page_title: Keen Johnson
section_title: Later life and death
hierarchical_section_title: Keen Johnson / Later life and death
caption_attribution_description: English: Exterior photograph of the Keen Johnson Building located on EKU's campus.
context_page_description: Keen Johnson was the 45th Governor of Kentucky, serving from 1939 to 1943; being the only journalist to have held that office. After serving in World War I, Johnson purchased and edited the Elizabethtown Mirror newspaper. He revived the struggling paper, sold it to a competitor and used the profits to obtain his journalism degree from the University of Kentucky in 1922. After graduation, he became editor of The Anderson News, and in 1925, he accepted an offer to co-publish and edit the Richmond Daily Register.
  In 1935, Johnson was chosen as the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor. He was elected and served under Governor A. B. "Happy" Chandler from 1935 to 1939. He had already secured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1939 when Chandler resigned and elevated Johnson to governor so that Johnson could appoint Chandler to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of M. M. Logan. He went on to win a full gubernatorial term in the general election, defeating Republican King Swope. Johnson's desire to expand the state's social services was hampered by the financial strain imposed on the state by the outbreak of World War II.
context_section_description: Beginning in 1940, Johnson was a member of the State Democratic National Committee, serving until 1948. On June 6, 1942, he was named to the board of regents of Eastern State College (now Eastern Kentucky University or EKU), a position he held for eight years. EKU's Keen Johnson Building, a 1939 Works Progress Administration project, was named in honor of him. The building and its clock tower is one of the most recognizable landmarks on the university's campus.
   On January 1, 1944, he was named a special assistant to the president of Reynolds Metals, advising him on postwar unemployment problems. He became vice-president of public relations for the company in 1945.
  Johnson developed a strong rapport with union leaders and in 1946, President Harry S. Truman and Kentucky Senator Alben Barkley asked him to accept an appointment to the newly created post of Undersecretary of Labor. In August 1946, Johnson took a leave of absence from Reynolds and accepted the appointment. He frequently attended President Truman's cabinet meetings due to the illness of Secretary Lewis B. Schwellenbach.
  In mid-1947, Johnson returned to Reynolds. In 1950, he became a member of the company's board of directors. In this capacity, he organized meetings of sales executives and traveled extensively to promote the company's aluminum products. He retired from Reynolds in January 1961.
  In 1960, Johnson sought a seat in the U.S. Senate. He defeated John Y. Brown, Sr. in the Democratic primary, but was unable to unseat Republican incumbent John Sherman Cooper in the general election. In 1961 and 1964, he was appointed to the state board of education. He served as a delegate to an assembly to revise the state constitution in 1964. In 1965, the University of Kentucky honored him with a Centennial Award and inducted him into its Hall of Distinguished Alumni. He died February 7, 1970 in Richmond, Kentucky, and is buried in Richmond Cemetery.
caption: Keen Johnson Building at Eastern Kentucky University
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