Hugh Samuel Johnson (August 5, 1882 – April 15, 1942) was a United States Army officer, businessman, speech writer, government official and newspaper columnist.

Appointed head of the National Recovery Administration (NRA) in 1933, he was highly energetic in his "blue eagle" campaign to reorganize American business to reduce competition and raise wages and prices.

Schlesinger (1958) and Ohl (1985) conclude that he was an excellent organizer, but that he was also domineering, abusive, outspoken, and unable to work harmoniously with his peers.

[4] His paternal grandparents, Samuel and Matilda (MacAlan) Johnson, emigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1837 and originally settled in Brooklyn, New York.

[4] Hugh's father was a lawyer, and he attended public school in Wichita, Kansas, before the family moved to Alva, Oklahoma Territory.

[6] Wishing to follow in his father's footsteps, Johnson won permission from General Enoch Crowder[5] to attend the University of California (at Berkeley) where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree (with honors) in 1915 and his Juris Doctor in 1916 (doubling up on courses to graduate in half the time required).

[5] Ohl (1985) finds that Johnson was an excellent second-in-command during the war in the Office of the Provost Marshal under Brigadier General Enoch H. Crowder as long as he was closely watched and tightly supervised.

[13] The citation for the medal reads: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Colonel (Judge Advocate General) Hugh Samuel Johnson, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I, in the Provost Marshal General's Office in connection with the planning and execution of the Draft Laws.

His major role was drafting speeches, most notably one that FDR delivered in Pittsburgh denouncing the reckless spending of the Hoover administration and calling for a very conservative fiscal policy.

The NRA involved ending the Great Depression by organizing thousands of businesses under codes drawn up by trade associations and industries.

Johnson was faltering badly, which historians ascribe to the profound contradictions in NRA policies, compounded by heavy drinking on the job.

Cursed at the time, it has remained the epitome of political aberration, illustrative of the pitfalls of “planning” and deplored both for hampering recovery and delaying genuine reform.Johnson came under attack by Labor Secretary Frances Perkins for having un-American policies.

[24] Perkins feared that Johnson looked on Italian Fascist corporativism as a kind of model for the American economy, and she convinced Roosevelt to fire him in September 1934.

[25] Upon leaving the Roosevelt administration, Johnson, who had long been a successful essay writer for national magazines, now became a syndicated newspaper columnist specializing in political commentary.