Edwin C. Johnson, Governor, U.S. Senator

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_C._Johnson

Edwin Carl Johnson (January 1, 1884 – May 30, 1970) was a Democratic Party politician who served as Governor of the state of Colorado.

Background

Edwin Carl Johnson was born in Scandia, Kansas. He moved with his family to Lincoln, Nebraska as a child. Johnson had the privilege to attend Lincoln High under the tutelage of William Jennings Bryan, who was serving as a substitute teacher. After graduation in 1903 Johnson pursued his dream of becoming a railroad man, and after numerous positions became a train dispatcher/telegrapher at Fairmont, Nebraska. In 1909 Johnson contracted tuberculosis and was advised to go to Colorado where the climate was believed to be the cure.

Career

Beginning in 1923, Johnson served in the Colorado House of Representatives for four terms. He was lieutenant governor of Colorado from 1931 to 1933. He represented Colorado for three terms in the United States Senate from 1937 until 1955, and served as the 26th and 34th Governor of Colorado from January 10, 1933 until January 1, 1937 and from January 12, 1955 until January 8, 1957.

He was perhaps best known for making a speech on the Senate floor criticizing the extramarital affair of actress Ingrid Bergman, who at the time was married to Petter Lindström. Bergman's affair with Italian director Roberto Rossellini became a cause celebre as a result of Johnson's speech, forcing her to relocate to Europe for several years until her return to Hollywood in the 1956 blockbuster film Anastasia.

Johnson was also the President of the Western League, a Class A baseball league, from 1947 to 1955. He was instrumental in the construction of Bears Stadium / Mile High Stadium, and was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1968. He died in Denver, Colorado and was interred in the Fairmount Mausoleum at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver. The eastbound bore of the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel is named for Johnson.