Editing Johnson Act

{{Short description|1934 United States legislation}}
{{about-distinguish2|the 1934 Johnson Act|the 1954 [[Johnson Amendment]]}}

{{Unreferenced|date=May 2025}}
The '''Johnson Act of 1934''' ('''Foreign Securities Act''', ch. 112, {{USStat|48|574}}, {{USC|18|955}}, 1934-04-13) prohibited foreign nations in debt from marketing their bond issues in the [[United States]].  The law was enacted on April 13, 1934, and although it was impacted by the [[Bretton-Woods Agreement]], it was not repealed and continues to have the force of law.

Senator [[Hiram Johnson]] sponsored the Act that included a passage that forbade loans to nations in default on their debts.

On May 5, 1934, [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] Cummings rendered an opinion on the meaning of the terms "default" and "partial default" used in the Act. He held that [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Italy]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Great Britain]] and [[Canada]] were not in default, despite the fact only Canada had paid its debts, and [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Soviet Russia]] was in default.

The Act is again relevant now if [[Venezuela]] withdraws from the [[IMF]] and [[World Bank]] (as it says it is doing) and is in default in payment of its obligations "to the United States."{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

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[[Category:Economic history of the United States]]
[[Category:United States federal securities legislation]]
[[Category:1934 in international relations]]
[[Category:1934 in economic history]]
[[Category:1934 in American law]]