Charley Eugene Johns

Charley Eugene Johns (February 27, 1905 – January 23, 1990) was an American politician. Johns was the 32nd Governor of Florida for fifteen months from 1953 to 1955. With the exception of those months, he served in the Florida Senate from 1937 to 1966. From 1956 to 1965, he chaired a Senate committee, commonly known as the Johns Committee, that attempted to link civil rights organizations to communists and conducted a witch hunt against homosexuals in higher education.

Biography Johns was born in Starke, Florida, on February 27, 1905. He attended the University of Florida briefly, and then worked for ten years as a railroad brakeman and conductor. He set up an insurance agency that would operate for 40 years, occasionally profiting from selling policies to state agencies.

Johns became the President of the Senate in April 1953. Upon the death of Governor Dan McCarty on September 28, 1953, Johns became the Acting Governor As Acting Governor, Johns promoted highway construction and the elimination of tolls on the Overseas Highway between Miami and Key West. He served in the Senate until 1966. Throughout his Senate career he promoted prison reform.

Johns died in a Gainesville hospital on January 23, 1990, after a long illness.