Chalmers Johnson

Chalmers Ashby Johnson (August 6, 1931 – November 20, 2010)[1] was an

Chalmers Johnson
American author and professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego.
Born August 6, 1931
He served in the Korean War, was a consultant for the CIA from 1967 to 1973, and
Phoenix, Arizona
chaired the Center for Chinese Studies at theUniversity of California, Berkeleyfrom
1967 to 1972.[2] He was also president and co-founder with Steven Clemons of the
Died November 20, 2010
(aged 79)
Japan Policy Research Institute (now based at the University of San Francisco), an
Cardiff-by-the-Sea,
organization promoting public education about Japan and Asia.[3]
California
He wrote numerous books including, most recently, three examinations of the Occupation President, Japan
consequences of American Empire: Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and Nemesis: Policy Research
The Last Days of the American Republic. A former cold warrior, his fears for the US Institute, University of
changed:
San Francisco;
Professor emeritus of
"A nation can be one or the other, a democracy or an the University of
imperialist, but it can’t be both. If it sticks to imperialism, California, San Diego
it will, like the old Roman Republic, on which so much of Genre Political Science
our system was modeled, lose its democracy to a Literary Japan revisionists
domestic dictatorship."[4] movement
Notable Peasant Nationalism
works and Communist
Power
Contents MITI and the
Japanese Miracle
Biography Blowback
The Blowback series The Sorrows of
Audio and video
Empire
Nemesis: The Last
Bibliography
Days of the American
Death Republic
Notes Notable Before Columbus
External links awards Foundation (2001)
Website
www.americanempireproject.com
Biography /johnson/index.asp

Johnson was born in 1931 in Phoenix, Arizona to Texas native David Frederick
Johnson Jr. and his Arizona born wife Katherine Marjorie (Ashby) Johnson.[5] He earned a BA in economics in 1953 and an M.A.
and a Ph.D. in political science in 1957 and 1961 respectively. Both of his advanced degrees were from the University of California,
, in 1956, and they married inReno, Nevada in May 1957.[6]
Berkeley. Johnson met his wife Sheila, a junior at Berkeley

During the Korean War, Johnson served as a naval officer in Japan.[7] He was the communications officer on the LST 883, which was
"tasked with ferrying Chinese prisoners of war from South Korea back to North Korean ports."[6] He taught political science at the
University of California from 1962 until he retired from teaching in 1992. He was best known early in his career for his scholarship
on the subjects of China and Japan.[8]

Johnson set the agenda for 10 or 15 years in social science scholarship on China with his book on peasant nationalism. His book
MITI
and the Japanese Miracle, on the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry was the preeminent study of the country's
development and it created the subfield of what could be called, the political economy of development. He coined the term
"developmental state". As a public intellectual, he first led the "Japan revisionists" who critiqued American neoliberal economics
with Japan as a model; their arguments faded from view as the Japanese economy stagnated in the mid-90s and beyond. During this
period, Johnson acted as a consultant for the Office of National Estimates, part of the CIA, contributing to analysis of China and
Maoism.[9]

Johnson was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1976. He served as Director of the Center for
Chinese Studies (1967–72[2]) and Chair of the Political Science Department at Berkeley, and held a number of important academic
posts in area studies. He was a strong believer in the importance of language and historical training for conducting serious research.
Late in his career he became well known as a critic of "rational choice" approaches, particularly in the study of Japanese politics and
political economy.

Johnson is probably best known as a sharp critic of American imperialism. His book Blowback (2000) won a prize in 2001 from the
Before Columbus Foundation, and was re-issued in an updated version in 2004. Sorrows of Empire, published in 2004, updated the
evidence and argument from Blowback for the post-9/11 environment, and Nemesis concludes the trilogy. Johnson was featured as an
expert talking head in the Eugene Jarecki-directed film Why We Fight,[3] which won the 2005 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film
Festival. In the past, Johnson has also written for the Los Angeles Times, the London Review of Books, Harper’s Magazine, and The
Nation.

The Blowback series

Johnson believed that the enforcement of American hegemony over the world constitutes a new form of global empire. Whereas
traditional empires maintained control over subject peoples via colonies, since World War II the US has developed a vast system of
hundreds of military bases around the world where it has strategic interests. A long-time Cold Warrior, he applauded the dissolution
of the Soviet Union: "I was a cold warrior. There's no doubt about that. I believed the Soviet Union was a genuine menace. I still
think so."[10] At the same time, however, he experienced a political awakening after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, noting that
instead of demobilizing its armed forces, the US accelerated its reliance on military solutions to problems both economic and
political. The result of this militarism (as distinct from actual domestic defense) is more terrorism against the U.S. and its allies, the
loss of core democratic values at home, and an eventual disaster for the American economy. Of four books he wrote on this topic, the
first three are referred to as The Blowback Trilogy:

Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire

Chalmers Johnson summarized the intent ofBlowback in the final chapter ofNemesis.

