SUMMARY AND HIGHLIGHTS:
This resume reflects the variety of Johnson's roles as an academic and
law professor; government official and school board member; public interest
advocate; administrator, manager and corporate representative; writer,
lecturer, TV and radio performer; politician; lawyer; and public health,
computer and telecommunications policy specialist.
Johnson, who has travelled widely, currently
teaches law, is a columnist and public lecturer, computer enthusiast, and
fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. He has formerly, among
many other things, served as co-director of a public health public policy
institute, network TV host, congressional candidate, author of books, articles
and a nationally syndicated column, FCC Commissioner, school board member,
U.S. Maritime Administrator, and law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Hugo Black.
He was born in Iowa City, Iowa, in 1934,
the son of Wendell and Edna Johnson. He returned from Washington,
D.C., to Iowa City, where he lives with his wife, Mary Vasey. They have
seven children, five grandchildren, two great grandchildren, one cat and
nine fish.
Visiting Professor, University of Iowa College
of Law (1981-). For details of current activities,
see "Activities
Reports" (from UI College of Law publication, Iowa Advocate).
ACADEMIC
AND WRITING EXPERIENCE
University of Iowa Experimental Schools, 1936-1952.
B.A., 1956, LL.B, 1958, University of Texas, Austin. L.H.D., Windham College,
1971.
Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Sigma Alpha, Phi Eta Sigma,
Phi Delta Phi, Chancellors, Order of the Coif, Golden Key. Poynter Fellow,
Yale University, 1971.
Distinguished visiting professorships: University
of Wisconsin, Madison, 1980; Syracuse University, 1980; California State
University, Los Angeles, 1986; University of California San Diego (Regents'
Professor), 2000.
Acting associate professor of law, University
of California, Berkeley, 1960-63. Adjunct professor of law, Georgetown
University, Washington, D.C., 1971-73; visiting professor, University of
Illinois Law School, Champaign-Urbana, 1976; University of Oklahoma, Norman,
1978; Illinois State University, Normal, 1979; College of Law, University
of Iowa, 1981-; Department of Communication Studies, University of Iowa,
1982-85; Department of Theater Arts, University of Iowa, 1999; University
of California San Diego, Western Behavioral Sciences Institute, 1986-91.
(And see "Distinguished visiting professorships," above.)
Cases and Materials on Oil and Gas Law
(2 volumes, 1961); How to Talk Back to Your Television Set (1970);
Test
Pattern for Living (1972); Cases and Materials on Communications
Law (4 volumes, 1981-86);
Introductory and Background Readings for
Law of Electronic Media (1993) and Readings Supplement (1994);
Law
of Electronic Media in a Cyberspace Age (with David Loundy; 2 volumes,
1996); articles, notes and book reviews in such law reviews and journals
as California, Columbia, Federal Communications, Georgetown, Iowa, Texas,
UCLA, Virginia and Yale. About 400 separate opinions in volumes 4-43 of
the official Federal Communications Commission Reports (Second Series),
including the book-length
Broadcasting in America (42 FCC 2d 1).
Newsweek
magazine once listed as one of four individuals most in demand for
university presidencies (along with former Secretary of HEW John Gardner,
Attorney General Ramsey Clark and Ford Foundation President McGeorge Bundy).
His over 500
speaking invitations have included one or more from each of 125 individual
colleges and universities.
AWARDS,
GENERAL
One of Ten Outstanding Young Americans, U.S.
Jaycees, 1967; New Republic Public Defender Award, 1971; Civil Liberties
Award, Georgia Civil Liberties Union, 1972; DeWitt Carter Reddick Award,
University of Texas, 1977; George Stoney Award for Humanistic Communications,
National Federation of Local Cable Programmers, 1987.
