Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Wealth of a Nation
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Johnston, C. Donald
BIRTHDATE: 1/30/1948
WEBSITE: https://www.cdonaldjohnson.com/home-1
CITY:
STATE: GA
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | no2012111549 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/no2012111549 |
| HEADING: | Johnson, Don, 1948- |
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| 040 | __ |a MoSU-L |b eng |e rda |c MoSU-L |d NcD-L |d HU |d DLC |
| 046 | __ |f 1948-01-30 |2 edtf |
| 100 | 1_ |a Johnson, Don, |d 1948- |
| 370 | __ |a Atlanta (Ga.) |
| 375 | __ |a male |
| 377 | __ |a eng |
| 400 | 1_ |a Johnson, Clete Donald, |d 1948- |
| 400 | 1_ |a Johnson, Don, |c Jr., |d 1948- |
| 400 | 1_ |a Johnson, C. Donald |q (Clete Donald), |d 1948- |
| 670 | __ |a National defense authorization act for fiscal year 1994, 1993: |b p. ii (Don Johnson, Georgia) |
| 670 | __ |a Biographical directory of the United States Congress online, viewed August 20, 2012 |b (Johnson, Clete Donald, Jr. (Don), a Representative from Georgia; born in Atlanta, Ga., January 30, 1948) |
| 670 | __ |a Wikipedia, Oct. 5, 2015: |b (Don Johnson, Jr.; Clete Donald Johnson, Jr. (born January 30, 1948) is an American politician, diplomat, lawyer and academic from the state of Georgia.) |
PERSONAL
Born January 30, 1948, in Atlanta, GA.
EDUCATION:University of Georgia, B.A.,1970; University of Georgia School of Law, J.D., 1973; London School of Economics, LL.M., 1978.
ADDRESS
CAREER
U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, staff attorney, 1973; Georgia state senator, 1987-93; U.S. representative from Georgia, 1993-95; Office of United States Trade Representative, ambassador, 1998-2000; Patton Boggs law firm, Washington, DC, partner; Dean Rusk International Law Center at University of Georgia School of Law, Athens, GA, faculty member, became director emeritus.
MIILITARY:Served in United States Air Force, 1973-77.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Clete Donald Johnson has had a long career in law, government, and public policy, serving, among other positions, as a member of Congress and as ambassador in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. He draws on this experience in his book The Wealth of a Nation: A History of Trade Politics in America. He details the many controversies that have arisen over international trade, particularly the conflicts between free trade and protectionism, the latter often enforced through tariffs on imported goods. He charts the development of trade policy from the nation’s beginnings, dealing with such figures as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, through the Civil War and the Gilded Age, to the Great Depression and the internationalism that arouse after World War II. The postwar era was marked by a moderation of the protectionist urge, with the United States taking the lead in establishing trade agreements with numerous countries. In Johnson’s view, robust trade is beneficial to U.S. companies and their workers. In responding to economic changes and challenges, it is crucial to learn from history, he writes.
“As am American who has been involved with trade policy as a congressional staff, practitioner, policymaker, negotiator, and academic for over four decades, I freely admit to being a partisan for the liberal economic institutions that the generations of our fathers and grandfathers created,” he writes in the book’s preface. “Their effort was the culmination of a struggle that begaln at the time Adam Smith published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.” He continues: “While we owe a multitude of different factors for our growth as the most powerful and prosperous nation in world history, certainly one of the most influential is that we have led the world in applying the liberal insights of both Adam Smith and our founders in structures and institutions that support broad prosperity, particularly for the working class. This book tells the practical politcal story of how that happened, in all its firs and starts.”
The Wealth of a Nation provides a thorough and insightful look at that story, according to some critics. It offers a “lucid and distinguished examination of the history of trade in America,” remarked a Publishers Weekly contributor. Keith Johnson, wiring in Foreign Policy, thought the author “largely succeeds” in creating a comprehensive and accessible history of trade policy, “bringing the historical debates to life with a cast of characters from Henry Clay to Cordell Hull, though at times he wades too deeply into the minutiae of congressional horse-trading and international trade talks.” A Kirkus Reviews critic found the book “exhaustive–and a touch exhausting,” but allowed: “For students of international trade, macroeconomics, and governance … this will be a useful reference.” The Publishers Weekly commentator summed it up as a “thoughtful, eloquent history.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Foreign Policy, April. 2018, Keith Johnson, review of The Wealth of a Nation: A History of Trade Politics in America, p. 62.
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2018, review of The Wealth of a Nation.
Publishers Weekly, February 5, 2018, review of The Wealth of a Nation, p. 52.
ONLINE
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, http://bioguide.congress.gov/ (August 3, 2018), brief biography.
