RightDataUSA


Olin Johnston

[Congressional biography]

Born: November 18, 1896 near Honea Path, SC
Died: April 18, 1965 in Columbia, SC

Education:

  • Wofford College, 1921
  • University of South Carolina, 1923, Law School, 1924

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1917-1918

Career:

  • Lawyer

Elected Office:

  • SC House, 1923-1924, 1927-1930

Other notes:

  • Father of Liz Patterson


Election Results for Olin Johnston


Click on the Year to see the results of that election.

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1938 41 SC D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 2 150,437 44.6%
1941 44 SC D U.S. Senate Class 2 Special Primary 2 40,296 32.3%
1941 44 SC D U.S. Senate Class 2 Special Primary Runoff 2 70,687 43.4%
1942 45 SC D Governor Primary 1 121,465 51.8%
1942 45 SC D Governor General 1 23,859 100.0%
1944 47 SC D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 138,440 55.2%
1944 47 SC D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 94,556 93.0%
1950 53 SC D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 186,180 54.0%
1950 53 SC D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 50,240 99.9%
1956 59 SC D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 230,150 82.2%
1962 65 SC D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 210,918 65.7%
1962 65 SC D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 178,712 57.2%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this election.



Ideology Data for Olin Johnston


Click on the number in the 'Conserv.' column to see all of the key votes for that year.

YearAgeBodyConservative
Coalition		Party UnityPresidential
Support		Vote %LiberalConserv.
P
1945 48 Senate 76 12 D 88
1946 49 Senate 59 36 D 93
1947 50 Senate 94 2 D 95 100
1948 51 Senate 84 13 D 95 44
1949 52 Senate 86 12 D 96 50
1950 53 Senate 66 14 D 74 50
1951 54 Senate 55 27 D 79 22
1952 55 Senate 81 19 D 95 50
1953 56 Senate 65 29 R 41 97 47
1954 57 Senate 90 5 R 35 65 89 62
1955 58 Senate 96 4 R 46 52 98 70
1956 59 Senate 86 13 R 23 75 98 50
1957 60 Senate 84 11 R 40 53 94 33
1958 61 Senate 79 18 R 28 66 96 50
1959 62 Senate 52 45 83 16 R 24 75 99 31
1960 63 Senate 70 26 63 28 R 29 58 88 18
1961 64 Senate 65 32 64 32 D 60 35 94 50 57
1962 65 Senate 68 18 55 17 D 53 23 79 33 67
1963 66 Senate 49 46 76 15 D 56 30 87 41 31
1964 67 Senate 73 22 61 34 D 65 31 96 26 33
1965 68 Senate 1 0 D 1 0 2 0 0
Lifetime conservative rating:   47%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this row.


Conservative Coalition: According to the publication "Congressional Quarterly" (CQ), this is an alliance of Republicans and Southern Democrats (from back when Southern Democrats tended to be conservative or at least moderate) against Northern Democrats in Congress.

This concept had significant meaning perhaps through the 1980's. These statistics stopped being computed after 2000 because conservative Democrats no longer existed except in very rare cases. The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the coalition; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the coalition. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Party Unity: According to CQ, a Party Unity vote in Congress is one in which the parties were split, with a majority of Democrats opposing a majority of Republicans.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with his party; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the party. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Presidential Support: These are votes for which the President has stated his position, either in via a message to Congress, by press conference remarks or other public statements and documents.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the President; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the President. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast. The "P" column indicates the party of the President in each year.


Vote %: The percentage of roll-call votes in which this Representaive or Senator participated by voting "Yes" or "No" (as opposed to "Present" or not voting at all.)


Liberal Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the ultra-liberal advocacy organization called "Americans for Democratic Action" (ADA). They have been rating members of Congress since 1947. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the liberal position on a key issue. The methodology behind the calculation can be found here. Ratings followed by an asterisk were calculated the "ADA way" due to missing data regarding key votes in the ADA source material.


Conservative Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the conservative advocacy organization called the "American Conservative Union" (ACU). They have been rating members of Congress since 1971. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the conservative position on a key issue.

The liberal and conservative ratings are not expected to add to 100% because the two groups use different sets of key votes to determine their ratings. Conservative ratings from 1961 through 1970 (and for 2024) were calculated based on key votes as selected by the creators of this website.