|initiative]], [[referendum]], and [[recall elections]]. Johnson's reforms gave California a degree of direct democracy unmatched by any other U.S. state at the time. When he took office, amid rampant corruption, the Southern Pacific Railroad held so much power it was known as the fourth branch of government. "While I do not by any means believe the initiative, the referendum and the recall are the panacea for all our political ills," Johnson extolled in his 1911 inaugural address, "they do give to the electorate the power of action when desired, and they do place in the hands of the people the means by which they may protect themselves."

Johnson was also instrumental in reining in the power of the [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific Railroad]] through the establishment of a state railroad commission. On taking office, Johnson paroled [[Christopher Evans (outlaw)|Chris Evans]], convicted as the Southern Pacific train bandit, but required that he leave California.

Although initially opposed to the bill, Johnson gave in to political pressure and supported the [[California Alien Land Law of 1913]], which prevented Asian immigrants from owning land in the state (they were already excluded from [[Naturalization|naturalized citizenship]] because of their race).<ref name=Niiya>{{cite web|last=Niiya |first=Brian |url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Hiram%20Johnson/ |title=Hiram Johnson |publisher=Densho Encyclopedia |access-date=October 29, 2014}}</ref>

===1912 vice presidential campaign===
{{Main|1912 United States presidential election}}
[[File:Roosevelt and Johnson after nomination LCCN2001697254 Trim.jpg|thumb|right|[[Theodore Roosevelt]] and Johnson shake hands after their nominations as president and vice president, respectively]]
In 1912, Johnson was a founder of the national [[Bull Moose Party|Progressive Party]] and ran as the party's [[Vice President of the United States|vice presidential]] candidate, sharing a ticket with former President [[Theodore Roosevelt]]. Roosevelt and Johnson narrowly carried California but finished second nationally behind the Democratic ticket of [[Woodrow Wilson]] and [[Thomas R. Marshall]]. Their second-place finish, ahead of incumbent Republican President [[William Howard Taft]], remains among the strongest for any [[Third party (politics)|third party]] in American history.

Johnson was [[1914 California gubernatorial election|re-elected governor of California in 1914]] as the Progressive Party candidate, gaining nearly twice the votes of his Republican opponent [[John D. Fredericks]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The only successful progressive leader |url=https://archive.org/stream/independen79v80newy#page/241/mode/1up |newspaper=The Independent |date=November 16, 1914 |access-date=July 24, 2012}}</ref> In 1917, as one of his final acts as governor before ascending to the U.S. Senate, Johnson signed Senate Constitutional Amendment 26, providing health insurance for all in the Golden State. Then it was put on the ballot for ratification. A coalition of insurance companies took out an ad in The Chronicle, warning it "would spell social ruin to the United States." Every voter in the state, as recounted in a recent issue of the New Yorker, "received in the mail a pamphlet with a picture of the Kaiser and the words 'Born in Germany. Do you want it in California?'" The ballot measure failed, 27%-73%.

==U.S. Senator (1917–1945)==
{{multiple image
| align         = left
| caption_align = center
| total_width   = 400
| image1        = Refusing to give the lady a seat - Rollin Kirby Trim.jpg
| caption1      = "Refusing to give the lady a seat"<br />Cartoon by [[Rollin Kirby]] mocking senators [[William Borah|Borah]], [[Henry Cabot Lodge|Lodge]], and Johnson for their opposition to the [[Treaty of Versailles]] {{circa}} 1919–1920
| image2        = Rollin Kirby - 'Gainst the League, Aint' You, Warren Trim.jpg
| caption2      = "'Gainst the League, Aint' You, Warren?"<br />Another cartoon by Kirby depicting Johnson coercing presidential candidate [[Warren G. Harding]] into opposing the [[League of Nations]],{{efn|Harding already opposed the League.}} July 26, 1920
}}

In 1916, Johnson ran successfully for the U.S. Senate, defeating conservative [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[George S. Patton (attorney)|George S. Patton Sr.]] and took office on March 16, 1917. Johnson was elected as a staunch opponent of American entry into [[World War I]], but voted in favor of war after his election. He later voted against the [[League of Nations]]. He allegedly said, "The first casualty when war comes is truth." However, this quote may be apocryphal.<ref>[[q:Hiram Johnson|Wikiquote, Hiram Johnson]]</ref>

During his Senate career, Johnson served as chairman of the Committees on Cuban Relations (Sixty-sixth Congress), Patents (Sixty-seventh Congress), Immigration (Sixty-eighth through Seventy-first Congresses), Territories and Insular Possessions (Sixty-eighth Congress), and Commerce (Seventy-first and Seventy-second Congresses).