C. Donald Johnson website, https://www.cdonaldjohnson.com (August 3, 2018).
C. Donald Johnson
About the Author
C. Donald Johnson is Director Emeritus of the Dean Rusk International Law Center at the University of Georgia School of Law, where he was on the faculty for eleven years and taught international trade law in Beijing and Geneva.
Previously, he was a partner at Patton Boggs, LLP in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in international trade law.
From 1998 through 2000, as an Ambassador in the Office of United States Trade Representative, he served as the Chief Textile Negotiator during the negotiation of the U.S.-China WTO Accession Agreement and the precedent-setting U.S.-Cambodia Textile Agreement, which linked trade benefits to compliance with labor standards.
From 1993 to 1995, he represented the 10th district of Georgia as a Member of Congress, where he focused on national security and international economic policy, including NAFTA and the WTO implementing legislation.
Johnson also served in the Georgia State Senate from 1987 to 1992, where he was chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He served on the trade staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee during its consideration of the Trade Act of 1974.
He earned his BA in history and JD from the University of Georgia and holds a Master of Laws degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
For media interested in speaking with Don, please contact HIM at JOHNSOCD@UGA.EDU
COPYRIGHT 2018 C. DONALD JOHNSON
Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
JOHNSON, Clete Donald, Jr. (Don), a Representative from Georgia; born in Atlanta, Ga., January 30, 1948; attended the public schools of Franklin County, Ga.; B.A., University of Georgia, 1970, J.D., University of Georgia School of Law, 1973, LL.M., London School of Economics, 1978; United States Air Force, 1973-1977; admitted to the bar in 1973 and commenced the practice of law; staff attorney, House Ways and Means Committee, 1973; Georgia State senator, 1987-1993; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Third Congress (January 3, 1993-January 5, 1995); unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Fourth Congress; ambassador, Office of United States Trade Representative, 1998-2000.
JOHNSON, Clete Donald, Jr. (Don)
JOHNSON, Clete Donald, Jr. (Don)
Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
1948–
Office
Representative
State/Territory
Georgia
Party
Democrat
Congress(es)
103rd (1993–1995)
Jump To
Biography
External Research Collections
Biography
JOHNSON, Clete Donald, Jr. (Don), a Representative from Georgia; born in Atlanta, Ga., January 30, 1948; attended the public schools of Franklin County, Ga.; B.A., University of Georgia, 1970, J.D., University of Georgia School of Law, 1973, LL.M., London School of Economics, 1978; United States Air Force, 1973-1977; admitted to the bar in 1973 and commenced the practice of law; staff attorney, House Ways and Means Committee, 1973; Georgia State senator, 1987-1993; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Third Congress (January 3, 1993-January 5, 1995); unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Fourth Congress; ambassador, Office of United States Trade Representative, 1998-2000.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
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External Research Collections
University of Georgia Libraries
Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
Athens, GA
Papers: Record Group A: State Senate Files, 1987-1992, 27.75 linear feet. The C. Donald (Don) Johnson Papers, Record Group A: State Senate Files were generated while Don Johnson served in the Georgia General Assembly as a Senator from 1987 to 1993. The General Files include materials that assisted Johnson with monitoring legislative issues, researching and writing legislation, developing legislative initiatives, as well as observing local issues. Included are files relating to the Intra County Telephone Toll Bill, Johnson’s work on the Appropriations and Reapportionment Committees, the Export Study Commission, and the Hobbs Act. The Issue files contain correspondence, newspaper clippings, printed materials, reports, maps and bills. These were issues of particular interest to Johnson which included human resources, taxation and transportation. The Campaign series contains material relating to Johnson’s campaign in 1987 to fill the seat of the late Parks Brown and his subsequent races in 1988, 1990, and 1992. A finding aid is available in the repository and online.
Papers: Record Group B: Congress, 1973-2000, 96 linear feet. The C. Donald (Don) Johnson Papers, Record Group B: Congress includes constituent services correspondence documenting a rich mix of issues from the early 1990s including Clinton’s health care plan, proposed tax increases, the implementation of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” relating to the sexual preferences of military personnel, abortion legislation, gun control, and the federal budget. There are clippings and legislative files regarding Johnson and legislation on which he worked. Legislative topics include: banking, energy, the environment, housing, judicial issues, Urban Affairs, and Appropriations. The campaign series contains items pertaining to Johnson’s two campaigns for congress including: correspondence, information about campaign events, campaign ephemera, and clippings. Also found here is material documenting the activities of Johnson’s district office in Athens, Georgia. A finding aid is available in the repository and online.
Papers: Record Group C: Post-Congressional, 1994-2000, 2.5 linear feet. The C. Donald (Don) Johnson Papers, Record Group C: Post-Congressional files pertain to Don Johnson’s service as chief textile negotiator and principal advisor to both the president and the United States Trade Representative on all textile and apparel trade matters. A finding aid is available in the repository and online.
