"Roosevelt's Running Mate" Hiram Johnson Hand Written Letter COA For Sale

Hiram Warren Johnson (September 2, 1866– August 6, 1945) was initially aleading American progressiveand then a Liberal Isolationist Republican politician fromCalifornia.He served as the 23rd Governor of California from 1911 to 1917and as a United States Senator from 1917 to 1945.He was also Theodore Roosevelt's running matein the 1912 presidential electionon the Progressive(also known as the "Bull Moose") ticket. After working as astenographer and reporter, Johnson embarked on a legal career. He began hispractice in his hometown of Sacramento, California, but moved to San Francisco,where he worked as an assistant districtattorney. Gaining statewide notoriety for his prosecutions of publiccorruption, Johnson won the 1910 California gubernatorial election with thebacking of the Lincoln–Roosevelt League. He institutedseveral progressive reforms,establishing a railroad commission and introducing aspects of directdemocracy such as the power to recallstate officials. Johnson joined with Roosevelt and other progressives to formthe Progressive Party and won the party's 1912 vice presidential nomination. Inone of the best third party performances in U.S. history,the ticket finished second nationally in the popular and electoral vote. Johnsonwon election to the Senate in 1916, becoming a leader of the chamber'sProgressive Republicans. But he emerged as an early voice for Liberal Progressiveisolationism,opposing U.S. entry into World War I and U.S. participation in the League ofNations. As a postwar Liberal Republican, he helped enact the Immigration Act of 1924, which severelyrestricted immigration from East Asiancountries. Johnson unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nominationin 1920 and 1924 and supported Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election.Johnson supported many of the New Deal programs but came to oppose Roosevelt as the latter'stenure continued. Johnson remained in the Senate until his death in 1945.