Henry Simpson Johnston (30 December 1867 – 7 January 1965) was the Democratic Governor of Oklahoma from 10 January 1927 to 21 March 1929, succeeding Martin E. Trapp and preceding William J. Holloway.
Biography[]
Henry Simpson Johnston was born in Evansville, Indiana in 1867, and he became a lawyer in Colorado in 1891 and in Perry, Oklahoma a few years later. Johnston served in the state senate from 1907 to 1909, and, with the backing of prohibitionists, Protestant churchmen, Freemasons, and the Klan, Johnston was elected Governor in 1926. Johnston established a crippled children's hospital, increased school aid funds, and fell under the influence of his private secretary O.O. Hammonds, who made executive decisions and appointments in her own right. The legislature impeached Johnston in 1929, and he returned to practice law in Perry and served in the state senate from 1933 to 1937 before dying in Perry in 1965 at the age of 97.