Ural Alexis Johnson
(October 17 1908 –
March 24 1997) was a
United
States
diplomat, born in Falun, Kansas
.
He
graduated Occidental
College
in 1931 and entered the Foreign Service in
1935. After serving in Tokyo, Seoul, Mukden (now Shenyang,
where he was interned at the start of World War II), and Rio de
Janeiro, he was assigned as Consul and later Consul General at
Yokohama, Japan from 1945 to 1949. From 1949 to 1953 he served in
various positions in the Department of State's Far East Bureau,
mainly concerned with Japan and Korea, rising to be Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State with responsibilities for the entire
bureau." He played a role in the ceasefire in the
Korean War.
He was ambassador to Czechoslovakia
from 1953 to 1958, Thailand
from 1958 to
1961, and to Japan
from 1966 to
1969. While Ambassador to Czechoslovakia he represented the
United States in a long series of meetings in Geneva with the
Chinese Communists, in the absence of diplomatic relations these
were the principal point of contact between the two
governments.
He was Deputy Under Secretary for Political Affairs and in the
Excomm from 1961 to 1964. From 1964 to 1965 he was Deputy
Ambassador to the Republic of Vietnam. In 1965 he returned to the
position of Deputy Under Secretary for Political Affairs from 1965
to 1966. He also served as
Under Secretary
of State for Political Affairs 1969 to 1973. He was chief
United States delegate to the
Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks from 1973 until retirement in 1977. His memoir
The Right Hand of
Power was published in 1984.
As
Under Secretary
for Political Affairs at the U.S.
State Department, Johnson was involved in the Apollo 11 lunar landing ceremonial
activities. He suggested that a plaque be placed on the
surface of the
Moon. After several changes in a
high level committee it stated, "we came in peace for all mankind."
Johnson was also sensitive to the idea of raising a
U.S. flag on the surface of the
Moon, as it might symbolize territorial acquisition. Later, the
Congress decided that a U.S.
flag would be placed on the Moon by
Neil
Armstrong and
Buzz Aldrin.
He died in 1997 from
pneumonia.
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