Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Johnson, Denis, 1949–2017, American writer, b. Munich, Germany, where his father was a diplomat; B.A. Univ. of Iowa, 1971, M.F.A. Iowa Writers' Workshop, 1974. Years of drinking and taking drugs end...

(Encyclopedia) Johnson, Magic (Earvin Johnson, Jr.), 1959–, African-American basketball player, b. Lansing, Mich. After winning the national championship with Michigan State Univ. (1979), he joined the Los Angeles...

(Encyclopedia) Johnson, Hiram Warren, 1866–1945, American political leader, U.S. Senator from California (1917–45), b. Sacramento, Calif. His role as attorney in the successful prosecution of Abe Ruef, political...

(Encyclopedia) Johnson, Sir John, 1742–1830, Loyalist leader in the American Revolution, b. Mohawk valley, N.Y.; son of Sir William Johnson. He fought against the Native Americans in Pontiac's Conspiracy and was o...

(Encyclopedia) Masters and Johnson, pioneering research team in the field of human sexuality, consisting of the gynecologist William Howell Masters, 1915–2001, b. Cleveland, and the psychologist Virginia Eshelman ...

(Encyclopedia) Johnson, Eastman, 1824–1906, American portrait and genre painter, b. Lovell, Maine. He studied with a lithographer in Boston and later in Düsseldorf, then for almost four years at The Hague, where ...

(Encyclopedia) Johnson, Richard Mentor, 1780–1850, Vice President of the United States (1837–41), b. Kentucky, on the site of present Louisville. Admitted (1802) to the bar, he became prominent in state politics...

(Encyclopedia) Jeffries, James J., 1875–1953, American boxer, b. Carroll, Fairfield co., Ohio. He began boxing in 1896, and in 1899 he won the heavyweight championship from Robert Fitzsimmons at Coney Island in Ne...

(Encyclopedia) Johnson, Herschel Vespasian, 1812–80, U.S. political leader, b. Burke co., Ga. Admitted to the bar in 1834, he filled (1848–49) an unexpired Senate term before serving as circuit court judge (1849...

(Encyclopedia) Johnson, Lyndon Baines, 1908–73, 36th President of the United States (1963–69), b. near Stonewall, Tex. Johnson lost the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination to John F. Kennedy, but accepte...