Johnson, Alvin

Biography

Alvin Saunders Johnson (December 18, 1874-June 8, 1971), an educator, editor, economist, and author, was born near Homer, Nebraska. His undergraduate major at the University of Nebraska, from which he graduated in 1897, was in classics. In 1902, Johnson earned a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University. His teaching career included stints at Columbia, Cornell, Stanford, the University of Nebraska, University of Texas, University of Chicago, and The New School. He was editor of the Political Science Quarterly (1902-1906) and The New Republic, from 1917.

In 1922, Johnson assumed the position of director, and later, president, of The New School for Social Research, a position he held until 1946. Under his leadership, The New School grew into one of the nation's most important centers of adult education, as well as a leader in the social sciences. While working as associate editor on The Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, Johnson came into close contact with European scholars, and became acutely alert to the threat posed by the rise of Hitler in Nazi Germany. This led Johnson to mount a campaign to rescue scholars whose professional success, livelihoods, and, increasingly, lives, were endangered. In 1933, largely supported by the benefactor Hiram Halle, Johnson finally successful in his efforts, establishing the University-in-Exile at The New School (this was later called the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science), and later, during World War II, he also invited exiled French scholars to reestablish the Ecole Libre at The New School.

A prolific writer before and after his retirement, Johnson’s autobiography, Pioneer's Progress, was published in 1952.

Johnson died in Nyack, New York in June, 1971.