Editing Hiram Johnson (section)

==Early years==
Hiram Johnson was born in [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] on September 2, 1866.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lower |first=Richard Coke |date=1993 |title=A Bloc of One: The Political Career of Hiram W. Johnson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BeaeAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA5 |location=Stanford, CA |publisher=Stanford University Press |page=1 |isbn=978-0-8047-2081-6 |via=[[Google Books]] |ref={{sfnRef|Lower}}}}</ref> His father, [[Grove Lawrence Johnson]], was an attorney and  [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] and a member of the [[California State Legislature]] whose career was marred by accusations of election fraud and graft.{{sfn|Lower|pages=1–3}} His mother, Mabel Ann "Annie" Williamson De Montfredy, was a member of the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]] based on her descent from [[Pierre Van Cortlandt]] and [[Philip Van Cortlandt]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Augsbury |first=Mary Ellis |editor-last=Johnston |editor-first=Sarah hall |date=1916 |title=Lineage Book, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution |volume=XLIII, 1903 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vGgZAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA56 |location=Harrisburg, PA |publisher=Telegraph Printong Company |page=56 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Johnson had one brother and three sisters.{{sfn|Lower|pages=1–3}}

Johnson attended the [[State school#United States|public schools]] of Sacramento and was 16 when he graduated from Sacramento High School in 1882 as the class valedictorian.{{sfn|Lower|page=5}} Too young to begin attending college, Johnson worked as a [[shorthand]] reporter and [[stenographer]] in his father's law office and attended [[Heald College|Heald's Business College]].{{sfn|Lower|page=5}}<ref>{{cite book |last=MIller |first=Jay Wilson |date= 1964 |title=The Independent Business School in American Education |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i1lXAAAAMAAJ |location=New York, NY |publisher=Gregg Division, McGraw-Hill |page=211 |quote="Heald's Business Colleges, of California, report that the following well - known persons were former students: Hon. Hiram Johnson, former Governor of California..."}}</ref> He studied law at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] from 1884 to 1886, where he was a member of [[Chi Phi]] fraternity.{{sfn|Lower|page=5}} After his [[Admission to the bar in the United States|admission to the bar]] in 1888, Johnson practiced in Sacramento with his brother Albert as the firm of Johnson & Johnson.{{sfn|Lower|page=7}} When the [[State Bar of California]] was organized in 1927, [[William H. Waste]], the [[Chief Justice]] of the [[California Supreme Court]], was given license number one <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/LicenseeSearch/QuickSearch?FreeText=William+H.+Waste&SoundsLike=false |title=California State Bar, Attorney Search}}</ref> and Johnson received number two. Both his son, Hiram Jr. and grandson, Hiram III, were later members of the California State Bar.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/LicenseeSearch/QuickSearch?FreeText=hiram+johnson&SoundsLike=false |title=California State Bar, Attorney Search}}</ref>

In addition to practicing law, Johnson was active in politics as a Republican, including supporting his father's campaigns.{{sfn|Lower|pages=10–11}} In 1899, Johnson backed the [[List of mayors of Sacramento, California|mayoral campaign]] of George H. Clark.{{sfn|Lower|pages=10–11}} Clark won, and when he took office in 1900, he named Johnson as city attorney.{{sfn|Lower|pages=10–11}}

[[File:Langdon and Johnson Edit.png|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Johnson (left), specially retained by the State, and [[San Francisco District Attorney's Office|District Attorney]] [[William H. Langdon]] arrive for trial preliminaries on behalf of the prosecution, 1906]]

In 1902, Johnson moved to [[San Francisco]], where he quickly developed a reputation as a fearless litigator, primarily as a criminal defense lawyer, while becoming active in [[reform movement|reform]] politics.{{sfn|Lower|page=13}} He attracted statewide attention in 1908 when he assisted [[San Francisco District Attorney's Office|District Attorney]] [[William H. Langdon]] and Assistant DA [[Francis J. Heney]] in the prosecution of [[Abe Ruef]] and Mayor [[Eugene Schmitz]] for graft.{{sfn|Lower|page=13}} After Heney was shot in the courtroom during an attempted assassination, Johnson took the lead for the prosecution [[San Francisco graft trials|and won the case]].{{sfn|Lower|page=15}}