Johnson, Gerald W. (Gerald White), 1890-1980

Writer and journalist; friend of H. L. Mencken; speech-writer for Adlaie E. Stevenson's 1952 presidential campaign.

Gerald W. Johnson was an alumnus of Wake Forest College (Class of 1911) a newspaper reporter and columnist on the Baltimore Sun and other newspapers; and an author.

Journalist and historian, colleague of H.L. Mencken and speech writer for Adlai E. Stevenson.

Biography

Gerald Woodrow Johnson was born in Spangle, Washington, in 1917. He graduated from Washington State College in 1937, received the M.S. degree from the same college in 1939, and was awarded a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1947.

After teaching physics at Washington State University for two years, Johnson began working in solid state and neutron physics at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1949. In 1951 he headed the Analysis Branch, Nuclear Weapons Effects, in the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project. Johnson joined the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in 1953 and was later named associate director for testing, responsible for nuclear testing in Nevada and the Pacific. In 1957, he became the laboratory's first director of the Plowshare Program, an effort to develop civil, industrial, and scientific uses of nuclear explosives. From 1961 to 1963 Johnson worked in the Kennedy Administration as chairman of the military liaison committee to the Atomic Energy Commission and also as special assistant to the Secretary of Defense for atomic energy. In this position, Johnson was responsible for the safety of nuclear weapons and the introduction of permissive action links into the U.S. and NATO stockpiles. From 1963 to 1966 he was associate director of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory and from 1966 to 1968 served as director of U.S. Navy Laboratories in Washington, D.C. In 1968 Johnson joined Gulf Energy and Environmental Systems in San Diego, where he served as manager of explosives engineering services. He was appointed director of the Atomic Energy Commission Division of Applied Technology in 1972. From 1974 to 1977 Johnson worked in energy program development for the Energy Management Division of TRW, Inc. During the following two years, he served as personal representative of the Secretary of Defense to the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks and to the Comprehensive Test Ban negotiations. Johnson returned to TRW in 1979 as a senior technical staff member of the Defense Systems Group. From 1987 to present, Johnson has held the position of Adjunct Professor of Political Science at UCSD, where he is affiliated with the Program in Science, Technology and Public Affairs and the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.

In addition to career positions, Johnson has served on a number of committees and delegations, including: Special Assistant to the Director of Research of the Atomic Energy Commission, 1953; Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Atomic Energy and Chairman of the Military Liaison Committee to the Atomic Energy Commission, 1961-1963; member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Defense Intelligence Agency, 1965-1969; member of several U.S. delegations regarding nuclear test monitoring and arms control, and Consultant to the Secretary of Defense, 1979-1980.

Awards presented to Johnson include the Distinguished Civilian Award by the Secretary of the Navy, 1968, and a citation from the Secretary of Defense for SALT II work, 1979.