David Johnson

During his tenure at McGill University, from 1919 through 1922, Don Johnson was active on the school’s track team and specialized in short distances. He achieved numerous successes at the collegiate level and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1923, the year in which he graduated. He began studying law at the University of Oxford’s Balliol College and, during his tenure there, represented Canada at the 1924 Summer Olympics, where he placed fourth in 400 m and the 4 x 400 m relay, the latter alongside Horace Aylwin, Alan Christie, and Billy Maynes. After graduating in 1926 he served as a defense counsel in England for ten years. He joined Canada’s Department of External Affairs in 1947 and served briefly as the Ambassador to Ireland in 1949 before being appointed as High Commissioner in Pakistan for nearly two years. He was then the Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations from November 1951 through August 1955 before becoming the Ambassador to the Soviet Union. His career with the Foreign Service was terminated in 1960, allegedly due to an RCMP purge of homosexuals in the Canadian civil service (who were considered vulnerable to blackmail during the Cold War), and he returned to the private practice of law for the remainder of his life. He was inducted into the McGill Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007.

Personal Best: 400 – 48.2e (1924).