An Interview with John J. Johnson

HE Spanish crown, in its wisdom, determined that its colonial officials, at the end of their services, should be held accountable for their acts in a special inquiry, the residencia. It also laid down the rule that the inquiry in any given case should be conducted by someone other than the outgoing official's immediate successor, but, as was its custom, it turned a blind eye to repeated infractions of the rule. This somewhat irregular practice saved both time and money, and it is unlikely that the general quality of the administration was much the worse for it. When the time came to residenciar the outgoing Managing Editor of the HAHR, similar practical considerations suggested that it be done by members of the new editorial team, taking advantage of the fact that on laying down his editorial (and other) duties at the University of New Mexico, Professor Johnson had accepted an appointment at the National Humanities Center in North Carolina, in relative proximity to the present editorial office in Gainesville, Florida. He accepted the summons, and the inquiry was conducted, in Gainesville, on March 21, 1986. It seemed only reasonable, however, to combine Professor Johnson's accounting for his stewardship of the HAHR with a broader inquiry into his career as one of the leaders in the field of Latin American history in the United States over most of the period since World War II. Having invented the series of interviews with distinguished scholars that first graced this journal in 1982, he could hardly refuse to be interviewed. For us, it seemed poetic justice-and wholly justified-to do unto him as he had caused to be done to so many others. To expedite the operation, we invited him to prepare written answers in advance to certain routine questions that have almost always been present in the interview series. Excerpts from the more extensive oral questioning have been interspersed with portions of the written testimony in the manner that seemed most appropriate. Readers will be able to distinguish the former by the initials of

[1]  John J. Johnson One Hundred Years of Historical Writing on Modern Latin America by United States Historians , 1985 .

[2]  John J. Johnson UNITED STATES - BRITISH RIVALRY IN LATIN AMERICA, 1815-1830: A REASSESSMENT , 1985 .

[3]  John J. Johnson,et al.  Readings in Latin American history , 1985 .

[4]  John J. Johnson,et al.  Latin America in caricature , 1980 .

[5]  Luis G. Nogales The Mexican American: A Selected and Annotated Bibliography. , 1971 .

[6]  John J. Johnson Simón Bolívar and Spanish American independence, 1783-1830 , 1968 .

[7]  John J. Johnson,et al.  Continuity and Change in Latin America , 1965 .

[8]  John J. Johnson,et al.  The military and society in Latin America , 1964 .

[9]  John J. Johnson,et al.  The Role of the Military in Underdeveloped Countries. , 1963 .

[10]  John J. Johnson The Political Role of the Latin-American Middle Sectors , 1961 .

[11]  John J. Johnson Political Change in Latin America: The Emergence of the Middle Sectors , 1958 .

[12]  John J. Johnson Middle Groups in National Politics in Latin America , 1957 .

[13]  John J. Johnson Foreign Factors in Dictatorship in Latin America , 1951 .

[14]  John J. Johnson,et al.  Pioneer telegraphy in Chile, 1852-1876 , 1949 .

[15]  John J. Johnson,et al.  Talcahuano and Concepción as Seen by the Forty-Niners , 1946 .

[16]  John J. Johnson Early Relations of the United States with Chile , 1944 .

[17]  John J. Johnson The Introduction of the Horse into the Western Hemisphere , 1943 .