Laurence A. Johnson

Laurence A. Johnson was an American businessman and political activist who owned four supermarkets in Syracuse, New York. Johnson and his daughter, Eleanor Johnson, targeted members of the film and television industries whom he suspected of being Communists during the McCarthy Era. Eleanor assisted her father with mimeographing, mailing, and contacts. In 1951, he and his daughter talked with the members of the American Legion Post in Syracuse. With the help of the post, Johnson and his daughter soon became a force felt throughout radio and television. He embarked on a one-man "Syracuse Crusade" in the 1950s to force television advertisers to cancel sponsorship of programs in which "suspect" actors appeared. Johnson's pressure tactics were a manifestation of McCarthyism and the Hollywood Blacklist. Their tactics cost untold numbers of television and film their jobs and even their entire careers.

Johnson died shortly after he lost a major court case filed by John Henry Faulk, who lost his radio career because of machinations by Johnson and AWARE, Inc..

External links

See the January 13, 1991 New York Times article 'If I Stood Up Earlier...' by television producer Mark Goodman. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3DB1339F930A25752C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3

The Book "Cold War, Cool Medium: Television, McCarthyism, and American Culture" By Thomas Patrick Doherty is available online:

• Doherty, T.P. (2003). Cold War, Cool Medium: Television, McCarthyism, and American Culture. Columbia University Press. p. 27. ISBN 9780231129527. Retrieved 2015-11-09.

The book "A History of Broadcasting in the United States" by Erik Barnouw

• Barnouw, E. (1968). A History of Broadcasting in the United States : Volume 2: The Golden Web. 1933 to 1953: Volume 2: The Golden Web. 1933 to 1953. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 273. ISBN 9780198020042. Retrieved 2015-11-09.

The book "Deadly Farce: Harvey Matusow and the Informer System in the McCarthy Era" by Robert M. Lichtman and Ronald D. Cohen

• Lichtman, R.M.; Cohen, R.D. (2004). Deadly Farce: Harvey Matusow and the Informer System in the McCarthy Era. University of Illinois Press. p. 63. ISBN 9780252028861. Retrieved 2015-11-09.

The Book "Programming for TV, Radio, and Cable" by Edwin T. Vane and Lynne S. Gross

• Vane, E.T.; Gross, L.S. (1994). Programming for TV, Radio, and Cable. Focal Press. p. 239. ISBN 9780240801285. Retrieved 2015-11-09.

The paper "How the Film and Television Blacklists Worked" by Richard A. Schwartz

• "blacklist". comptalk.fiu.edu. Retrieved 2015-11-09.

The newspaper column "Standing Tall Against McCarthy" By Molly Ivins, Texas Observer. Posted November 29, 2005. http://www.alternet.org/movies/28826/