"In Blowback, I set out to explain why we are hated around the world. The concept
"blowback" does not just mean retaliation for things our government has done to and in
foreign countries. It refers to retaliation for the numerous illegal operations we have carried
out abroad that were kept totally secret from the American public. This means that when the
retaliation comes – as it did so spectacularly on September 11, 2001 – the American public
is unable to put the events in context. So they tend to support acts intended to lash out
against the perpetrators, thereby most commonly preparing the ground for yet another cycle
of blowback. In the first book in this trilogy, I tried to provide some of the historical
background for understanding the dilemmas we as a nation confront today, although I
focused more on Asia – the area of my academic training – than on the Middle East."[11]

The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy

, and the End of the Republic
Chalmers Johnson summarizes the intent ofThe Sorrows of Empire in the final chapter ofNemesis.

"The Sorrows of Empire was written during the American preparations for and launching of
the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. I began to study our continuous
military buildup since World War II and the 737 military bases we currently maintain in other
people's countries. This empire of bases is the concrete manifestation of our global
hegemony, and many of the blowback-inducing wars we have conducted had as their true
purpose the sustaining and expanding of this network. We do not think of these overseas
 deployments as a form of empire; in fact, most Americans do not give them any thought at
all until something truly shocking, such as the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay,
brings them to our attention. But the people living next door to these bases and dealing with
the swaggering soldiers who brawl and sometimes rape their women certainly think of them
as imperial enclaves, just as the people of ancient Iberia or nineteenth-century India knew
that they were victims of foreign colonization."[11]

Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic

Chalmers Johnson summarizes the intent of the bookNemesis.

“In Nemesis, I have tried to present historical, political, economic, and philosophical
evidence of where our current behavior is likely to lead. Specifically, I believe that to maintain
our empire abroad requires resources and commitments that will inevitably undercut our
domestic democracy and in the end produce a military dictatorship or its civilian equivalent.
The founders of our nation understood this well and tried to create a form of government – a
republic – that would prevent this from occurring. But the combination of huge standing
armies, almost continuous wars, military Keynesianism, and ruinous military expenses have
destroyed our republican structure in favor of an imperial presidency. We are on the cusp of
losing our democracy for the sake of keeping our empire. Once a nation is started down that
path, the dynamics that apply to all empires come into play – isolation, overstretch, the
uniting of forces opposed to imperialism, and bankruptcy. Nemesis stalks our life as a free
nation.”[11]

Dismantling the Empire: America's Last Best Hope

Johnson outlines how the United States can reverse American hegemony and preserve the American state. Dismantling the Empire
was listed by the CIA in "The Intelligence Officer's Bookshelf: Intelligence in Recent Public Literature",[12] compiled and reviewed
by Hayden B. Peake.[13]

Audio and video

Audio interview March 2010 on Media Matters with Bob McChesney
Video/Audio: Chalmers Johnson on the military-industrial complex October 4–7, 2008 onThe Real News with Paul
Jay
Audio: Is America on the brink of destruction through imperial over-reach?
Audio interview February 2007 on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman
Chalmers Johnson, Evil Empire, A Talk by Chalmers Johnson, mondayMEDIA DVD, 2006[14]
Audio interview April 2004 on Behind the News with Doug Henwood
Video Interview: Decline of Empires: The Signs of Decayby Ecological Options Networkon YouTube

