Eric Johnston
Encyclopedia
Eric Allen Johnston was a business owner, president of the United States Chamber of Commerce
, a Republican Party
activist, president of the Motion Picture Association of America
(MPAA), and a U.S. government special projects administrator and envoy for both Democratic and Republican administrations. As president of the MPAA he abbreviated the organization's name, convened the closed-door meeting of motion picture company executives at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
that led to Waldorf Statement
in 1947 and the Hollywood blacklist
, and discreetly liberalized the production code
while he served as president of the MPAA until his death in 1963.
His father, a pharmacist, moved the family to Marysville, Montana
, when Johnston was a year old. In 1905, the family moved to Spokane, Washington
. The Johnsons divorced in 1911, and Eric's mother, Ida, changed her and her son's last name to "Johnston."
He attended the University of Washington
, graduating in 1917 and joining the Theta Delta Chi
fraternity. During this time, he worked as a stevedore
, newspaper sports columnist, library clerk and shoe salesman.
When the United States entered World War I, Johnston enlisted in the United States Marine Corps
. He was commissioned a second lieutenant
, and became a ROTC commander at the University of Washington in 1918. Then, he was promoted to captain, fought with the American Expeditionary Force Siberia
in the Russian Revolution
, and was named military attaché
in Peking
. Johnston's learned some Mandarin, traveled widely in Asia, and successfully speculated
in Chinese currency.
Johnston was assaulted by an unknown person in Peking. His skull was fractured, which led to sinus infections, lung ailments, and his discharged from the Corps in 1922 for medical reasons. Johnston returned to Spokane for its dry climate, and married his long-time girlfriend, Ina Hughes. He became a vacuum-cleaner salesman, and bought the Power Brown Co., the Pacific Northwest's largest independent appliance distribution business. In 1924, the newly-renamed Brown-Johnston Company purchased the Doerr-Mitchell Electric Co., a manufacturer of electrical appliances, ironwork and glassware.
Johnston was elected president of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce in 1931. He became managing trustee of the bankrupt Washington Brick and Lime Co., led it out of bankruptcy, and became its chairman. Johnston also became president of the Wayne-Burnaby Company, a regional electrical contractor.
or the Congress of Industrial Organizations
, and advocated labor-management cooperation. Johnston persuaded the labor federations to make a no-strike pledge during World War II.
In 1940, Johnston ran in the Republican
primary for Senator
from Washington state, but placed a distant 2nd place at 18%.
Johnston served on several wartime commissions for President Franklin D. Roosevelt
, including the Committee for Economic Development
, the War Manpower Commission
, and the War Mobilization and Reconversion Committee.
In 1943, President Roosevelt named him chairman of the United States Commission on InterAmerican Development. He traveled widely in Latin America, reassuring heads of state that the United States intended to protect them in the event of war.
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
invited Johnston to tour Russia in 1944. Johnston agreed, and Roosevelt named him his emissary
. Johnston spent nearly a month in the Soviet Union, and was the first American diplomat to tour the Central Asian SSRs. He met with Stalin in a three hour long meeting when Ambassador
W. Averell Harriman
had yet to meet the Soviet premier.
Johnston retired as Chamber of Commerce president in 1945. He was awarded the Presidential Medal for Merit
in 1947.
(MPPDAA) in 1946. He immediately changed the name of the organization to its current title, the Motion Picture Association of America, or MPAA.
for allegedly permitting known communist sympathizers
to include anti-capitalist, anti-democratic, pro-communist messages in motion pictures. Spurred by Red-baiting
members of the MPAA as well as a fear of government censorship, Johnston agreed to institute a blacklist
.
On November 25, 1947, Johnston was part of a closed-door meeting with 47 motion picture company executives at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
that resulted in the Waldorf Statement
. Johnston issued the two-page press release that marked the beginning of the "Hollywood blacklist
."
During his tenure at the MPAA, Johnston quietly liberalized the production code
. He also engaged in major initiatives to secure a significant American market share of the overseas motion picture market, and to reduce restrictions on the screening of American films in foreign markets.
as administrator of the Economic Stabilization Agency
, replacing Alan Valentine
. He lasted only a few months in the job.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
appointed Johnston a "Special Representative of the President of the United States" to deal with the water conflict between Israel
and Arab countries, mainly Jordan
and Syria
, in 1953. He worked to solve the Middle East's water problems negotiating the Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan
until 1956.
Johnston traveled to the U.S.S.R. and met Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
in 1958. The following year, he hosted the Party Secretary in both Washington, D.C., and California during Khrushchev's famous 18-day visit to the United States in 1959.
in Washington, D.C., on June 17. He was hospitalized at George Washington University Hospital
, and suffered a second stroke on July 4. He entered a coma
on August 5, and died on August 22. He was succeeded at the MPAA by Jack Valenti
in 1966 after a three-year search.