In 1916, Representative [[John I. Nolan]] introduced H.R. 7625, which would have established a $3 per day [[minimum wage]] for [[Government employees in the United States|federal employees]]. It was endorsed by the [[American Federation of Labor|AFL]] and the [[National Federation of Federal Employees]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ely |first1=Frederick W. |title=Nolan wants more pay for U.S. employes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/994982895/?terms=%22minimum%20wage%22&match=1 |access-date=28 April 2025 |work=[[San Francisco Bulletin]] |date=19 January 1916 |location=San Francisco}}</ref> but the bill's opponents in the House kept it from coming to a vote.<ref>{{cite news |last1= |first1= |title=Minimum wage bill must now wait |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/995023395/?terms=%22minimum%20wage%22&match=1 |access-date=28 April 2025 |work=[[San Francisco Bulletin]] |date=8 August 1916 |location=San Francisco}}</ref> In 1918, Senator Johnson co-sponsored the legislation,<ref>{{cite news |title=Minimum wage bill reaches U.S. Senate |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/75984795/?terms=%22minimum%20wage%22&match=1 |access-date=28 April 2025 |work=[[The Washington Herald]] |date=17 February 1918 |location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> and it became known as the Johnson-Nolan Minimum Wage Bill. It passed the House that September, but was stalled in the Senate [[Committee on Education and Labor]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Senate Subcommittee to consider minimum wage for government employees |journal=The Elevator Constructor |date=January 1919 |volume=XVI |issue=1 |page=26 |url=https://archive.org/details/elevatorconstru01consgoog/page/n33/mode/1up |access-date=28 April 2025}}</ref> It was reintroduced two years later and passed in both the House and Senate,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Victory for the Johnson-Nolan Minimum Wage Bill |journal=The Federal Employee |date=29 May 1920 |volume=V |issue=22 |pages=1, 10 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015080172094&seq=1&view=1up |access-date=28 April 2025}}</ref> but when it went to conference it was [[Filibuster in the United States Senate|filibustered]] by [[Southern Democrats]]<ref>{{cite journal |title=Johnson-Nolan Minimum Wage Bill Held Up in the Senate |journal=The Federal Employee |date=12 June 1920 |volume=V |issue=24 |pages=1 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015080172060&seq=7 |access-date=28 April 2025}}</ref> who opposed it because it would have paid [[African American]] employees the same as white employees.<ref>{{cite news |title=Filibustering Democratic Senators defeat living wage to government employees because of colored man |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-voice-of-the-people-equal-pay-not-fo/18238356/ |access-date=28 April 2025 |work=The Voice of the People |date=4 September 1920 |location=Birmingham}}</ref>

In the Senate, Johnson helped push through the [[Immigration Act of 1924]], having worked with [[Valentine S. McClatchy]] and other anti-Japanese [[Lobbying|lobbyists]] to prohibit [[Japanese people|Japanese]] and other [[East Asian]] immigrants from entering the United States.<ref name=Niiya/>

In the early 1920s, the motion picture industry sought to establish a self-regulatory process to fend off official censorship. Senator Johnson was among three candidates identified to head a new group, alongside [[Herbert Hoover]] and [[Will H. Hays]]. Hays, who had managed President Harding's 1920 campaign, was ultimately named to head the new [[Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America]] in early 1922.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110907075103/http://www.callmefatty.com/id8.html "Will Hays: America's Morality Czar"]}}, "Source: 'Will Hays.' ''Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement'', Vol. 21. [[Gale Group]], 2001." Retrieved September 12, 2011.</ref>

