Chi-Hi grad spends July 4th at White House
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This is how the White House looked on Friday, July 4, when former Chippewa Falls resident Juston Johnson took in a get-together hosted by President and Mrs. Bush.
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By ROD STETZER
rod.stetzer@lee.net
Wednesday, July 9, 2008 11:06 AM CDT
Juston Johnson’s life in politics started at age 13 when he attended a railroad campaign stop by President George H.W. Bush in Chippewa Falls on Halloween night 1992.
More than 15 years later, he spent July 4th on the south lawn of the White House. There he and his parents viewed fireworks in a get-together thrown by Bush’s son, President George W. Bush.
“To be on the grounds of the White House and to be within 20 yards of the building was quite an experience,” said Johnson, who is the Wisconsin Victory director for the Republican National Committee.
Both White House and RNC staff were invited to the party, viewed by President and Mrs. Bush, their daughter Jenna and her new husband, on the White House’s second-floor balcony.
Johnson said he heard about 800 people were invited to the gathering, which started around 7 p.m. Friday.
“The entire crowd sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him,” Johnson said, referring to the president, who turned 62 on July 6.
Johnson, a 1997 Chippewa Falls Senior High School graduate who now lives in Madison, invited his parents, Steve and Lynn Johnson of Wabasha, Minn., to attend the celebration with him.
He walked over to the west side of the White House’s south lawn and spotted the president’s putting green.
“I didn’t get a chance to practice my putting,” Johnson joked.
From where he was, he could see the White House’s West Wing and Rose Garden.
Then the fireworks show started at about 9 p.m. Looking straight ahead, Johnson and his parents could see the Washington and Jefferson monuments as the 30-minute fireworks show lit the sky.
Johnson joked he’ll never be able to watch another fireworks show again after seeing the spectacular display at the White House.
Johnson, a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, said his interest in politics deepened while attending Chippewa Falls middle and senior high schools. He said he had good teachers who engaged him on the subject.
He went on to take an internship in the 1999 presidential campaign of former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander. Alexander was unsuccessful in that campaign, but was later elected as a U.S. senator.
Johnson went on to serve several internships in Madison and worked on a 2002 race for Iowa governor.
He got out of politics for a time and worked in Minneapolis until moving back to Wisconsin in November 2005. He ran J.B. Van Hollen’s successful campaign to be elected Wisconsin’s attorney general in 2006. He then began working for the state Republican party in 2007.
As could be expected, Johnson is upbeat about the prospects of presumed Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain winning Wisconsin in the November election. He said there are many opportunities for McCain to appeal and win the votes of Reagan Democrats.
“Our ground game is rolling and doing quite well,” he said.
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