Henry S. Johnston

Henry Simpson Johnston (born December 30, 1867 in Evansville , Indiana , †  January 7, 1965 in Perry , Oklahoma ) was an American politician and from 1927 to 1929 the seventh governor of the state of Oklahoma.

Early years and political advancement

As a child, Henry Johnston moved to Kansas with his parents . There he attended Baker University and Methodist College . In 1891 he came to Colorado , where he studied law and was subsequently admitted to the bar. Soon after, he moved to Perry, Oklahoma Territory .

In his new home, Johnston made a steep political career. Between 1897 and 1904 he was a member of the Territorial Government Council. At the same time he served as a district attorney in Noble County from 1901 to 1904 . In 1906 he was also a member of the Oklahoma Constituent Assembly. He was then until 1908 a member and President of the Senate of the new state of Oklahoma. In 1912 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore , where Woodrow Wilson was nominated as a presidential candidate. In the years that followed, through 1926, Johnston, Oklahoma, became very popular with large parts of the population. His followers came mainly from the Prohibition supporters , from various Protestant churches and the Freemasons. Because of his popularity, it was not difficult for him to be elected as the new governor of his state in 1926 with 55:44 percent of the vote against the Republican Omer K. Benedict.

Governor of Oklahoma

Johnston took up his new office on January 10, 1927. His tenure got off to a promising start. He managed to push through a budget that, among other things, made the school system much better financially than before. The good agreement with the legislature did not last long. Disagreements soon arose. One point of criticism of the governor was the influence of his private secretary, a Mrs. Hammond, on his political decisions. The legislature then accused the governor of allowing himself to be influenced in office and sought impeachment proceedings. There were also other political differences of opinion. Governor Johnston reacted similarly to his predecessor Jack C. Walton four years earlier when an impeachment had been initiated against him : he installed the National Guard. Unlike Walton, he received support from the Supreme Court. This enabled him to avert the November 1927 indictment and to officiate unmolested for the following months.

His end came in 1928 with his support for Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith . This one was Catholic, while Johnston's supporters were avid Protestants. Smith was for the end of Prohibition, Johnston's supporter for keeping the corresponding law and finally Smith spoke out against religious overzealousness. Nevertheless, Johnston supported him and then fell into political sideline, especially since the newly elected Republican US President Herbert Hoover appointed numerous Republicans from Oklahoma to state offices. Now the Democrats allied with the Republicans in Oklahoma against the governor and initiated another impeachment process. In total, Johnston was charged with 11 alleged offenses. Eventually he was found guilty on the eleventh charge - general incompetence. Johnston was suspended on January 21, 1929, and officially removed from office on March 20. Lieutenant Governor William J. Holloway had to retire from the remaining term of governor.

Another résumé

Even after his dismissal, Johnston remained politically active. Between 1932 and 1936 he sat again in the Oklahoma Senate. After that he practiced as a lawyer again. Johnston reached a very old age at 97. He died in January 1965. Henry Johnston was married to Ethel L. Littleton, with whom he had four children.

Web links

• Henry Johnston in the National Governors Association (English)
• The governors of Oklahoma (English)
• Henry S. Johnston in the database of Find a Grave (English)