Papers: Record Group D: Personal, 1972-2000, 2.75 linear feet. The C. Donald (Don) Johnson Papers, Record Group D: Personal contains files from Don Johnson’s early career as a lawyer in Royston, Georgia, as well as his work in the Office of the Judge Advocate General. It also contains files from 1981 when Johnson was recipient of the Georgia Rusk International Law Award. Files also pertain to Johnson’s legal work. A finding aid is available in the repository and online.
Papers: Record Group E: Photographs, 1987-2000, 1 linear foot. The C. Donald (Don) Johnson Papers, Record Group E: Photographs document Don Johnson's service in the Georgia State Senate as well as his work in the United States House of Representatives. Pictures include Johnson with other politicians and civic groups. A small document his work on committees as a U.S. Congressman as well as an ambassador in the Office of the United States Trade Representative. A finding aid is available in the repository and online.
Audiovisual Materials: Record Group F: Audiovisual Materials, 1986-2005, 78 items. The C. Donald (Don) Johnson Papers, Record Group F: Audiovisual Materials includes one audiocassette, one microcassette, five quarter-inch open reel audio tapes, and 71 VHS videocassettes documenting campaign ads, speeches, press appearances, and policy-related activities of Johnson's terms in the Georgia State Senate and the U.S. Congress. A finding aid is available in the repository and online.
Artifacts: Record Group G: Artifacts, 1980-2000, 1 box. The C. Donald (Don) Johnson Papers, Record Group G: Artifacts primarily consists of campaign paraphenalia from Johnson's bids for Congress. A finding aid is available in the repository and online.
Papers: Record Group H: Maps, 1986-1994, 1 box. The C. Donald (Don) Johnson Papers, Record Group H: Maps contains maps of congressional districts in Georgia and other unprocessed maps. A finding aid is available in the repository and online.
Papers: In the E. Roy Lambert Papers, 1787-2008, 8.25 linear feet. Persons represented include Don Johnson.
Photographs: In the Zell Miller Papers, Series VI: Photographs, 1926-2009, 13 boxes. Persons represented include Don Johnson.
Audiovisual Materials: In the Zell Miller Papers, Series IX: Audiovisual Material, 1974-2006, 3423 items. Persons represented include Don Johnson.
Oral History: In the Reflections on Georgia Politics Oral History Collection, 2006-2010, 149 video interviews. The collection includes an oral history interiew with Don Johnson conducted on November 29, 2010: http://russelldoc.galib.uga.edu/russell/view?docId=ead/rogp.xml;query=Johnson, Don#ref805.133.
Audiovisual Materials: In the J. Roy Rowland Papers, Series VI: Audiovisual, 1983-1999, 272 items. Persons represented include Don Johnson.
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Quoted in Sidelights: “exhaustive–and a touch exhausting,” but allowed: “For students of international trade, macroeconomics, and governance … this will be a useful reference.”
Johnson Jr., C. Donald: THE WEALTH OF A NATION
Kirkus Reviews.
(Mar. 15, 2018): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Johnson Jr., C. Donald THE WEALTH OF A NATION Oxford Univ. (Adult Nonfiction) $34.95 5, 1 ISBN: 978-0-19-086591-7
Densely detailed study of trade agreements across the span of American history, written by a former U.S. trade representative.
As Johnson (Director Emeritus, Dean Rusk Center for International Law and Policy, Univ. of Georgia) wryly notes at the beginning, Donald Trump is not the first leader in world history to dream of a "big, beautiful wall." Long before Adam Smith limned the workings of the world economy, Chinese emperors decided to wall themselves off, too, and "to withdraw from engagement with the world and its markets." Isolationism and protectionism have long been themes in America's engagement with the world's markets, from both left and right, with advocacy of open-door free markets frequently coming from the Republican side of the aisle--or at least of tariff reduction. At the dawn of the Gilded Age, as now, "the public views on the increasingly unpopular protectionist tariffs had no effect on the Senate" even as practical-minded presidents maneuvered around the legislature to strike favorable agreements with favored trading partners. A long-standing argument, Johnson notes, is whether tariffs and other protectionist measures have any actual result in regard to better wages and living standards for American workers, though politicians such as Cordell Hull grimly noted that they did seem to have the effect of transferring wealth "from one class to another without affecting the Nation's total." Guess which class benefits. The author's account of the formulation of the Bretton Woods and subsequent financial and trade agreements is exhaustive--and a touch exhausting, for it seems that no detail could possibly elude this overstuffed narrative. But for students of international trade, macroeconomics, and governance--another theme is the struggle among various branches of government to regulates foreign trade--this will be a useful reference.
