Jed J. Johnson Collection

Collection

Identifier: CAC-CC-029

Staff Only

The Jed J. Johnson Collection is quite small (0.25 cubic feet) and consists mainly of speeches, campaign materials, publications, and newspaper clippings. Although the dates are widely distributed (1927-1947), most of the material deals specifically with Johnson's congressional career. Johnson's speeches and newspaper clippings pertain to issues and legislation facing Congress such as veterans, illegal aliens, taxes and tariffs, rural electrification, and achievements and failures of the 71st Congress. Newspaper clippings relate to Johnson's positions on legislation, his activities and travels to the district, and national issues primarily for the years 1928 to 1937. Also included in the collection are Johnson's voting record for the 70th Congress, 2nd session; letters from Harry Truman, Sam Rayburn, and Usher Burdick; and excerpts from an examination conducted by Johnson of Leon Henderson, Office of Price Administration, regarding crude oil price fixing.

Dates

1927-1947

Language of Materials

English

Extent

0.25 Boxes

.21 Linear Feet (1 container)

Additional Description

Biographical Information:

Born in Texas in 1888, Jed Johnson was educated in Oklahoma public schools and graduated from the University of Oklahoma Law School in 1915. He completed post-graduate work at l'Universite de Clermont at Clermont-Ferrand, France. Mr. Johnson passed the bar in 1918 and opened a law practice in Walters, Oklahoma. He served as a private in Company L of the 36th Division during World War I and was editor of the Cotton County newspaper from 1920 until 1922. He married Beatrice Luginbyhl of Chickasha, Oklahoma in 1925. Four children were born to the couple including Jed Johnson, Jr., a former member of Congress also from Oklahoma's Sixth District.

In 1919 Jed Johnson was elected to the Oklahoma State Senate serving from 1920 - 1927. During this period, he was very active in the National Democratic Party. He was elected as a Democrat of the Sixth District of Oklahoma to the 70th U. S. Congress and served until 1947, when he failed to gain renomination. Appointed to the U. S. Customs Court in 1947, Mr. Johnson served in this position until his death in New York City on May 8, 1963.

During his tenure in Congress, Jed Johnson served as chairman of the Interior Committee on Appropriations, member of the Appropriations, Public Lands, Territories, Flood Control, and Military Affairs Committees, and Chairman of the House Democratic Steering Committee. He was the delegate from the U.S. Congress to the Twenty-fourth Annual Peace Conference, Interparliamentary Union, Paris, France, in 1927. He also attended a similar world peace conference at Geneva, Switzerland in 1929.

Jed Johnson was a leader in advocating rural electrification and in pushing for Congress to improve the farm-tenancy program. Johnson fathered the legislation in Congress establishing veterans' CCC camps. He was an advocate of liberal old-age pensions and of veterans' legislation. Johnson was also interested in soil and water conservation. He was known as a supporter of the Roosevelt Administration and of the New Deal.

Arrangement of Materials:

This collection is arranged into a single general series. The General Materials series appears to be arranged into folders by material type. Folders are also grouped by material type with in the collection.