University of Virginia Library

Truman's Defense Secretary

Johnson Donates Papers To University

Papers of the late Louis A.
Johnson, Secretary of Defense
under President Harry S. Truman,
have been given to the
University, but cannot be read for
nine years.

The collection includes records
of Mr. Johnson's service as Assistant
Secretary of War from
1937 to 1940, as President
Franklin D. Roosevelt's personal
representative in India in 1942,
and as Secretary of Defense in
1949 and 1950. He was succeeded
in the latter post by General
George C. Marshall.

"The University is privileged to
be chosen as the recipient of the
papers of one of its most prominent
alumni and a most distinguished
public servant," said
University President Edgar F.
Shannon, Jr. "These records will
be a monument of Mr. Johnson's
great service to the nation, and
a basic source for the future
scholars who will write the history
of our times."

Now in 26 large file boxes
and eight scrapbooks, the papers
will be opened to research on
April 24, 1976, 10 years after
Mr. Johnson's death.

Born in Roanoke in 1891, Mr.
Johnson was a 1912 graduate of
the University's School of Law.
The same year, he established a
law firm in Clarksburg, W. Va.,
with Philip P. Steptoe, and was
senior partner in the firm.