Eddie Bernice Johnson (December 3, 1934 – December 31, 2023) was an American politician who represented Texas's in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
from 1993 to 2023. Johnson was a member of the
Democratic Party.
Johnson was elected to the House in 1992, becoming the first registered nurse in Congress. At the swearing-in of the
116th United States Congress
The 116th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate, Senate and the United States House of Representati ...
, she became dean of
Texas's congressional delegation. Upon Representative
Don Young
Donald Edwin Young (June 9, 1933 – March 18, 2022) was an American politician from Alaska. He is the List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service, longest-serving Republican Party (United States), Republican in House ...
's death in March 2022, Johnson became the oldest member of the House of Representatives. She retired at the end of the 117th Congress.
Johnson also served in the
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...
, where she was elected in 1972 in a landslide, the first black woman to win electoral office from Dallas. She also served three terms in the
Texas Senate
The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the state of Texas.
The Senate ...
.
Early life, education, and medical career
Eddie Bernice Johnson was born in
Waco, Texas
Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...
, on December 3, 1934,
to Edward Johnson, a tailor, and Lillie Mae White Johnson, a homemaker.
She and her three siblings grew up attending Toliver Chapel Baptist Church, where her mother was an active member. Johnson had aspired to a career in medicine since childhood, and wished to become a doctor, but was told by a high school
guidance counselor that this would not be possible because she was female.
[ Johnson graduated from A.J. Moore High School at age 16, and moved to Indiana to attend Saint Mary's College of Notre Dame, where she graduated in 1955 with her nursing certificate. She transferred to ]Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...
, from which she received a bachelor's degree in nursing. She later attended Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...
and earned a Master of Public Administration
A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the ...
in 1976.[
Johnson was the first African American to serve as Chief Psychiatric Nurse at the Dallas Veterans Administration Hospital. She entered politics after 16 years in that position.
]
Early political career
After passage of civil-rights legislation and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights move ...
, which enabled African Americans in the South to register and vote, more African Americans began to run for office and be elected. Johnson first became known in Dallas as a civil-rights activist in the 1960s.[
In 1972, as an underdog candidate running for a seat in the Texas House, Johnson won a landslide victory. She was the first black woman ever elected to public office from Dallas. She soon became the first woman in Texas history to lead a major Texas House committee, the Labor Committee.
Johnson left the State House in 1977, when President ]Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
appointed her as the regional director for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a Cabinet of the United States, cabinet-level United States federal executive departments, executive branch department of the federal government of the United States, US federal ...
, the first African-American woman to hold this position.
Johnson entered electoral politics again in 1986, when she was elected as a Texas state senator.[ She was the first black state senator from Dallas since ]Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
. Her concerns included health care, education, public housing
Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...
, racial equity, economic development
In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...
, and job expansion. Johnson served on the Finance Committee, for which she chaired the subcommittee on Health and Human Services, and the Education Committee. She wrote legislation to regulate diagnostic radiology centers, require drug testing in hospitals, prohibit discrimination against AIDS
The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
victims, improve access to health care for AIDS patients, and prohibit hospital kickbacks to doctors. A fair-housing advocate, she sponsored a bill to empower city governments to repair substandard housing at landlords' expense, and wrote a bill to enforce prohibitions against housing discrimination.
Johnson worked against racism while dealing with discrimination in the legislature. "Being a woman and being black is perhaps a double handicap," she told the ''Chicago Tribune.'' "When you see who's in the important huddles, who's making the important decisions, it's men." Johnson sponsored several bills aimed at equity, including a bill to establish goals for Texas to do business with "socially disadvantaged" businesses. She crafted a fair-housing act aimed at toughening fair-housing laws and establishing a commission to investigate complaints of discriminatory housing practices.
Johnson also held committee hearings and investigated complaints. In 1989, she testified in federal court about racism in Dallas's city government. In 1992, she formally asked the Justice Department
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
to investigate harassment of local black students. That same year, she held hearings to examine discrimination charges about unfair contracting bids for the government's Superconducting Super Collider
The Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), nicknamed Desertron, was a particle accelerator complex under construction from 1991 to 1993 near Waxahachie, Texas, United States.
Its planned ring circumference was with an energy of 20 TeV per proto ...
.
