Farmer and Republican Assemblyman Lawrence H. Johnson was born in Nadeau, Michigan, on April 4, 1908, but grew up in Door County, Wisconsin. After attending Sturgeon Bay High School he began farming at age seventeen and soon became active in farm cooperative organizations and county politics. He was on the board of Door-Kewaunee County College and served as vice-president of the Wisconsin Soil Conservation District Association and president of the Wisconsin County Highway Commission Members Association. From 1930 to 1947 he was town clerk and from 1947 until 1961 he was town chairman. In 1960 he was elected to the State Assembly representing the Door-Kewaunee district, succeeding retiring Frank Graass. Shortly thereafter Johnson resigned his positions on the board of the Lake to Lake Dairy Cooperative and on the Door County Board and other local organizations in order to avoid any possible charges of conflict of interest. He was reelected to the Assembly in 1962, 1964, 1966, and 1968. Johnson's committee assignments included vice-chairmanships of State Affairs (1961), Highways (1963), and the Joint Interim Committee on Education (1969) and chairmanships of Commerce and Manufacturing (1967) and Education (1969). In 1967 he was chairman of the majority caucus.
Johnson was defeated in his bid for re-election in 1970. As chairman of the Education Committee, Johnson, a Lutheran, had opposed a parochial school aid bill that had been strongly supported by his predominantly Catholic district. His defeat was also attributable to his successful appeal for a draft deferment for his son who had left college in order to operate the family farm after a second son died in an accident. Since 1970 Johnson has resumed farming.
