After graduating, Johnson returned home and worked with his father at the Bank of Greenwood, which eventually evolved into the State Bank and Trust Company, and subsequently was renamed Bankers Trust of South Carolina in 1969. By 1965, Johnson had assumed control of the bank, and under his leadership, Bankers Trust of South Carolina rose from obscurity to become a high-performance, widely respected bank. Johnson served as chairman of the executive committee at Bank of America, and also a director of the company. He also served on the boards of Duke Power, Liberty Corporation, Alltel and Stephens, Inc.
Augusta National
As former chairman and current "Chairman Emeritus" of Augusta National Golf Club, Johnson held the chairmanship from 1998–2006 and directed two significant overhauls of the golf course, allowed 18-hole network television coverage of the tournament for the first time, and made significant changes in Masters qualifying procedures. He was succeeded by Billy Payne.
2002 membership controversy
Johnson was widely known for a disagreement beginning in 2002 with Martha Burk, then chairwoman of the Washington-based National Council of Women's Organizations, over admission of female members to Augusta National. Burk contended that hosting the Masters Tournament at a male-only club, constituted sexism because 15% of the club's membership were CEO's, many of them Fortune 500 CEO's. Johnson characterized Burk's approach as "offensive and coercive", and despite efforts to conflate the issue with sexism and civil rights, Johnson maintained the issue had to do with the rights of any private club. For her part, Burk — whose childhood nickname was also Hootie — was "called a man hater, anti-family, lesbian, all the usual things." For his part, according to former CEO and Chairman of Bank of America, Hugh McColl, Johnson was portrayed as a Senator Claghorn type — i.e., a blustery defender of all things Southern. Following the discord, which included Burk's launching a now defunct website augustadiscriminates.org, two club members resigned: Thomas H. Wyman, a former CEO of CBS, and John Snow, following his nomination by then-President George W. Bush to serve as Secretary of the Treasury. The International Olympic Committee, upon considering golf an Olympic sport in 2016, re-examined whether the sport itself fits the goal of a "sport practiced without discrimination with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." In 2012, Johnson nominated Darla Moore to become a member of Augusta National; Darla Moore and Condoleeza Rice became the first two female members of Augusta National.
Political career
Johnson was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives during 1957 and 1958. He also was a trustee of historically blackBenedict College. Johnson served as former board member of the National Urban League; served as co-chairman of committee that developed a plan to desegregate universities in South Carolina, and in 1975, received the Outstanding Citizen Award from B'nai B'rith. He had supported African-Americans for public office. As a banker, he had appointed African-Americans and women to his corporate boards. He made loans to minorities. Following the 1968 Orangeburg massacre, Johnson had worked on a desegregation plan for the state's colleges and universities. Johnson had also been the first businessman who pushed to have the Confederate flag removed from the state house in Columbia. Johnson also served as chairman of the South Carolina State Ports Authority, chairman of the South Carolina Research Authority, and trustee of the University of South Carolina Business Partnership Foundation.