BIOGRAPHICAL
LISTINGS
Primary: Marquis
Who's
Who in America. Other: Bio-Base (1990); Biography Index
(vols. 8, 9, 10; 1971, 1974, 1977); The Blue Book Leaders of the English-Speaking
World (1976); Brown, Les, The New York Times Encyclopedia of Television
(1977); Burke, W.J. and Howe, Will D., American Authors and Books,
1640 to the Present Day (3rd rev. ed. 1972); Celebrity Register
(3rd ed. 1973); Contemporary Authors (vols. 29-32, 1978); Current
Biography Yearbook (1968); Association of American Law Schools' Directory
of Law Teachers (current);
International Authors and Writers Who's
Who; Les Brown's Encyclopedia of Television (1982); The New
York Times Biographical Edition (1971); Paneth, Donald, The Encyclopedia
of American Journalism (1983); Personalities of America; Syndicated
Columnist Contacts;
Syndicated Columnists Directory; University
of Texas Alumni Directory;
University of Texas Law Alumni Association
Alumni Directory; Who's Who in America (see above); Who's
Who in Entertainment; Who's Who in Government (1972); Who's Who
in the Midwest; Who's Who in Society; Who's Who in the South and
Southwest (1973); Who's Who in U.S. Writers, Editors & Poets;
Who's
Who in the World (1974; 1976); Who's Who in Writers, Editors &
Poets; The Writers Directory (1976; 1980; 1982; 1984; 1986;
1988).
BUSINESS
AND MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE
Sole administrator of billion-dollar Maritime
Administration, 1964-66 (other Maritime-related titles: Chair, Maritime
Subsidy Board; Commandant, Kings Point Maritime Academy; Director, War
Shipping Authority; Chair, NATO PBOS). One of seven Commissioners responsible
for Federal Communications Commission, 1966-73. IBM Executives' Computer
Concepts Course, 1967. Chair and CEO, National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting,
Washington, D.C., 1974-78, National Citizens Communications Lobby, 1974-present.
Legal representation of nation's largest steel and cement companies and
a major airline, 1963-64 (Covington & Burling, Washington, D.C.). Research,
teaching, writing and lecturing about oil and gas, shipping, ship building,
broadcasting, computers, telephone and related industries. Lecturing to
numerous corporations and trade associations. Co-Director, Institute on
Health, Behavior and Environmental Policy, 1990-93. Member school
board, Iowa City Community School District ($70-million-dollar budget),
1998-01.
COMPUTERS,
TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS
Presidential Advisor, White House Conference
on Libraries and Information Services, 1979 (appointed by President Jimmy
Carter; planned and managed with computer conferences through EIES (Electronic
Information Exchange System, New Jersey Institute of Technology)); former
Chair, Virtual Classroom Project, NJIT (testing of software and teaching
effectiveness via computer conferencing); former ConnectEd faculty (New
School for Social Research, New York City; computer conference-provided
college education); former University of California San Diego, Western
Behavioral Sciences Institute, International Executive Forum, faculty 1986-91
(global computer conferencing executive education). Keynoted 1991 Asia
Pacific Networking Forum in Seoul. UI Information Arcade Advisory Council,
UI Information Arcade Database Task Force (1991-92).
Illustrative (present and former) computer
conferencing/e-mail/online database accounts: America Online, Avalon Network,
CompuServe, EasyLink, Internet Navigator, IRIS, Lexis/Nexis, MCIMail, MetaNet,
PeaceNet, Prodigy, SCARCNet (global anti-smoking activists), UI LAWNet,
UI Weeg, WELL, Westlaw. Web site creation, such as: http://www.nicholasjohnson.org
and
linked sites; UI Law Cyberspace Law Seminar use of, publication of papers
on, Internet/Web.
Other electronics: Former Commissioner, national
FCC, Iowa City Broadband and Telecommunications Commission; publisher Media
Watch and access magazines; contributing editor and host, PBS
network series, "New Tech Times"; freelance and nationally syndicated columnist
("Communications Watch"); professor "Cyberspace Law," "Cyberspace
Law Seminar" (and "Law of Electronic Media"); extra class amateur radio
operator; computer hobbyist; community video camera operator.
INTERNATIONAL
As Maritime Administrator, Chair, NATO, Planning
Board for Ocean Shipping, London and Washington (1964-66); F.C.C. commissioner
(1966-73); member "Midwest Opinion Leaders" delegation to NATO, 1987; international
lecturing for American Bar Association/Center for East European Law Initiative
(ABA/CEELI), Leigh Lecture Bureau, United States Information Agency, and
others.
