Born in Terre Haute, Indiana, Johnson attended the public schools. After reading law to be admitted to the bar in 1911, he commenced practice in Terre Haute from 1911 to 1917. He was a deputy prosecuting attorney for the forty-third judicial circuit of Indiana in 1917 and 1918. He served as prosecuting attorney for the same judicial circuit from 1921 to 1924.[1]
Congressional service
Johnson was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-ninth, Seventieth, and Seventy-first Congresses (March 4, 1925 – March 3, 1931). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1930 to the Seventy-second Congress, and for election in 1936 to the Seventy-fifth Congress. However, he was elected to the Seventy-sixth and to the four succeeding Congresses and served from January 3, 1939, until his resignation on July 1, 1948.[2]
Johnson died on March 17, 1968, in Washington, D.C., where he had resided since his judicial appointment.[1] He was interred in Bethesda Cemetery, West Terre Haute, Indiana.[2]