James Hervey Johnson

James Hervey Johnson (August 2, 1901 in Oregon - August 6, 1988 in San Diego, California) was an American Atheist Freethinker, writer and editor of The Truth Seeker (founded 1873), formerly run by Charles Lee Smith.

Born in Oregon, his family moved to San Diego in his youth. He attended the San Diego Army-Navy Academy. His father was in the real estate business, and he became a partner. By age 30 he was a self-made millionaire. In the 1930s Johnson was elected county tax assessor, but lost reelection when he advocated the taxation of churches.

After becoming a Freethinker early in life, Johnson became prominent in the San Diego area Freethought movement, eventually hosting annual dinners in honor of his heroes Robert Green Ingersoll and Thomas Paine. He was also a fan of ex-Roman Catholic priest Freethought and Rationalist writer Joseph McCabe, and stocked his large collection of Little Blue Books from Girard, Kansas.

After contributing to the periodical The Truth Seeker for decades, Johnson helped Smith relocate from New York City in 1964, then took over the ailing magazine after Smith's October 26, 1964 death, systematically driving its circulation further down through sloppy editing and shabby publication practices, mainly using it to promote and sell a warehouse of books printed in past decades. Although very wealthy, his entire operation put up the appearance of near-bankruptcy, mainly because he was a tightwad and misanthrope, according to journalist Mimi Swartz, and would never trust anybody else to manage his magazine, and only trusted a few people other than himself to write articles for it.

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