Travel, speaking, writing, broadcasting from
Australia (1996), Austria (2006), Belgium, Bulgaria (1999), Canada, Chile
(1996), Costa Rica (1994), Denmark, England, France, Georgia (Republic
of, 1998), Germany (old East and West), Hong Kong (1996), Iceland, Italy,
Japan, Kazakhstan (1993), Korea, Malaysia (1996), Mexico (2001), Netherlands,
New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland (1997), Puerto Rico, Singapore,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (2001), Thailand (1996), and Vietnam.
Broadcasting studies: Australia, Canada, England,
Germany, Japan, Sweden. Writings translated into French, German, Italian,
Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese. Former board
member, Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA); Fellow, World Academy
of Art and Science (Executive Board member 1993-97). Member, Supplemental
International and Comparative Law Faculty, University of Iowa College of
Law International and Comparative Law Program.
K-12
EDUCATION
Johnson was elected to the Board of Directors,
Iowa City [Iowa] Community School District for a three-year term, 1998-2001.
During this term he wrote bi-weekly
columns on K-12 education and school board issues for the Iowa City
Press-Citizen, 1998-2001, and continues to maintain a personal "School
Board" Web site (links not only to columns, memos and School Board
writing, but also hundreds of others' educational policy research Web sites).
LABOR
AND PUBLIC INTEREST
Reputation as Maritime Administrator and FCC
Commissioner as outspoken consumer advocate (e.g., Professor John
Kenneth Galbraith once characterized Johnson as "citizens' least frightened
friend in Washington"). Subsequent activities as Chair, National Citizens
Committee for Broadcasting and National Citizens Communications Lobby further
established credentials with "public interest movement." Forty-year informal
association with Ralph Nader. Government responsibilities and subsequent
coalition-building efforts often included organized labor; had unprecedented
party primary support from UAW in 1974 Congressional race, local labor
support in 1998 Iowa City School Board election.
LEGAL
EXPERIENCE AND HONORS
Iowa Bar Association Citizenship Awardee,
1951. LL.B., 1958, University of Texas, Austin; articles editor, Texas
Law Review; Order of the Coif; Phi Delta Phi. Law clerk to U.S. Court of
Appeals, Fifth Circuit, Judge John R. Brown, Houston and New Orleans, 1958-59.
Law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black, Washington, D.C.,
1959-60. Associate, Covington & Burling, Washington, D.C., 1963-64.
Chairman, Maritime Subsidy Board, 1964-66. Commissioner, Federal Communications
Commission, 1966-73. Law professor, University of California, Berkeley,
1960-63; Georgetown University, 1971-73; University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana,
1976; University of Iowa, 1981-. Member of the Bar (now inactive status):
U.S. Supreme Court, 1963; Iowa, 1974; District of Columbia, 1963; Texas,
1958.
ORGANIZATIONS,
AFFILIATIONS
(Present and former) Advocacy Institute, American
Association of Retired Persons, American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty
International, Aspen Institute, Center for Science in the Public Interest,
Carter Center, Center for Media Education, Citizen Works (including Corporate
Reform Commission), Coalition on Alcohol Advertising, Committee to Open
the Channel from People to Congress, Common Cause (former national board
member), Common Cause of Iowa, Communications Consortium, Computer Professionals
for Social Responsibility, Cultural Environmental Movement, D.C. Bar, FAIR
(Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), Hightower and Associates, Institute
for Public Accuracy, Iowa City Public Library Friends Foundation, Iowa
Civil Liberties Union (former board member), Iowa Democratic Party, Iowa
Law School Foundation, Johnson County Democrats, Johnson County United
Way, Kazakhstan Media Project, Media Foundation (Adbusters), Melrose
Avenue Neighborhood Association, New Pioneer Coop, Planet Central Television,
Project Censored (judge), Public Citizen, Public Citizen Health Research
Group, Time Dollars, Unitarian-Universalist Society (Iowa City, IA), UI
Project on the Rhetoric of Inquiry, University of Texas Law Alumni Association,
Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA; board member), War and Peace
Foundation, Western Behavioral Sciences Institute International Leadership
Forum, Working Assets Long Distance, World Academy of Art and Science (board
member). And see, above: "Academic
and Writing Experience," and "Legal
Experience and Honors."See generally, "Affiliations."