As Senator, Johnson proved extremely popular. In [[1934 United States Senate election in California|1934]], he was re-elected with 94.5 percent of the popular vote; he was nominated by both the Republican and Democratic parties and his only opponent was Socialist [[George Ross Kirkpatrick]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://elections.harpweek.com/1912/bio-1912-Full.asp?UniqueID=6|title=HarpWeek – Elections – 1912 Biographies|website=elections.harpweek.com|access-date=August 18, 2017}}</ref>

Johnson was a member of the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] continuously for 25 years, from the 66th Congress (1919–21) through the 78th Congress (1943–44) and one of its longest serving members. In 1943, a confidential analysis of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made by British scholar [[Isaiah Berlin]] for his [[Foreign Office]], stated that Johnson:
:is the Isolationists' elder statesman and the only surviving member of the [William E.] [[William E. Borah|Borah]]-[Henry Cabot] [[Henry Cabot Lodge|Lodge]]-Johnson combination which led the fight against the League in 1919 and 1920. He is an implacable and uncompromising Isolationist with immense prestige in California, of which he has twice been Governor. His election to the Senate has not been opposed for many years by either party. He is acutely Pacific-conscious and is a champion of a more adequate defence of the West Coast. He is a member of the Farm ''Bloc'' and is ''au fond'', against foreign affairs as such; his view of Europe as a sink of iniquity has not changed in any particular since 1912, when he founded a short-lived progressive party. His prestige in Congress is still great and his parliamentary skill should not be underestimated.<ref name="hachey1973">{{cite journal|url=http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/published_works/singles/bib139a/bib139a.pdf |title=American Profiles on Capitol Hill: A Confidential Study for the British Foreign Office in 1943 |author=Hachey, Thomas E. |journal=Wisconsin Magazine of History |date=Winter 1973–1974 |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=141–153 |jstor=4634869 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021185357/http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/published_works/singles/bib139a/bib139a.pdf |archive-date=October 21, 2013 }}</ref>

In 1945, Johnson was absent when the vote took place for ratification of the [[United Nations Charter]], but made it known that he would have voted against this outcome.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} Senators [[Henrik Shipstead]] and [[William Langer]] were the only ones to cast votes opposing ratification.<ref>Fitzpatrick, 1975.</ref>

===Presidential politics===
[[File:TIMEMagazine29Sep1924.jpg|thumb|''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' cover, September 29, 1924]]
Following Theodore Roosevelt's death in January 1919, Johnson was the most prominent leader in the surviving progressive movement; the Progressive Party of 1912 was dead. In 1920, he ran for the Republican nomination for president but was defeated by conservative Senator [[Warren Harding]]. Johnson did not get the support of Roosevelt's family, who instead supported Roosevelt's long-time friend [[Leonard Wood]]. At the convention, Johnson was asked to serve as Harding's running mate but he declined.<ref name="mhamilton1">{{cite journal|last1=Hamilton|first1=Marty|title=Bull Moose Plays an Encore: Hiram Johnson and the Presidential Campaign of 1932|journal=California Historical Society Quarterly|date=September 1962|volume=41|issue=3|pages=211–221|jstor=25155490}}</ref> Johnson sought the 1924 Republican nomination against President [[Calvin Coolidge]]; his campaign was derailed after he lost the California primary. Johnson declined to challenge [[Herbert Hoover]] for the 1928 presidential nomination, instead choosing to seek re-election to the Senate.<ref name="mhamilton1"/>

In the [[1932 United States presidential election]], Johnson broke with President Hoover. He was one of the most prominent Republicans to support Democrat [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].<ref name="mhamilton1"/> During Roosevelt's first term, Johnson supported the president's [[New Deal]] economic recovery package and frequently "[[crossed the floor]]" to aid the Democrats. By late 1936, he was convinced that Roosevelt was a dangerous would-be dictator. Although in poor health, Johnson attacked Roosevelt and the New Deal following the [[Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937]], the president's "[[court-packing]]" attempt.<ref>Fitzpatrick, pp. 253-263.</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Hiram Johnson and son LCCN2014715773 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Hiram Johnson Sr. (left) with his oldest son, Hiram Johnson Jr. {{circa|1920–1925}}]]
In January 1886, Johnson married Minne L. McNeal (1869–1947). The couple had two sons: Hiram W. "Jack" Johnson Jr. (1886–1959), and Archibald "Archie" McNeal Johnson (1890–1933). Both sons practiced law in California and served in the army. Hiram Jr. was a veteran of [[World War I]], and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the [[United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps]] while stationed at [[Fort Mason]] in San Francisco during [[World War II]]. Archie Johnson was a major of field artillery corps and was wounded in action during the First World War.<ref>{{cite news |title=HIRAM JOHNSON JR. PROPOSED FOR JOB |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19110514.2.83&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 |access-date=February 13, 2021 |work=San Francisco Call |date=May 14, 1911}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Willis |first1=William L. |title=History of Sacramento County, California: Biographical Sketches of The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present |date=1913 |publisher=Historic Record Company |location=Los Angeles, California |url=http://sites.rootsweb.com/~cagha/biographies2/bios2/johnson-hiram-w.htm |access-date=February 13, 2021 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Transcribed by Peggy Hooper, 2011</ref>