Bibliography
Chalmers Ashby Johnson.Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power(June 1, 1962 ed.). Stanford University
Press. p. 268. ISBN 0-8047-0074-5.
Chalmers Ashby Johnson.An Instance of Treason: Ozaki Hotsumi and h t e Sorge Spy Ring (1964; expanded in
November 1999 ed.). Diane Pub Co.ISBN 0-7881-6748-0.
Chalmers Ashby Johnson.Revolutionary Change (January 1966 ed.). Little Brown & Company . ISBN 0-316-46730-
8.
Jeremy R. Azrael, Chalmers A. Johnson.Change in Communist Systems(1970 ed.). Stanford University Press.
p. 368. ISBN 0-8047-0723-5.
Chalmers A. Johnson.Conspiracy at Matsukawa(July 1973 ed.). University of California Press. p. 470.ISBN 0-520-
02063-4.
John Israel, Chalmers A. Johnson.Ideology and Politics in Contemporary China(April 13, 1972 ed.). University of
Washington Press. p. 528.ISBN 0-295-95247-4.
Chalmers A. Johnson.Japan's Public Policy Companies(June 1978 ed.). Aei Pr. p. 173. ISBN 0-8447-3272-9.
Chalmers A. Johnson.MITI and the Japanese Miracle(June 1, 1982 ed.). Stanford University Press. p. 412.ISBN 0-
8047-1206-9.
 Chalmers A. Johnson.The Industrial Policy Debate(May 1984 ed.). Ics Pr. p. 275. ISBN 0-917616-65-0.
Chalmers A. Johnson, Laura D'Andrea T yson. Politics and productivity: the real story of why Japan works(March
1989 ed.). HarperBusiness, U.S. p. 332.ISBN 0-88730-350-1.
Chalmers A. Johnson.Japan: Who Governs? – The Rise of the Developmental State(September 1, 1994 ed.). W.
W. Norton & Company. p. 388. ISBN 0-393-31450-2.
Chalmers Ashby Johnson.Blowback, Second Edition: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (January
4, 2004 ed.). Holt Paperbacks. p. 288.ISBN 0-8050-7559-3.
Chalmers Ashby Johnson.The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy , and the End of the Republic(January 13,
2004 ed.). Metropolitan Books. p. 400.ISBN 0-8050-7004-4.
Chalmers Ashby Johnson.Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic(February 6, 2007 ed.). Metropolitan
Books. p. 368. ISBN 0-8050-7911-4.
Chalmers Ashby Johnson.Dismantling the Empire: America's Last Best Hope(August 17, 2010 ed.). Metropolitan
Books. p. 224. ISBN 0-8050-9303-6.

Death
On November 20, 2010, Chalmers Johnson died after a long illness from complications of
rheumatoid arthritis at his home in Cardiff-
by-the-Sea. [15]

Notes
1. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/11/chalmers-johnson/66853/
2. "CCS History" (http://ieas.berkeley.edu/ccs/history.html), Center for Chinese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies,
University of California, Berkeley
3. AMY GOODMAN (February 27, 2007)."Chalmers Johnson: Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic"(htt
p://www.democracynow.org/2007/2/27/chalmers_johnson_nemesis_the_last_days)
. Democracy Now!. Retrieved
2009-04-04.
4. Chalmers Johnson, 1931–2010, on the Last Days of the American Republic
(http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/
22/chalmers_johnson_1931_2010_on_the)
5. Arizona State Board of Health, Phoenix, Maricopa Co., Arizona. #315-806-218
6. Sheila K. Johnson (2011-04-11)Chalmers Johnson vs. the Empire(http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2011/04/1
0/chalmers-johnson-vs-the-empire/), Antiwar.com
7. Chalmers Ashby Johnson.Blowback, Second Edition: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire
(January
4, 2004 ed.). Holt Paperbacks. p. 288.ISBN 0-8050-7559-3.
8. Johnston, Eric, "Japan hand Chalmers Johnson dead at 79(http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101122x3.ht
ml) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20101123001416/http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101122x3.ht
ml) November 23, 2010, at theWayback Machine.", Japan Times, 23 November 2010, p. 2.
9. Nic Paget-Clarke (2004)."Interview with Chalmers Johnson Part 2. From CIA Analyst to Best-Selling Scholar"
(http://
www.inmotionmagazine.com/global/cj_int/cj_int2.html). In Motion Magazine. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
10. Tom Engelhardt (March 22, 2006)."Cold Warrior in a Strange Land – Tom Engelhardt interviews Chalmers Johnson"
(http://www.antiwar.com/engelhardt/?articleid=8739). antiwar.com. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
11. Nemesis: The Last Days of the American RepublicBy Chalmers Johnson, 2006, Page 278,ISBN 978-0-8050-7911-
1
12. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol.-55-no.-1/the-
intelligence-officers-bookshelf.html
13. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-
studies/studies/vol50no4/contributors.html
14. Listing on Allrovi.com (http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/release/evil-empire-a-talk-by-chalmers-johnson-e23848
3)
15. Shapiro, T. Rees (November 25, 2010)."Renowned Asia scholar Chalmers Johnson dies at 79"(https://www.washin
gtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/22/AR2010112207005.html)
. The Washington Post.

External links
 "Republic or Empire?" A National Intelligence Estimate on the United States
by Chalmers Johnson (fromHarper's
Magazine)
Empire v. Democracy: Why Nemesis Is at Our Door by Chalmers Johnson
Blowback Chalmers Johnson essay fromThe Nation
Cold Warrior in a Strange LandTom Engelhardt interviews Chalmers Johnson
Can We End the American Empire Before It Ends Us? By Chalmers Johnson, Tomdispatch.com. Posted May 17,
2007.
Three Good Reasons to Liquidate Our Empireby Chalmers Johnson,The Huffington Post
Chalmers Johnson vs. the Empire, Antiwar.com
Appearances on C-SPAN

C-SPAN Q&A interview with Johnson, June 11, 2006

Chalmers Johnson on IMDb

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