POLITICAL
EXPERIENCE
Experience at virtually every level from Precinct
Captain (Austin, Texas, 1950s; Iowa City, Iowa, 1980s), City (Iowa City
Broadband and Telecommunications Commissioner, 1981-87), County (successful
school board campaign and election 1998, political party county central
committee, executive committee, platform committee chair), State (various
campaigns of others), Congressional District (candidate Iowa Third District,
1974 primary), U.S. Senate and House (briefly U.S. Senate candidate, 1972;
Congressional testimony on dozens of occasions as agency head or public
interest organization representative), Party National Committee (board
member, DNC Harriman Communications Center, Washington, D.C.), Presidential
campaigns (since 1948; in 1964 as member of President Johnson's administration;
1976 coverage of Republican and Democratic National Conventions for National
Public Radio) and internationally (Chair, NATO Planning Board for Ocean
Shipping, 1964-66; "Midwest Opinion Leader" delegate to NATO, 1986; Humphrey
Institute "Rethinking Global Governance" project; Volunteers in Technical
Assistance (VITA) former board member; World Academy of Art and Science
fellow).
Three-time Presidential appointee: U.S. Maritime
Administrator (President Lyndon Johnson Administration); Federal Communications
Commission Commissioner (Johnson Administration; carry-over to Nixon Administration);
Presidential Advisor, White House Conference on Libraries and Information
Services (President Jimmy Carter Administration).
PRINT
JOURNALISM, BROADCASTING EXPERIENCE
Author, How to Talk Back to Your Television
Set (1970) and Test Pattern for Living (1971); publisher access
magazine, 1975-77; nationally syndicated columnist, "Communications Watch,"
1982-86 (Gannett; Register and Tribune; Cowles; King Features syndicates);
local columnist,
Iowa City Press-Citizen (K-12 education and school
board issues, 1998-2001); applicant, NASA Journalist in Space Program;
articles in such popular publications as Atlantic, Boston Review,
Harpers,
The
Nation, The New Republic, The New York Times,
Parade,
Progressive,
Saturday
Review,
The Washington Post and Wired. Some writing translated
into French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
and Vietnamese. Regular contributor of op ed columns to various newspapers.
Host and contributing editor, PBS national
network TV series, "New Tech Times," 1983-84; radio commentaries, National
Public Radio, 1974-78, 1983-86; radio debates with Pat Buchanan (WRC-AM,
summer 1976); guest on such network and syndicated shows as The Advocates,
Dick Cavett, Face the Nation, Good Morning America, Merv Griffin, Kup's
Show, Chris Lydon's "Connection," MacNeil-Lehrer, Bill Moyers Journal,
ABC Nightline, Over Easy, Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show, Steve Allen, Phil
Donahue, Mike Douglas and over 200 local television and radio programs;
over 1000 public lectures as public official and through The Leigh Bureau.
Only FCC Commissioner ever featured on the
cover of the Rolling Stone. Judge, Project Censored (1975-). Informal
working relationships over the years with various Hollywood producers,
directors, writers and actors. Teaching in departments of communication
studies and theater.
PUBLIC
HEALTH
Co-Director, Institute for Health, Behavior
and Environmental Policy, 1990-93 (projects on children's use of tobacco,
handgun injuries, human genome public policy, risk assessment, television
impact on health behavior). As FCC Commissioner helped establish "anti-smoking"
public service announcements, credited with decline in U.S. tobacco use.
Author, "A Public Health Response to Handgun Injuries: Prescription --
Communication and Education," in American Journal of Preventive Medicine
(May/June 1993). Participant, CDC&P working group on "Using Entertainment-Education
to Reach a Generation at Risk" (February 1994).
PUBLICATIONS
Bibliography, Nicholas
Johnson: A Bibliography (1952-1995) (333 pp.), available at Web
site and in print; includes books, chapters, articles, appearances, radio
and TV. Most writing and transcripts from April 1996 to present available
in full text from Web site, see"Recent
Publications."
TEACHING
Current courses: Cyberspace Law Seminar, Law
of Electronic Media. Courses previously taught: Administrative Law, Agency
and Partnership, Broadcast History, Broadcast Regulation, Constitutional
Law, Corporations, Cyberspace Law, Economics of Law Practice Seminar, Entertainment
Law and Business, Mass Communications Law, Oil and Gas Law.