Johnson feared the legacy that discrimination leaves for youth. "I am frightened to see young people who believe that a racist power structure is responsible for every negative thing that happens to them," she told the ''New York Times.'' "After a point it does not matter whether these perceptions are true or false; it is the perceptions that matter."
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
Midway through her second term in the state senate, Johnson ran in the Democratic primary for the newly created 30th congressional district. She defeated Republican nominee Lucy Cain 72% to 25% in the 1992 general election, and became the first nurse elected to the United States Congress. In 1994, she defeated Cain again, 73% to 26%.
In 1996, after her district was significantly redrawn as a result of '' Bush v. Vera,'' she was reelected to a third term with 55% of the vote, the worst election performance of her congressional career. All the candidates in the race appeared on a single ballot regardless of party, and Johnson faced two other Democrats. Proving just how Democratic this district still was, the three Democrats tallied 73% of the vote.
Johnson never faced another contest nearly that close. She was reelected nine more times with at least 72% of the vote. In 2012, Johnson easily beat two opponents in the Democratic primary, State Representative Barbara Mallory Caraway and lawyer Taj Clayton, gaining 70% of the vote; she won the general election with almost 79% of the vote. She was reelected in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020. In October 2019, Johnson announced she would retire in 2022.
Tenure
The 17th chair of the Congressional Black Caucus
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is made up of Black members of the United States Congress. Representative Yvette Clarke from New York, the current chairperson, succeeded Steven Horsford from Nevada in 2025. Although most members belong ...
, Johnson opposed the Iraq Resolution of 2002. During debate on the House floor, she stated:
I am not convinced that giving the President the authority to launch a unilateral, first-strike attack on Iraq is the appropriate course of action at this time. While I believe that under international law and under the authority of our Constitution, the United States must maintain the option to act in its own self-defense, I strongly believe that the administration has not provided evidence of an imminent threat of attack on the United States that would justify a unilateral strike. I also believe that actions alone, without exhausting peaceful options, could seriously harm global support for our war on terrorism and distract our own resources from this cause.
In 2007, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives.
History
The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure was formerly known as the Committee on Public Works ...
Chair Jim Oberstar
James Louis Oberstar (September 10, 1934 – May 3, 2014) was an American politician and Congressman who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 2011. Hailing from Minnesota and a member of the state's local Minnes ...
appointed Johnson chair of its Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment during the 110th and 111th Congresses. She was the first African American and first woman in Congress to chair this subcommittee. As Subcommittee Chair, Johnson sponsored the Water Resources Development Act
Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), is a reference to public laws enacted by Congress to deal with various aspects of water resources: environmental, structural, navigational, flood protection, hydrology, etc.
Typically, the United States Ar ...
. She led Congress in overriding President Bush's veto of it, the only veto override of his presidency.
During the 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign, Johnson initially supported U.S. Senator John Edwards
Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who represented North Carolina in the United States Senate from 1999 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the vice presidential nominee under ...
. After he withdrew from the race, she pledged her support as a superdelegate to Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
. Her district backed Obama heavily in the election.
Johnson and Representative Donna Edwards proposed a publicly funded park on the moon to mark where the Apollo missions landed between 1969 and 1972. The Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act, H.R. 2617, calls for the park to be run jointly by the Department of the Interior and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Johnson attended COP26 in 2021 and urged immediate climate action, warning, "Scientists have been sounding the alarm on climate for years" and "Inaction is not an option". "We are working to build a clean energy future while creating high quality jobs, and so much more", she said.
Armenian genocide denial
Johnson consistently opposed the historical consensus on the Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
. In 2009, when asked if she acknowledged the Armenian genocide, she responded "No, I don't." In 2017, when interviewed for a film and asked if she denied that the Armenian genocide occurred, Johnson replied " I do deny that." In 2019, Johnson was one of three House members to vote "present" on a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide. The Armenian National Committee of America gave Johnson an F− rating for her voting record during the 117th congress.
Presidential election objections
In 2001, Johnson and other House members objected to counting Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
's electoral votes in the 2000 presidential election. Because no senator joined her objection, it was dismissed by Senate President Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...
.
In 2005, Johnson was one of 31 House Democrats who voted not to count Ohio's electoral votes
An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliamenta ...
in the 2004 presidential election. Without Ohio's electoral votes, the election would have been decided by the U.S. House of Representatives, with each state having one vote, in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twelfth Amendment (Amendment XII) to the United States Constitution provides the procedure for electing the president and vice president. It replaced the procedure in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, under which the Electoral College origi ...
