Paul B. Johnson Jr.

He suffered a stroke in the late 1970s, and continued to struggle with his health in his final years. He suffered a fatal heart attack in 1985 at his home in Hattiesburg, and died surrounded by wife and family.

After recognizing the potentially damaging effects of racism on the state's image and business climate, particularly in terms of attracting investment and new businesses, Johnson worked to tone down racist rhetoric. He adopted moderate policies, and asked residents to comply with the newly passed Voting Rights Act in 1965. He declared: "The day for a lot of bull-shooting is over." His leadership was believed to have contributed to the decrease in racial violence in the state and to its solid economic growth. Johnson worked hard to pass a $130 million bond issue to finance a major expansion of the Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula. Like many other southern governors, Johnson quietly observed the 1965 Civil War centennial of the defeat of the Confederacy. In addition, his 1966 fight to repeal the prohibition on alcohol, a state law which for 48 years had been largely ignored by moonshiners, was another issue that gained him popular appeal. Johnson left politics following the end of his term.

In his inaugural address in 1964, Johnson chose the "Pursuit of Excellence" as his term's theme and said, "Hate, or prejudice, or ignorance, will not lead Mississippi while I sit in the governor's chair." To many, that comment had a hollow ring five months later, when during the investigation of the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in June 1964, Johnson offered little or no help. He praised Neshoba County Sheriff Lawrence A. Rainey and deputy sheriff Cecil Price. He also dismissed fears that the trio had been murdered, saying "Maybe they went to Cuba," a reference to the country's communist regime; opponents of the civil rights movement often suggested the movement was a communist plot.

Although Johnson felt that state politics were ill-suited for him, he ran for governor again in 1963. He defeated former governor James P. Coleman by tying his opponent to President John F. Kennedy's civil rights legislation proposed that year. During the campaign, he asked voters to "Stand tall with Paul" against those wanting to change Mississippi's "way of life", in reference to his confrontation with federal marshals at Ole Miss.

In 1959, Johnson ran for lieutenant governor and won, serving under Governor Ross Barnett, who became a segregationist icon. Johnson played a prominent role in trying to prevent James Meredith from enrolling at Ole Miss in 1962, physically blocking (for the benefit of photographers) the federal marshals who were escorting the African-American veteran.

During World War II, Johnson served in the South Pacific with the United States Marine Corps. Upon his release from the service, Johnson wanted to enter politics. He gained an appointment as the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi from 1948 to 1951.

As described by writer Theodore White, Johnson had, for a Southerner, a liberal early record. He supported Harry S. Truman for president in 1948 (Truman received just over ten percent of the vote in Mississippi), Adlai Stevenson in 1952. Johnson ran for governor three times: in 1947, 1951, and 1955, but was unsuccessful. In 1947, prior to his first try for the governor's mansion, he also ran for an open U.S. Senate seat, but lost.

Johnson became a practicing attorney in Jackson and Hattiesburg. After beginning his career, he married Dorothy Power in 1941. They had 4 children.

Supporting Johnson's campaign were the outgoing Governor Ross Barnett and Democratic state chairman Bidwell Adam, an attorney from Gulfport and the lieutenant governor from 1928 to 1932. The Phillips-Morse ticket fell short. Phillips carried the active backing of Wirt Yerger, the first Mississippi Republican state chairman. He received 38% of the vote, indicating a strong base of later support for serious GOP state candidates. Morse polled 26% against the Democrat Carroll Gartin of Laurel, who died in office three years later.

Paul B. Johnson Jr. grew up in a political family, as his father was a notable Democratic Party leader, serving as US Congressman from 1919 to 1923. The younger Johnson had an affectionate reverence for Franklin D. Roosevelt based on the days of his Congressman father's friendship with the then-Assistant Secretary of the Navy. (The families' children knew each other). In 1938, Johnson Sr. was elected as Governor of Mississippi, dying in office in 1943.

Paul Burney Johnson Jr. (January 23, 1916 – October 14, 1985) was an American attorney and Democratic politician from Mississippi, serving as governor from 1964 until January 1968. He was a son of former Mississippi Governor Paul B. Johnson Sr.

In the general election, Johnson faced Rubel Phillips, originally from Corinth. He was the first strong Republican candidate for Mississippi governor since the end of Reconstruction in 1876, as the party was hobbled after the state passed a disfranchising constitution in 1890, effectively barring most blacks from the political system. In the 1960s, however, in contrast to Reconstruction, the Republican Party was appealing to white conservatives in the South.