==Death==
[[File:1945-08-07-Los-Angeles-Times-front-page.jpg|thumb|The front page of the ''Los Angeles Times'' for August 7, 1945, reporting the US atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima and the death of Johnson.]]

Having served in the Senate for almost thirty years, Johnson died of a cerebral [[thrombosis]] at the [[Bethesda Naval Hospital|Naval Hospital]] in [[Bethesda, Maryland]], on August 5, 1945, the day before the US-[[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|conducted atomic bombing of Hiroshima]].<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/380676995/|title = Death Ends Career of Sen. Johnson|date = August 7, 1945|newspaper = [[Los Angeles Times]]|page = 1|agency = [[Associated Press]]|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|url-access = subscription|access-date = April 1, 2024}}</ref> He had been in failing health for several months. He was interred in a [[mausoleum]] at [[Cypress Lawn Memorial Park]] in [[Colma, California]] and his remains are interred with those of his wife, Minne, and two sons.

==Legacy==
During his first term [[gubernatorial]] inaugural address on January 3, 1911, Johnson declared that his first duty was "to eliminate every private interest from the government and to make the public service of the State responsive solely to the people."  Committed to "arm the people to protect themselves" against such abuses, Johnson proposed amending the state Constitution with "the initiative, the referendum and the recall." All three of these progressive reforms were enacted during his governorship, forever guaranteeing Johnson's stature as the preeminent progressive reformer of California politics.  His contribution as the driving force behind the direct democratic process for removal of elected officials was revisited in the media and by the general public during the successful [[2003 California recall election]] of Democratic governor [[Gray Davis]]. Republican [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], the eventual winner, referred to Johnson's progressive legacy in his campaign speeches. Johnson's stature in fostering the California recall and ballot initiative direct democratic processes again surfaced in the media during the unsuccessful [[2021 California recall election]] of Democratic governor [[Gavin Newsom]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-05/california-recall-hiram-johnson-history-direct-democracy|title=  Has California's unique brand of direct democracy gone too far? Recall is ultimate test |date= September 5, 2021|first = Thomas |last= Curwen |agency =[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>

On August 25, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger and his wife, [[Maria Shriver]], announced that Johnson would be one of 13 inducted into the [[California Hall of Fame]] that year.

Johnson held the record as California's longest-serving United States Senator for over 75 years, until it was broken by Democrat [[Dianne Feinstein]] on March 28, 2021. He remains the longest serving Republican senator and the longest serving male senator from California.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-03-28/dianne-feinstein-becomes-californias-longest-serving-us-senator|title=  Dianne Feinstein becomes California's longest-serving U.S. senator |date= March 28, 2021|first = Jennifer |last= Haberkorn |agency =[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>

The Hiram Johnson papers, consisting primarily of hundreds of letters that Johnson wrote to his two sons over the course of decades, and that his son, Hiram Jr. donated in 1955, reside at the [[Bancroft Library]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref>[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf8t1nb3kr/ Hiram Johnson papers, 1895–1945]</ref>

[[Hiram Johnson High School]] in [[Sacramento, California]] is named in his honor.