.
Johnson voted to certify Joe Biden's win in the 2020 presidential election. Johnson called the 2021 United States Capitol attack
On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump, President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup,Multiple sources:
*
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*
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*
*
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* two months afte ...
"like a real war".
Scholarship violations
In August 2010, Amy Goldson, counsel for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, said that Johnson violated organizational rules by awarding at least 15 scholarships to relatives of her own or to children of her district director, Rod Givens. The awards violated an anti-nepotism
Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In ...
rule and the recipients did not qualify for the scholarships because they were not residents of Johnson's district. Johnson said she "unknowingly" made a mistake in awarding the grants and would work with the foundation to rectify it.
Opponent Stephen Broden released letters bearing Johnson's signature in which she requested that the scholarship check be made out to and sent directly to her relatives, instead of to the destination university as would normally be done. The ''Dallas Morning News'' ran an editorial questioning her changing story on the matter, saying that it was overshadowing her service in the House.
Committees
In December 2010, Johnson became the first African American and the first female Ranking Member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. From 2000 to 2002, she was the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Research and Science Education. Johnson has been a strong advocate of investing in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. In 2012, she introduced the Broadening Participation in STEM Education Act, which would authorize the Director of the National Science Foundation
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...
(NSF) to award grants to increase the number of students from underrepresented minority groups receiving STEM degrees. The bill would also expand the number of faculty members from underrepresented minority groups at colleges and universities.
Committee assignments
* Committee on Science and Technology (chair)
* Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
** Subcommittee on Aviation
** Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
** Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment
Caucus memberships
* Congressional Arts Caucus
* Congressional Black Caucus
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is made up of Black members of the United States Congress. Representative Yvette Clarke from New York, the current chairperson, succeeded Steven Horsford from Nevada in 2025. Although most members belong ...
* Congressional Tri Caucus (founder)
* LGBT Equality Caucus
* Congressional Progressive Caucus
* Rare Disease Congressional Caucus
* Congressional Cement Caucus
* Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus
* U.S.-Japan Caucus
Personal life and death
Johnson was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is an List of African American fraternities, historically African-American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The sorority was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. Alpha Kappa Alpha ...
sorority and The Links. In 1956, she married educator Lacey Kirk Johnson. They had one child, a son. The marriage ended in divorce in 1970.[
Johnson died in Dallas on December 31, 2023, at the age of 89,] shortly after being admitted into hospice care. Three days later, her family announced plans to file a lawsuit against her health-care providers, claiming medical negligence was responsible for her death. She would be buried in the Texas State Cemetery
The Texas State Cemetery (TSC) is a cemetery located on about just east of downtown Austin, downtown Austin, Texas, Austin, the Capital (political), capital of the U.S. state of Texas. Originally the burial place of Edward Burleson, Texas Revo ...
in Austin, Texas
Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
.
Legacy
Dallas Independent School District
The Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD or DISD) is a school district based in Dallas, Texas, United States. It operates schools in much of Dallas County, Texas, Dallas County and is the second-largest school district in Texas and t ...
opened an elementary school in Wilmer, Texas
Wilmer is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,682 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth– Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Geography
Wilmer is located at (32.590743, –96 ...
, named after Johnson, in 2020.
Dallas Union Station is officially known as "Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station" after Johnson.
See also
* List of African-American United States representatives
* Women in the United States House of Representatives
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Eddie Bernice
1934 births
2023 deaths
20th-century African-American politicians
21st-century African-American politicians
21st-century American women politicians
African-American members of the United States House of Representatives
African-American nurses
African-American state legislators in Texas
21st-century African-American women politicians
20th-century African-American women politicians
20th-century American women politicians
American nurses
American women nurses
Baptists from Texas
Deniers of the Armenian genocide
Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas
Democratic Party Texas state senators
Female members of the United States House of Representatives
Nurses from Texas
Politicians from Waco, Texas
Saint Mary's College (Indiana) alumni
Southern Methodist University alumni
Texas Christian University alumni
Women state legislators in Texas
21st-century Texas politicians
21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives
20th-century members of the Texas Legislature
Members of The Links