United States Chamber of Commerce
The United States Chamber of Commerce is an American lobbying group representing the interests of many businesses and trade associations. It is not an agency of the United States government....
, a Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
activist, president of the Motion Picture Association of America
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...
(MPAA), and a U.S. government special projects administrator and envoy for both Democratic and Republican administrations. As president of the MPAA he abbreviated the organization's name, convened the closed-door meeting of motion picture company executives at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
The Waldorf-Astoria is a luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a...
that led to Waldorf Statement
Waldorf Statement
The Waldorf Statement was a two-page press release issued on December 3, 1947, by Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, following a closed-door meeting by forty-eight motion picture company executives at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel...
in 1947 and the Hollywood blacklist
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
, and discreetly liberalized the production code
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
while he served as president of the MPAA until his death in 1963.
Early life
An Episcopalian, Johnston was born "Eric Johnson" in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
His father, a pharmacist, moved the family to Marysville, Montana
Marysville, Montana
Marysville is a small unincorporated community in Lewis and Clark County, Montana, United States. In the 1880s and 90's it was a bustling mining town of three thousand residents, and was the center of gold mining in Montana. A few buildings remain, including a baseball field with bleachers...
, when Johnston was a year old. In 1905, the family moved to Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
. The Johnsons divorced in 1911, and Eric's mother, Ida, changed her and her son's last name to "Johnston."
He attended the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, graduating in 1917 and joining the Theta Delta Chi
Theta Delta Chi
Theta Delta Chi is a social fraternity that was founded in 1847 at Union College. While nicknames differ from institution to institution, the most common nicknames for the fraternity are Theta Delt, Thete, TDX, and TDC. Theta Delta Chi brothers refer to their local organization as Charges rather...
fraternity. During this time, he worked as a stevedore
Stevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
, newspaper sports columnist, library clerk and shoe salesman.
When the United States entered World War I, Johnston enlisted in the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
. He was commissioned a second lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
, and became a ROTC commander at the University of Washington in 1918. Then, he was promoted to captain, fought with the American Expeditionary Force Siberia
American Expeditionary Force Siberia
The American Expeditionary Force Siberia was a United States Army force that was involved in the Russian Civil War in Vladivostok, Russian Empire, during the tail end of World War I after the October Revolution, from 1918 to 1920....
in the Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
, and was named military attaché
Military attaché
A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission . This post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer who retains the commission while serving in an embassy...
in Peking
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. Johnston's learned some Mandarin, traveled widely in Asia, and successfully speculated
Speculation
In finance, speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of the initial investment along with the return on the principal sum...
in Chinese currency.
Johnston was assaulted by an unknown person in Peking. His skull was fractured, which led to sinus infections, lung ailments, and his discharged from the Corps in 1922 for medical reasons. Johnston returned to Spokane for its dry climate, and married his long-time girlfriend, Ina Hughes. He became a vacuum-cleaner salesman, and bought the Power Brown Co., the Pacific Northwest's largest independent appliance distribution business. In 1924, the newly-renamed Brown-Johnston Company purchased the Doerr-Mitchell Electric Co., a manufacturer of electrical appliances, ironwork and glassware.
Johnston was elected president of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce in 1931. He became managing trustee of the bankrupt Washington Brick and Lime Co., led it out of bankruptcy, and became its chairman. Johnston also became president of the Wayne-Burnaby Company, a regional electrical contractor.
Chamber of Commerce
Johnston became active in the national Chamber of Commerce. He was appointed to its tax committee in 1933, elected a director in 1934, and elected vice president in 1941. Johnston became head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce after a revolt by younger, moderate business executives pushed several older, powerful conservative candidates aside. He refused to antagonize the American Federation of LaborAmerican Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
or the Congress of Industrial Organizations
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
, and advocated labor-management cooperation. Johnston persuaded the labor federations to make a no-strike pledge during World War II.
In 1940, Johnston ran in the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
primary for Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Washington state, but placed a distant 2nd place at 18%.
Johnston served on several wartime commissions for President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, including the Committee for Economic Development
Committee for Economic Development
The Committee for Economic Development is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan think tank based in Washington, DC. Its membership consists of some 200 senior corporate executives and university leaders...
, the War Manpower Commission
War Manpower Commission
The War Manpower Commission was a World War II agency of the United States Government charged with planning to balance the labor needs of agriculture, industry and the armed forces. It was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Executive Order 9139 of April 18, 1942. Its chairman was Paul V...
, and the War Mobilization and Reconversion Committee.
In 1943, President Roosevelt named him chairman of the United States Commission on InterAmerican Development. He traveled widely in Latin America, reassuring heads of state that the United States intended to protect them in the event of war.