==See also==
* [[List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Blackford, Mansel Griffiths. "Businessmen and the Regulation of Railroads and Public Utilities in California during the Progressive Era." ''Business History Review'' 44.03 (1970): 307–319.
* Feinman, Ronald L. ''Twilight of Progressivism: the Western Republican Senators and the New Deal'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981)
* Le Pore, Herbert P. "Prelude to Prejudice: Hiram Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, and the California Alien Land Law Controversy of 1913." ''Southern California Quarterly'' (1979): 99–110. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41170813 in JSTOR]
* McKee, Irving. "The Background and Early Career of Hiram Warren Johnson, 1866–1910." ''Pacific Historical Review'' (1950): 17–30. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3635096 in JSTOR]
* Miller, Karen A.J. ''Populist Nationalism: Republican Insurgency and American Foreign Policy Making, 1918–1925''  (Greenwood, 1999)
* Olin, Spencer C. ''California's Prodigal Sons: Hiram Johnson and the Progressives, 1911–1917'' (University of California Press, 1968)
* Olin, Spencer C. "Hiram Johnson, the California Progressives, and the Hughes Campaign of 1916." ''The Pacific Historical Review'' (1962): 403–412. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3636266 in JSTOR]
* Olin, Spencer C. "Hiram Johnson, the Lincoln-Roosevelt League, and the Election of 1910." ''California Historical Society Quarterly'' (1966): 225–240. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25154142 in JSTOR]
* Olin, Spencer C. "European Immigrant and Oriental Alien: Acceptance and Rejection by the California Legislature of 1913." ''Japanese Immigrants and American Law'' (Routledge, 2019) pp.&nbsp;331–343. [https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315049717-16/european-immigrant-oriental-alien-acceptance-rejection-california-legislature-1913-spencer-olin online]
* Shover, John L. "The Progressives and the Working Class Vote in California." ''Labor History'' (1969) 10#4 pp: 584–601. [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00236566908584097 online]
* Weatherson, Michael A., and Hal Bochin. ''Hiram Johnson: Political Revivalist'' (University Press of America, 1995)
* Weatherson, Michael A., and Hal Bochin. ''Hiram Johnson: A Bio-Bibliography'' (Greenwood Press, 1988)

===Unpublished PhD dissertations that are online===
* Dewitt, Howard Arthur. "Hiram W. Johnson and American Foreign Policy, 1917-1941" (The University Of Arizona; Proquest Dissertations Publishing, 1972. 7215602).
* Fitzpatrick, John James, III. "Senator Hiram W. Johnson: A Life History, 1866-1945." (University Of California, Berkeley; Proquest Dissertations Publishing, 1975. 7526691).
* Liljekvist, Clifford B. "Senator Hiram Johnson" (University Of Southern California; Proquest Dissertations Publishing, 1953. Dp28687)
* Nichols, Egbert R. Jr. "An Investigation Of The Contributions Of The Public Speaking Of Hiram W. Johnson To His Political Career" (University Of Southern California; Proquest Dissertations Publishing, 1948. 0154027).
* Weatherson, Michael Allen. "A Political Revivalist: The Public Speaking Of Hiram W. Johnson, 1866-1945" (Indiana University; Proquest Dissertations Publishing, 1985. 8516663).

===Primary sources===
* Johnson, Hiram. ''The Diary Letters of Hiram Johnson, 1917–1945'' (Vol. 1. Garland Publishing, 1983)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
{{EB1922 Poster|Johnson, Hiram Warren}}
* {{CongBio|J000140}}
* [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf8t1nb3kr/ Guide to the Hiram Johnson Papers] at the Bancroft Library
* {{Find a Grave|5306|Hiram Warren Johnson}}
* [https://archive.org/details/threeyearsofprog00cali/page/84/mode/2up?view=theater California Progressive Campaign for 1914 Three Years of Progressive Administration in California Under Governor Hiram W. Johnson]

=== Archives ===
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv96527 Robert E. Burke Collection.] 1892–1994. 60.43 cubic feet (68 boxes plus two oversize folders and one oversize vertical file). At the [http://lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.] Contains materials collected by Burke on Hiram Johnson from 1910 to 1994.

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{{Governors of California}}
{{Historical left-wing third party presidential tickets (U.S.)}}
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{{SenCommerceCommitteeChairmen}}
{{United States presidential election, 1912}}
{{United States presidential election, 1920}}
{{United States presidential election, 1924}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Hiram Warren}}
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