Frank Minis Johnson

Frank Minis Johnson Jr. (October 30, 1918 – July 23, 1999) was a United States district judge and United States circuit judge serving 1955 to 1999 on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

He made landmark civil rights rulings that helped end segregation and disenfranchisement of African Americans in the South.

In the words of journalist and historian Bill Moyers, Judge Johnson "altered forever the face of the South."

Johnson was born in 1918 and grew up in Haleyville in northern Alabama, a longtime independent-minded part of the state.

Winston County had opposed secession from the Union during the American Civil War.

While a student, he was asked by a staunchly Democratic classmate why he insisted upon being a Republican, to which Johnson replied that there were "so few of us that one day I might be a federal judge."

Another classmate George C. Wallace, future governor of the state, overheard the remark and replied, "Well, that'll be the day. I'll be governor by then."

Johnson graduated from the University of Alabama and later the University of Alabama School of Law with a Bachelor of Laws in 1943, and was admitted to the bar.

He married Ruth Jenkins, a classmate from the University of Alabama.

Johnson served in the United States Army in Europe during World War II, while his wife Ruth served in the WAVES as an adviser to Hollywood directors making films about the war.

After military service, Johnson entered private law practice in Jasper, Alabama from 1946 to 1953.

Unlike most white voters of the time in Alabama, he became active in politics with the Republican Party, serving as a delegate to the 1948 Republican National Convention.

He managed Alabama's "Veterans for Eisenhower" group during the 1952 campaign.

Johnson was known as a foe of the Democratic Party's segregationist policies.

He was appointed as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 1953 to 1955, during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration.

Johnson received a recess appointment from President Dwight D. Eisenhower on October 22, 1955, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama vacated by Judge Charles Kennamer.

He was nominated to the same position on January 12, 1956.

He was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 31, 1956, and received his commission on February 1, 1956.

In 1956, Johnson ruled in favor of Rosa Parks, striking down the "blacks in the back of the bus" law of the city of Montgomery Alabama, as unconstitutional.

A burning cross was placed on his lawn in 1956 following the Rosa Parks decision, and his mother's house was bombed in 1967, although she was not hurt.

Wallace would prove to be Johnson's bête noire during the civil rights era of the 1960s.

In orders issued in 1961 and 1962, he ordered the desegregation of bus depots (such as the Montgomery Greyhound station) and the Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama's Middle judicial district.

In 1961 he ordered the Ku Klux Klan and Montgomery police to stop the beating and harassment of Freedom Riders attempting to integrate interstate bus travel.

In March 1965, Johnson ruled that activists had the right to undertake the Selma to Montgomery march as a means to petition the government, overturning Governor George Wallace's prohibition of the march as contrary to public safety.

Thousands of sympathizers traveled to Selma to join the march, which had 25,000 participants by its last leg into Montgomery on March 25, 1965.

It was considered integral to gaining passage by Congress of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Johnson received death threats and ostracism for his role in advancing civil rights, and was protected by federal marshals for nearly two decades.

He served as chief judge from 1966 to 1979.

Johnson additionally served on the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals from 1972 to 1982.

Johnson served more than 40 years on the federal bench.

At the memorial service after his death, he was praised by former United States Senator Howell Heflin, Democrat of Alabama, who said that the judge's "unrelenting devotion to the rule of law" helped him strike down segregation laws.

In 1977 President Carter and Attorney General Griffin Bell asked Johnson to become FBI Director when Director Clarence M. Kelley stepped down.

His service terminated on July 12, 1979, due to his elevation to the Fifth Circuit.

Johnson was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on April 2, 1979, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, to a new seat established by 92 Stat.

1629. He was confirmed by the Senate on June 19, 1979, and received his commission on June 21, 1979.

His service terminated on October 1, 1981, due to reassignment to the Eleventh Circuit.

Johnson was reassigned to the newly established United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit by operation of law on October 1, 1981.

He assumed senior status on October 30, 1991.

He was succeeded on the bench by Judge Edward Earl Carnes.

His service terminated on July 23, 1999, upon his death.