Robert H. "Bob" Johnson

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) _ Robert H. ''Bob'' Johnson, a champion for open government and a former Associated Press executive who during a 42-year career wrote AP's first bulletin on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, has died. He was 84.

After retiring from the news cooperative in 1988, Johnson helped start the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government and made a new career out of fighting for public access to government meetings and records.

Johnson suffered a stroke Saturday morning as he prepared to go to work at the foundation, where he served as executive director. He died later that evening.

''He was a workaholic all his life, and was right up to the end,'' said his wife, Luise Putcamp Johnson.

Paul Stevens, an AP regional vice president who once served as New Mexico's bureau chief said, ''I'm among many people in the AP who owe their careers to the mentoring and example that he set in his roles with the AP. I'll really miss him.''

A native of Colorado City, Texas, Johnson joined AP in Dallas in 1946 after serving as a U.S. Marine lieutenant in World War II. He was recalled to active duty as a captain in the Korean War.

He was proud of having worked every news job in the Dallas bureau, where became news editor in 1953. The next year, he was named bureau chief in Salt Lake City, managing the Utah and Idaho operations. He was assigned as Indianapolis bureau chief in 1959, then returned to Dallas as Texas bureau chief in 1963.

That year, on Nov. 22, Johnson was in the newsroom of the Dallas Times Herald, adjoining the AP office, when he heard editors talking about an unconfirmed report that President Kennedy had been shot.

Johnson ran back to his desk, slipped paper in his typewriter, and wrote ''BULLETIN'' and ''DALLAS'' and awaited word from his staffers covering Kennedy's visit to call. Wirephoto operator James ''Ike'' Altgens, who doubled as a photographer, alerted Johnson that he was just 30 feet (9 meters) away from Kennedy when the first shot was fired.

After confirming the facts with Altgens, Johnson turned to his typewriter and wrote the bulletin: ''President Kennedy was shot today just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas. Mrs. Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mr. Kennedy. She cried, 'Oh, no!' The motorcade sped on.''

While in Texas, Johnson also oversaw coverage of the Gemini and Apollo space flights from the Houston Space Center.

He moved to New York in 1969 to become the AP's sports editor, and in 1972 managed coverage of the massacre of Israeli athletes by Palestinian guerrillas at the Munich Olympics.

Johnson became AP's managing editor the next year, and then moved up to assistant general manager and assistant to the president from 1977 to 1984.

''Bob Johnson was the quintessential AP newsman who thrived on breaking news, the bigger the better,'' said Mike Silverman, AP's managing editor. ''As sports editor and as managing editor, he taught an entire generation of AP journalists the importance of quick, accurate work under deadline pressure, and his lessons were always laced with grace and good humor.''

Johnson moved to Albuquerque as bureau chief in 1984, saying New Mexico was where he wanted to finish his career. He retired in 1988.

''I think I've done all I can do for either the AP or myself, and I think it's time to step aside and do something new,'' Johnson said.

In retirement, he was anything but idle. Two years after leaving the AP, he helped found the open government group in New Mexico, and taught reporting and writing at the University Of New Mexico and New Mexico State University.

''Bob Johnson was one of the major forces behind the concept of open government in New Mexico,'' said Attorney General Gary King, who said he had been working with Johnson on improvements to open meetings and open records laws for the 2008 Legislature.

''We want to recognize Bob's contribution, and especially the fact that he realized the First Amendment belonged to everybody _ to the public, to business groups, to interest groups _ not just the media,'' said Kent Walz, a former AP bureau chief and editor of the Albuquerque Journal who worked often with Johnson as a board member of the open government foundation. ''That's one of the things that really defined his work. His efforts will be missed, as will he.''

Johnson also took a keen interest in helping young writers and developing their careers.

''He was tough and brought a level of demanding professionalism to the class that we needed,'' said Julie March, AP's manager of global training and a former bureau chief in New Mexico. She met Johnson when she was a student at New Mexico State University. ''There's no doubt that I, along with many other young journalists inside and outside AP, owe at least the start of our careers to Bob.''

Johnson is survived by his wife; a son, R.H. Johnson of New York; five daughters, Luise Robin Poulton of Salt Lake City, Jan Leah Tapia of Albuquerque, Stephanie Neale Niketic of Newbury Port, Massachusetts, Jennifer Anne Robyn of Monroe, Connecticut, and Ann Tapia Johnson of Salt Lake City; four grandsons and three granddaughters; and a brother, Richard S. Johnson of Denver.

Services were pending.



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