Eric Allen Johnston was a business owner, president of the United States Chamber of Commerce, a Republican Party activist, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, and a US government special projects administrator and envoy for both Democratic and Republican administrations.
36 Facts About Eric Johnston
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Eric Johnston served as president of the MPAA until his death in 1963.
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An Episcopalian, Johnston was born "Eric Johnson" in Washington, DC His father, a pharmacist, moved the family to Marysville, Montana, when Johnston was a year old.
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Eric Johnston attended the University of Washington, where he joined the Theta Delta Chi fraternity and graduated in 1917.
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Eric Johnston was commissioned a second lieutenant, and became a Reserve Officers' Training Corps commander at the University of Washington in 1918.
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Eric Johnston was promoted to captain, fought with the American Expeditionary Force, Siberia in the Russian Revolution, and was named military attache in Peking.
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Eric Johnston acquired some Mandarin, traveled widely in Asia, and successfully speculated in Chinese currency.
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Eric Johnston's skull was fractured, which led to sinus infections and lung ailments and his discharge from the Corps in 1922 for medical reasons.
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Eric Johnston returned to Spokane for its dry climate, where he married his long-time girlfriend, Ina Hughes.
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Eric Johnston became a vacuum-cleaner salesman, and bought the Power Brown Co.
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In 1924, the newly renamed Brown-Eric Johnston Company purchased the Doerr-Mitchell Electric Co.
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Eric Johnston was elected president of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce in 1931.
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Eric Johnston became managing trustee of the bankrupt Washington Brick and Lime Co.
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Eric Johnston became president of the Wayne-Burnaby Company, a regional electrical contractor.
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Eric Johnston was appointed to its tax committee in 1933, elected a director in 1934, and elected vice president in 1941.
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Eric Johnston became head of the US Chamber of Commerce after a revolt by younger, moderate business executives pushed several older, conservative candidates aside.
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Eric Johnston refused to antagonize the American Federation of Labor or the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and advocated labor-management cooperation.
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Eric Johnston persuaded the labor federations to make a no-strike pledge during World War II.
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In 1940, Eric Johnston ran in the Republican primary for Senator from Washington state, but placed a distant second place with only 18 percent of the vote.
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In 1941, Eric Johnston became the youngest person ever elected as president for its one-year term, re-elected three times.
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In 1942, Eric Johnston took over as president of the US Chamber of Commerce.
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Eric Johnston served on several wartime commissions for President Franklin D Roosevelt, including the Committee for Economic Development, the War Manpower Commission, and the War Mobilization and Reconversion Committee.
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Eric Johnston traveled widely in Latin America, reassuring heads of state that the United States intended to protect them in the event of war.
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Eric Johnston agreed, and Roosevelt appointed him an emissary of the United States.
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Eric Johnston met with Stalin for three hours at a time when Ambassador W Averell Harriman had yet to present his credentials to the premier.
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Eric Johnston was named president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association, the predecessor of the MPAA, in 1946.
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Eric Johnston immediately changed the name of the organization to its current title, the Motion Picture Association of America.
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On November 25,1947, Eric Johnston was part of a closed-door meeting with 47 motion picture company executives at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel that resulted in the "Waldorf Statement".
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Eric Johnston issued a two-page press release that marked the beginning of the Hollywood blacklist.
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Eric Johnston engaged in major initiatives to secure a significant American share of the overseas motion picture market, and to reduce restrictions on the screening of American films in foreign markets.
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In January 1951, Johnston was appointed administrator of the Economic Stabilization Agency by President Harry S Truman, replacing Alan Valentine.
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Eric Johnston worked to solve the Middle East's water problems by negotiating the Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan.
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In 1958, Eric Johnston traveled to the Soviet Union and met Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
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Eric Johnston was succeeded at the MPAA by Jack Valenti in 1966 after a three-year search.
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In 1963, while still MPAA president, Eric Johnston suffered a stroke in Washington, DC, on June 17.
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Eric Johnston entered a coma on August 5 and died age 66 on August 22,1963.