J. Bennett Johnston

John Bennett Johnston Jr. (June 10, 1932 – March 25, 2025) was an American attorney, politician, and later lobbyist from Louisiana who served as member of the United States Senate from 1972 to 1997. He had previously served in both chambers of the Louisiana State Legislature representing Caddo Parish, a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1964 to 1968, and also a member of the Louisiana State Senate from 1968 to 1972. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

Johnston was born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1932, where he attended C. E. Byrd High School before enrolling in the United States Military Academy and Washington and Lee University. He received a law degree from Louisiana State University and served in the United States Army Judge Advocate General Corps from 1956 to 1959.

In 1964, Johnston was elected to represent Caddo Parish in the Louisiana House of Representatives. In 1968, he was elected to the Louisiana State Senate. As a state legislator, Johnston held moderate-to-conservative views and unsuccessfully pushed for a toll road connecting Shreveport with South Louisiana, which at the time had no interstate highway connection. In 1971, he unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Louisiana, narrowly losing the Democratic primary to Edwin Edwards.

Shortly after his unsuccessful 1971 campaign for governor, Johnston challenged incumbent U.S Senate member Allen J. Ellender. When Ellender died before the primary election, Johnston was easily nominated and won the general election without opposition. He was re-elected to three terms; his final re-election campaign against former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke in 1990 was the closest and highest-profile of his four campaigns, and he won bipartisan support against Duke. From 1987 to 1995, Johnston was chair of the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and widely recognized as the preeminent American legislator on energy policy.