Johnson, Hugh

Johnson, Hugh (Samuel) (1882–1942) army officer, government official; born in Fort Scott, Kans. He graduated from West Point (1903) and held several posts including superintendent of Sequoia National Park. He earned a law degree (1916) and served with Pershing in Mexico (1916). He helped to draft the Selective Service Act (1917). He became a brigadier general at age 35 (the youngest such since the Civil War), but World War I ended before his division sailed for France. He retired from the army (1919). He worked for Bernard Baruch (1927–33). A member of Franklin Roosevelt's "brain trust," he headed the National Recovery Administration (1933–34) but his autocratic manner offended virtually everyone he dealt with and he had to resign. As a syndicated newspaper columnist and radio commentator, he opposed Roosevelt over the "packing" of the Supreme Court and the issue of a third term.