Peter Johnson, Sr.

Peter Johnson, Sr. (1921 - December 3, 2012) was an American lawyer.

Johnson was the son of a longshoreman and a seamstress, and began working as a stevedore at the age of 17. A Marine during World War II, Johnson was wounded at the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. He worked his way through school as a member of the New York City Police Department, graduating from St. John's University in 1947, and from the St. John's University School of Law in 1949.^[1][2]

In 1951, Johnson helped lead a wildcat strike by longshoremen against shipping companies and the International Longshoremen's Association, which had purportedly colluded to underpay workers and to demand kickbacks from their pay. In the same year, he organized slates of delegates to run against Tammany Hall leaders, whom he accused of corruption; Johnson himself ran against Greenwich Village's Democratic district leader, Carmine DeSapio, described as "Tammany's chieftain".^[3] Neither the strike nor the political campaign produced immediate results, but they led to a subsequent purge of the union's leaderhsip and to Tammany's adopting a more open mode of selecting its district leaders.^[3]

Johnson co-founded the legal firm Leahey and Johnson. He advised New York City mayor Mario Cuomo, and served on mayoral commissions on justice and healthcare.^[1][2]

Johnson died of pulmonary fibrosis at the age of 91.^[1]

References

1. Beekman, Daniel. "Peter Johnson Sr., brave World War II veteran, NYPD officer, political power broker and lion of the law, dies at 91". New York Daily News. 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2012-12-09.
2. "In Memory of Peter James Johnson, Sr.". St. John's University School of Law. 2012-12-06. Retrieved 2012-12-09.
3. Martin, Douglas. "Peter Johnson, Crusader Against Corruption, Dies at 91". New York Times. 2012-12-08. Retrieved 2012-12-09.