Gregory Lee Johnson (1945- )

February 28, 2015 
/ Contributed By: Frances J. Carr

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Ambassador Gregory Lee Johnson

Image Ownership: Public Domain

On August 5, 1999 President William Clinton appointed Gregory Lee Johnson U.S. Ambassador to Swaziland.  He served in that post from November 16, 1999 to October 18, 2001. Johnson began his career in the Foreign Service in 1968 and has served in Vietnam (1968-1971).  His next posts were in Japan (1972-1976), Brazil (1976-1980), and the Soviet Union (1981-1983).  He has also served in Somalia, Canada, and as Interim Charge d’ Affaires in the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden.  Ambassador Johnson speaks Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, and Vietnamese.

Gregory Lee Johnson was born in Ellensburg, Washington on July 18, 1945.  His parents are Orville and Edith Johnson.  He graduated from Franklin High School in Seattle, Washington in 1963 and four years later received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Washington State University. He later attended The American University, Washington, D.C. and received a master’s degree in international relations in 1968.

Besides his service abroad, Ambassador Johnson held assignments in the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research and attended the U.S. Army War College between 1983 and 1988.  From 1989 to 1992, Johnson returned to Japan where he served as Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Osaka-Kobe, Japan.

Johnson’s appointment as U.S. Ambassador to Swaziland provided him the opportunity to help deepen relationships with the United States.  Swaziland was the last nation in Africa to be governed by a monarchy and was seen as the most stable nation in Southern Africa.  Johnson‘s greatest challenge was in helping Swaziland confront its HIV/AIDS epidemic where one-fifth of its one million people were HIV-positive.

Ambassador Johnson helped negotiate the lifting of sanctions on cane sugar exports from Swaziland to the U.S. and played a key role in gaining commitment from the Government of Swaziland to contribute resources to the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) peacekeeping efforts in in Northeast and West Africa.

Ambassador Johnson also helped Strategic Education Centers (SEC) in Swaziland.  SEC is a Seattle, Washington based non-governmental organization (NGO) that provides academic skills and training in technology, sexual health, and disease prevention to girls and women in Africa.  The organization’s founder and president is former Seattle First Lady Dr. Constance Rice.  Johnson worked with Rice, King Mswati III, and others to open two centers located in Mbabane and Emcozini, Swaziland.  They opened on September 11, 2001 before word of the Twin Towers attack reached them in Africa.

Ambassador Johnson’s appointment ended on October 18, 2001 and he and his wife, Lyla, returned to Seattle, Washington and retired there.  He and his wife are the parents of two adult children, Carter and Kimberly.

About the Author

Author Profile

Frances J. Ross Carr has been a resident of Seattle, Washington for over fifty years. She was born in Ingalls, Arkansas (Mt. Olive) and raised in South Los Angeles, California (Watts). She attended 102nd Street Elementary and graduated from David Starr Jordan High School in 1955.

Following high school graduation she joined the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) and later attended Seattle University and married the late Luther James Carr, Jr. She graduated from The University of Washington in 1975 with a BA in Communications.

Carr served as the Executive Assistant to former City of Seattle Mayor, Norman B. Rice. She retired in January 2010 as Director of Diversity Affairs for The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.

Key words for Carr are Equality, Equity, Fairness, Social Justice, Education, Faith, Respect, Diversity and Community Capacity Building.

She has served on numerous boards such as United Way of King County, Camp Fire Girls and Boys, Nonprofit Assistance Center, Leadership Tomorrow, Friends of Educational Opportunity, U.W. Office Of Minority Affairs, Downtown Seattle Association, ACT (A Contemporary Theatre) and was one of the founding directors of Sound Savings & Loan Association, the first S&L in the country primarily owned and operated by women, YWCA People of Color Executive Committee and AAA Washington (automobile club). She is an alumna member of The Links Inc, Greater Seattle Chapter.

Carr is a member of F.A.M.E. (First African Methodist Episcopal) Church where she serves on the Steward Board and coordinates The Educational Enhancement Outreach Program for youth in the community needing support in core academic studies.

She is the mother of three adult children and four adorable granddaughters who are the “apples of her eyes.”

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Carr, F. (2015, February 28). Gregory Lee Johnson (1945- ). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/johnson-gregory-lee-1945/

Source of the Author's Information:

Gregory Lee Johnson, Ambassador to the Kingdom of Swaziland, Chief of
Missions Index, African Affairs: Department of State: Secretary of State
http://www.state.gov/1997-2001/about_state biography
Johnson_Swaziland.html
; correspondence between the contributor
and Ambassador Johnson, January 14, 2001.

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