Late Life and Legacy
Following impeachment, Johnston returned to practice law in Perry. Four years later, he would win a term in the state Senate, serving from 1933 to 1937. After leaving the Senate, he would once again return to practice law in Perry, where he died at the age of 97 on January 7, 1965. He was the longest-lived governor in Oklahoma history, before or since. Johnston is buried in Perry.
The removal of Johnston proved to be the Legislature's apex of dominance against the other two branches of state government. Over the first two decades of Oklahoma's state existence, the Legislature had brought impeachment charges against four Governors and had removed two of those. Only Governors Charles N. Haskell and Robert L. Williams would wield great executive power during this time. With the state Legislature's power diminished in reaction to its impeachment ambitions, the body would never again come close to impeaching and removing another Oklahoma governor from office.
Nationwide, it would be nearly 60 years before another U.S. governor was impeached—Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona in 1988.
Read more about this topic: Henry S. Johnston
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