Johnson, Joseph E. (Joseph Esrey), 1906-1990

Historian, international official, foundation executive.

From the description of Reminiscences of Joseph Esrey Johnson : oral history, 1951. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309739647

Joseph Esrey Johnson was born on April 30, 1906 in Longdale, Virginia, and grew up in Scarsdale, New York. Johnson studied at Harvard University, where he earned his bachelor's, masters and doctoral degrees. His first teaching position was as a professor of history at Bowdoin College in 1934 and 1935. From there he moved on to Williams College in Massachusetts in 1936, where he was an assistant professor of history until 1947, and a full professor from 1947-1950. During the years from 1943-1947, however, Johnson was on leave from Williams College, and served in a variety of positions with the State Department and United Nations. Initially Johnson was appointed chief of the international affairs division in the State Department. While in this post, he played a role in the creation of the United Nations, attending both the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in 1944 as well as the San Francisco Conference in 1945. Johnson later served as an adviser to the U.S. delegation at the first U.N. General Assembly at Lake Success, New York in 1946, and assisted the U.S. representative to the Security Council, which met in London. Johnson returned to Williams College in 1947, yet his time in academia proved to be short-lived. In 1950 he was appointed to be a trustee, and then president, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he was able to apply his growing expertise in the field of brokering peaceful solutions to international disputes. Although he served as a consultant at numerous international conferences, and was an alternate U.S. delegate to the United Nations General Assembly in 1969, he is perhaps best remembered for his role on the U.N. Conciliation Commission for Palestine in 1961. As part of the commission Johnson was named a special envoy, and traveled throughout the Middle East, meeting with various governments in search of a means of providing Palestinian refugees with a homeland of their own. Johnson's final report recommended that refugees who were forced out of their homes by the 1948 war be allowed to return to their former homes in Israel. However, neither side accepted Johnson's proposals. In 1971 Johnson became president emeritus of the Carnegie Endowment. He died in Lynchburg, Virginia on October 24, 1990.

From the description of Johnson, Joseph E. (Joseph Esrey), 1906-1990 (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). naId: 10570591

Professor of history (1934-1950); served in a variety of positions with the U.S. State Dept. and United Nations (1943-1947); president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; d. 1990.

From the description of Joseph E. Johnson papers, 1940-1983. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70970333

Historian, international official foundation executive.

From the description of Reminiscences of Joseph Esrey Johnson : oral history, 1968. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122419667