James A. Johnson (December 24, 1943 – October 18, 2020)[1] was an American businessman, Democratic Party political figure, and chairman and chief executive officer of Fannie Mae.
Before working for Fannie Mae, Johnson co-founded the private consulting firm Public Strategies with diplomat Richard Holbrooke.
After leading Fannie Mae from 1991 to 1998, Johnson became a board member of the investment bank Goldman Sachs as well as several other companies including Target Corporation and UnitedHealth Group.
[17] In 1990, Johnson became vice chairman of Fannie Mae, or the Federal National Mortgage Association,[15] a United States government-sponsored enterprise and publicly traded company.
[15] An Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) report[22] from September 2004 found that, during Johnson's tenure as CEO, Fannie Mae had improperly deferred $200 million in expenses.
[25] In the 2011 book Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon, authors Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner wrote that Johnson was one of the key figures responsible for the 2007–2008 financial crisis.
[26] Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote in The New York Times in 2012, "In fairness to Mr. Johnson, the vast majority of losses racked up by Fannie were the results of loans bought after he departed.
[2] On June 4, 2008, Barack Obama announced the formation of a three-person committee to vet vice presidential candidates, including Johnson, Caroline Kennedy, and Eric Holder.
[30] Johnson resigned from the vice presidential search committee on June 11, 2008, stating that he had done nothing wrong but did not want to distract attention from Obama's "historical effort".
[33] On September 19, 2008, the John McCain campaign released an ad critical of Obama for his connections to Johnson and for appointing him to the vice presidential search committee.
[47] Johnson died on October 18, 2020, at his home in Washington, D.C., at age 76; he had suffered from a neurological condition in the time leading up to his death.