Howard W. Johnson (1922-2009)-Part 1
MIT President 1966-1971
Chairman of the MIT Corporation 1971-1983
Howard Johnson was the twelfth president of MIT, as well as chairman of the MIT Corporation and president of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. As the Institute’s president from 1966 to 1971, Mr. Johnson faced a tumultuous period of foreign war and national dissent. By listening and building consensus, Mr. Johnson gained widespread support and respect, and he wrote of these decisive times in his book, Holding the Center: Memoirs of a Life in Higher Education. His public service included membership on the National Commission on Productivity, the President’s Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy, and the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Massachusetts General Hospital.