Johnson, Rafer (Lewis) (b.
Aug. 18, 1935, Hillsboro, Texas,
U.S.) U.S. decathlete. While a stu¬ dent at UCLA, he won the decathlon gold medal at the 1955 Pan-
American Games. At the 1960 Olympic Games he became the first Afri¬ can American athlete to carry the U.S. flag in the Olympic procession, and he captured the decathlon gold medalby narrowly defeating his UCLA teammate, Yang Chuan-kwang of Taiwan.
Johnson, Richard M(entor) (b. 1780, near Louisville, Va., U.S.—d. Nov. 19, 1850, Frankfort, Ky.) U.S. politician. He practiced law in Ken¬ tucky before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1807— 19, 1829-37). As a colonel in the War of 1 812, he was wounded in the Battle of the Thames, where he reputedly killed Tecumseh. He returned to his congressional seat and later was elected to the Senate (1819-29). He was a loyal supporter of Pres. Andrew Jackson, who chose him as Martin Van Buren’s running mate in the 1836 election. None of the four vice- presidential candidates won an electoral-vote majority, and the outcome was decided by the Senate, the only such occurrence in U.S. history. Johnson served one term in the office.
Johnson, Robert (b. c. 1911, Hazlehurst, Miss., U.S.—d. Aug. 16, 1938, near Greenwood, Miss.) U.S. blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Born to a sharecropping family, he learned harmonica and guitar, prob¬ ably influenced by personal contact with Delta bluesmen such as Eddie “Son” House and Charley Patton. He traveled widely throughout the South and as far north as Chicago and New York City, playing at house parties, juke joints, and lumber camps. In 1936-37 he recorded songs by House and others, as well as originals such as “Me and the Devil Blues,” “Hellhound on My Trail,” and “Love in Vain.” He is said to have died, at age 27, after drinking strychnine-laced whiskey (possibly the work of a jealous husband) in a juke joint. His eerie falsetto and masterly slide gui¬ tar influenced many later blues and rock musicians.
Johnson, Robert Wood (b. Feb. 15, 1845, Carbondale, Pa., U.S.—d. Feb. 7, 1910, New Brunswick, N.J.) U.S. manufacturer. He began his career as a pharmacist and drug broker. In 1885 he founded medical sup¬ ply company Johnson & Johnson with his brothers, and he served as its president until his death. An early proponent of the teachings of Joseph Lister, Johnson worked to make his products as germ-free as possible, and the firm’s high-quality and inexpensive medical supplies, including anti¬ septic bandages and dressings, proved of great value to surgery. The Rob¬ ert Wood Johnson Foundation is a major philanthropic institution.
Johnson, Samuel known as Dr. Johnson (b. Sept. 18, 1709, Lichfield, Staffordshire, Eng.—d. Dec. 13, 1784, London) British man of letters, one of the outstanding figures of 18th-century England. The son of a poor bookseller, he briefly attended Oxford University. He moved to London after the failure of a school he and his wife had started. He wrote for periodicals and was hired to catalog the great library of the earl of Oxford. In 1755, after eight years of labour, he produced his monumen¬ tal Dictionary of the English Language (1755), the first great English dic¬ tionary, which brought him fame. He continued to write for such periodicals as The Gentleman’s Magazine and The Universal Chronicle , and he almost single-handedly wrote and edited the biweekly The Ram¬ bler (1750-52). He also wrote plays, none of which succeeded on the stage. In 1765 he produced a critical edition of William Shakespeare with a famous preface that did much to establish Shakespeare as the centre of the literary canon. His travel writings include A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775). His Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, 10 vol. (1779-81), was a significant critical work. A brilliant conversa¬ tionalist, he helped found the Literary Club (c. 1763), which became famous for its members of distinction, including David Garrick, Edmund Burke, Oliver Goldsmith, and Joshua Reynolds. His aphorisms helped make him one of the most frequently quoted of English writers. The biography of Johnson written by his contemporary James Boswell is one of the most admired biographies of all time.
Johnson, Virginia See William Masters and Virginia E(shelman) Johnson
Johnson, Walter (Perry) (b. Nov. 6, 1887, Humboldt, Kan., U.S.—d. Dec. 10, 1946, Washington, D.C.) U.S. baseball pitcher. Johnson had perhaps the greatest fastball in the history of the game. A right-handed thrower with a sidearm delivery who batted right as well, Johnson pitched for the Washington Senators of the American League from 1907 through 1927. He holds the all-time record for most shutouts (110), ranks second to Cy Young in wins (416), and established the record for his time for most strikeouts (3,508; broken in 1983). After his playing career, he became a manager with the Senators and later with the Cleveland Indi¬ ans. See photograph on opposite page.
Rafer Johnson, putting the shot in the Olympic decathlon, 1960
AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Johnson, W. ► Jolliet I 995
Johnson, Sir William, 1st Baronet (b. 1715, Smithtown, County Meath, Ire.—d. July 11, 1774, near Johnstown, N.Y.) British colonial official. In 1737 he emigrated from Ireland and settled in New York’s Mohawk Valley. He purchased his first tract of land two years later, thus beginning the acquisitions that eventually made him one of the largest landholders and wealthiest settlers in British America. He fostered friendly relations with the Indians; his ties with them were further cemented when, following the death of his first wife, he married succes¬ sively two Mohawk women. In 1746 he was appointed colonel of the Iro¬ quois Confederacy. In the French and Indian War he defeated French forces at Lake George, N.Y. (1755), and captured Fort Niagara (1759). He was appointed superintendent of the Six Iroquois Nations (1756-74), helped subdue the Indian uprising called Pontiac’s War (1763-64), and negoti¬ ated the first Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768).
Johnston, Joseph E(ggleston) (b. Feb. 3,1807, near Farmville, Va., U.S.—d. March 21, 1891, Washington, D.C.) U.S. Army officer. He gradu¬ ated from West Point and served in the Mexican War. At the start of the American Civil War he resigned his commission to serve the Confederacy. Appointed brigadier general, he won the first Confederate victory at the Battle of Bull Run. He was promoted to general but remained at odds with Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis. He defended Richmond in the Penin¬ sular Campaign and was badly wounded at the Battle of Fair Oaks (1862). In 1863 he was sent to conduct the Vicksburg Campaign. His order to evacuate the city was countermanded by Davis, but Johnston was blamed for the city’s fall. As commander of the Army of the Tennessee, he avoided defeat as the Union advanced toward Atlanta, Ga., but he was removed from command for failing to defeat the invaders. Restored to duty in 1865, he was forced to surrender to William T. Sherman.
Johnstown Flood Disastrous flood (1889) in the town of Johnstown, Pa., U.S. Johnstown lies at the confluence of the Conemaugh River and Stony Creek; at the time of the flood it was a leading U.S. steelmaking centre. At 3:10 pm on May 31, the South Fork Dam, a poorly maintained earthfill dam holding a major upstream reservoir, collapsed after heavy rains, sending a wall of water rushing down the Conemaugh Valley at speeds of 20-40 mph (30-60 kph). A 30-ft (9-m) wall of water smashed into Johnstown at 4:07 pm, killing 2,209 people.
Johore \j9-'hor\ Strait Northern arm of the Singapore Strait between the Republic of Singapore and the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It is 30 mi (50 km) long and 0.75-3 mi (1.2-5 km) wide. Its eastern por¬ tion has a deepwater access channel to Changi naval base on Singapore’s northeastern coast. During World War II it was the scene of heavy fight¬ ing in 1942, when the Japanese were driving to conquer Singapore. A causeway now links Singapore to the Malaysian mainland.