Johnson was born in Chicago, Illinois, but he grew up in suburban Seattle, Washington. He attended public schools in Seattle, graduating from high school in 1956 and then attending first the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, and then the University of Washington in Seattle, where he received his BA Cum Laude in English Literature in 1960. While at the University of Washington he was a member of the academic honor societies for Military Science, Music and Literature, and was admitted to the Phi Beta Kappa Society in 1960. He next attended the University of Minnesota and Princeton University, working several months at the Boeing Company in Seattle during and after his university studies. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand between1962 and 1965, joining the Foreign Service after he returned home.
Foreign service career
Johnson had a long and distinguished career as a United States Foreign Service officer, with extensive experience in East European and Asian affairs. Among other assignments, he served on the Bosnia Task Force in Washington and as Charge of the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo in April 1996. Before that, he was Senior Advisor to Madeleine Albright, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and before that, was Deputy Coordinator for Assistance to the New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union. Johnson served as the first American Ambassador to the Republic of Lithuania, having arrived in Vilnius in September, 1991, to open the first post-World War II U.S. Mission in that country. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland, and before that in Beijing, Moscow, Hong Kong, and Bombay. In addition, he served in the Department of State in Washington, D.C., as Officer-in-Charge of Yugoslav Affairs, Officer-in-Charge of People's Republic of China Affairs, as a Pearson Fellow in the Office of Senator Claiborne Pell , and as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs. In the latter position, his responsibilities included East European, Soviet, and East Asian/Pacific Affairs during the tenure of the then Under Secretary, Lawrence Eagleburger.
Lecturing
In his capacity as lecturer at the University of Washington, Ambassador Johnson teaches a class called "Practicing American Foreign Policy", and also advises undergraduate students on their Qualifying Papers, an extended writing assignment of approximately 25 pages that is required by the Jackson School for graduation. This teaching position at the University of Washington has previously been held by former U.S. diplomats Ronald Woods and Charles T. Cross. Ambassador Johnson also participates at various speaking engagements in the Seattle area, many of which relate to the Peace Corps and to the United States Foreign Service. He has published op-eds in several major newspapers regarding politics in Thailand, including the Los Angeles Times and the Seattle Times.
Personal life
Johnson is the father of one daughter and two sons. He is married to the former Kathleen Desa Forance. In addition to English he speaks Chinese, Polish, Russian, Thai and Lithuanian. Johnson died in Seattle on 24 June 2018.