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Timely, given the resurgence of a protectionist, closed-door trade policy and all its likely negative consequences--but not a book for the faint of heart or the short of attention span.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Johnson Jr., C. Donald: THE WEALTH OF A NATION." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2018. Book
Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530650577/GPS?u=schlager& sid=GPS&xid=3c378802. Accessed 15 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A530650577
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Quoted in Sidelights: “largely succeeds” “bringing the historical debates to life with a cast of characters from Henry Clay to Cordell Hull, though at times he wades too deeply into the minutiae of congressional horse-trading and international trade talks.”
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
The Wealth of a Nation: A History of
Trade Politics in America
Keith Johnson
Foreign Policy.
.228 (Apr. 2018): p62. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 Foreign Policy http://www.jstor.org/journals/00157228.html
Full Text:
The Wealth of a Nation: A History of Trade Politics in America
C. DONALD JOHNSON, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 6B4 PP., $34.95, APRIL 2018
DURING THE U.S. CIVIL WAR, in the midst of one of the country's many protectionist benders, a man named Joseph Wharton successfully lobbied for high tariffs on imported nickel. It made sense for him: He owned the nation's only working nickel mine. He also got Congress to mandate a new 5-cent coin so there'd be a market for his monopoly. But Wharton is perhaps best known for endowing the world's first business school, to which he assigned a clear mission: "to advocate economic protectionism unequivocally," writes C. Donald Johnson in The Wealth of a Nation.
Perhaps it's due to a certain Wharton graduate that protectionism has stomped back so noisily into the center of American politics. Or perhaps it's a national design flaw. After all, American colonists initially rebelled because of British mercantilism and then turned around and did the mother country one better by becoming masters of the tariff wall and government coddling of industry, nearly starting their own civil war decades ahead of schedule.
Johnson, who worked as a trade official in President Bill Clinton's administration and then as a lawyer, set out to chronicle the central role trade politics have always played in the United States. He largely succeeds, bringing the historical debates to life with a cast of characters from Henry Clay to Cordell Hull, though at times he wades too deeply into the minutiae of congressional horse-trading and international trade talks.
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From the outset, Johnson stresses, U.S. politics have been a variation on a theme. Economic nationalists such as Alexander Hamilton wanted high tariffs to shield certain domestic industries. Free traders warned that farmers and workers would end up paying the price of that protection. Time and again, most memorably with the infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, Republican Congresses gleefully ignored the cries of farmers, merchants, big exporters, and laborers and gave a few well-connected firms steep tariffs to hide behind. Now, thanks to expanded presidential trade authority, Republican presidents get to do the same thing.
With the Trump administration starting trade wars and bringing protectionism back, the book couldn't be timelier. But then, as The Wealth of a Nation makes clear, the wonder isn't that protectionism returned--it's that free traders ever won a few rounds along the way.
KEITH JOHNSON (@KFJ_FP) is a senior staff writer at Foreign Policy.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Johnson, Keith. "The Wealth of a Nation: A History of Trade Politics in America." Foreign
Policy, Apr. 2018, p. 62. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc /A536092992/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=e98c112b. Accessed 15 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536092992
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Quoted in Sidelights: “lucid and distinguished examination of the history of trade in America,”
thoughtful, eloquent history.”
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
The Wealth of a Nation: A History of Trade Politics in America
Publishers Weekly.
265.6 (Feb. 5, 2018): p52. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Wealth of a Nation: A History of Trade Politics in America C. Donald Johnson. Oxford Univ., $34.95
(664p) ISBN 978-0-190-86591-7
Johnson draws on his experience as a former U.S. Trade Representative for President Bill Clinton in this lucid and distinguished examination of the history of trade in America. Johnson provides reassuring evidence that the country's current politico-economic climate is not unique, or even new, reminding readers that trade debates date to the founding fathers, as do protectionist movements. Johnson also knowledgeably describes current trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries, and makes a case that abandoning them is contrary to American interests and harmful to American workers. Regarding America's trade imbalance, the experts Johnson cites attribute it to the country's low domestic savings rate and longstanding federal budget deficit, not nefarious foreign trading partners. He notes how the Trump administration, in trying to withdraw from multilateral trade agreements to forge bilateral ones with individual countries, had to be repeatedly reminded that bilateral agreements with Germany, an EU member, were impossible, as they are with the U.K. until Brexit is complete. Through this and other illustrative examples, Johnson demonstrates why trade cannot be understood in isolation, but as part of other economic and political considerations. This thoughtful, eloquent history also doubles as a plea for improved public understanding of a vital issue. (May)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Wealth of a Nation: A History of Trade Politics in America." Publishers Weekly, 5 Feb.
2018, p. 52. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A526810422 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=a3c9ff78. Accessed 15 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A526810422
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