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
invited Johnston to tour Russia in 1944. Johnston agreed, and Roosevelt named him his emissary
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
. Johnston spent nearly a month in the Soviet Union, and was the first American diplomat to tour the Central Asian SSRs. He met with Stalin in a three hour long meeting when Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
W. Averell Harriman
W. Averell Harriman
William Averell Harriman was an American Democratic Party politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was the son of railroad baron E. H. Harriman. He served as Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman and later as the 48th Governor of New York...
had yet to meet the Soviet premier.
Johnston retired as Chamber of Commerce president in 1945. He was awarded the Presidential Medal for Merit
Presidential Medal for Merit
The Medal for Merit was, during the period it was awarded, the highest civilian decoration of the United States, awarded by the President of the United States to civilians for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services ... since the proclamation of an emergency by...
in 1947.
Head of the MPAA
Johnston was named president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors AssociationMotion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...
(MPPDAA) in 1946. He immediately changed the name of the organization to its current title, the Motion Picture Association of America, or MPAA.
The blacklist
In September 1947, the motion picture industry came under sharp criticism by the House Un-American Activities CommitteeHouse Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
for allegedly permitting known communist sympathizers
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
to include anti-capitalist, anti-democratic, pro-communist messages in motion pictures. Spurred by Red-baiting
Red-baiting
Red-baiting is the act of accusing, denouncing, attacking or persecuting an individual or group as communist, socialist, or anarchist, or sympathetic toward communism, socialism, or anarchism. The word "red" in "red-baiting" is derived from the red flag signifying radical left-wing politics. In the...
members of the MPAA as well as a fear of government censorship, Johnston agreed to institute a blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
.
On November 25, 1947, Johnston was part of a closed-door meeting with 47 motion picture company executives at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
The Waldorf-Astoria is a luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a...
that resulted in the Waldorf Statement
Waldorf Statement
The Waldorf Statement was a two-page press release issued on December 3, 1947, by Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, following a closed-door meeting by forty-eight motion picture company executives at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel...
. Johnston issued the two-page press release that marked the beginning of the "Hollywood blacklist
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
."
During his tenure at the MPAA, Johnston quietly liberalized the production code
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
. He also engaged in major initiatives to secure a significant American market share of the overseas motion picture market, and to reduce restrictions on the screening of American films in foreign markets.
Government appointments
In January 1951, he was appointed by President Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
as administrator of the Economic Stabilization Agency
Economic Stabilization Agency
The Economic Stabilization Agency was an agency of the United States Government that existed from 1950 to 1953.The creation of the ESA was authorized by the Defense Production Act , which was signed into law by President of the United States Harry S. Truman on September 8, 1950...
, replacing Alan Valentine
Alan Valentine
Alan Chester Valentine competed on the gold-medal winning American rugby union team in the 1924 Summer Olympics.-Biography:...
. He lasted only a few months in the job.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
appointed Johnston a "Special Representative of the President of the United States" to deal with the water conflict between Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and Arab countries, mainly Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, in 1953. He worked to solve the Middle East's water problems negotiating the Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan
Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan
The Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan, commonly known as the "Johnston Plan", was a plan for the unified water resource development of the Jordan Valley. It was negotiated and developed by US ambassador Eric Johnston between 1953 and 1955, and based on an earlier plan commissioned by United Nations...
until 1956.
Johnston traveled to the U.S.S.R. and met Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
in 1958. The following year, he hosted the Party Secretary in both Washington, D.C., and California during Khrushchev's famous 18-day visit to the United States in 1959.
Death
Eric Johnston served as president of the MPAA until his death in 1963. He suffered a strokeStroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
in Washington, D.C., on June 17. He was hospitalized at George Washington University Hospital
George Washington University Hospital
The George Washington University Hospital is a hospital in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It opened on On August 23, 2002, with 371 beds in a 400,000 sq. ft. building, housing than $45 million of medical equipment and cost more than $96 million to construct...
, and suffered a second stroke on July 4. He entered a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
on August 5, and died on August 22. He was succeeded at the MPAA by Jack Valenti
Jack Valenti
Jack Joseph Valenti was a long-time president of the Motion Picture Association of America. During his 38-year tenure in the MPAA, he created the MPAA film rating system, and he was generally regarded as one of the most influential pro-copyright lobbyists in the world...
in 1966 after a three-year search.
Cultural references
Johnston is a key character in the play "The Waldorf Conference", written by Nat Segaloff, Daniel M. Kimmel and Arnie Reisman. The play is a fictionalized account of the Waldorf Conference of 1947, and the beginning of the blacklist.External links
- "The Waldorf Conference." A play about the Waldorf Conference led by Eric Johnston in 1947. Accessed June 17, 2007.
- Full text of the Waldorf Conference Statement. Hollywood Renegades Archive, Cobblestone Entertainment. No date. Accessed June 17, 2007.