Today, the Bernie 2020 campaign will dedicate their Greater Nashua office to Al Johnson, a long-time anti-war activist, and die-hard Sanders supporter. Just a day before he passed on January 1st, 2020 after a long batter with cancer, Johnson made 200 calls for the Sanders campaign.

The dedication will begin at 4:00 pm,

Saturday, January 11,

Bernie 2020 Greater Nashua Campaign Office,

77 Derry Road, Nashua, NH 03052.

Al was an unparalleled presence to his friends, family and fellow organizers. One of the first people in the office this year, Al was a leader in the Veterans for Peace movement and a mentor for many of our volunteers and staff here in New Hampshire.

Every weekend, Al would come up to New Hampshire to volunteer in the Greater Nashua office. In his honor, they are renaming the office, the Al Johnson Greater Nashua Office.

The NH Bernie Sanders Campaign wrote this touching story of Al and his service to peace and justice for over 50 years.

Al Johnson

Al was born and raised in the projects in Quincy, son of a Kentucky Coal Miner. He was drafted into the U.S. Army, and in 1969, after receiving orders to go to Vietnam, was arrested outside of Fort Devens in uniform protesting the Vietnam War with a group of Quakers. Al considered himself a Conscientious Objector but the army didn’t agree and he spent a year in military prison, separated from others and in solitary confinement most of the time so that he would not influence the other GI’s. Due to the support and legal advocacy from the Quakers, Al was honorably discharged from the army in 1971.



Al was a math teacher at Madison Park H.S. in Boston. The headmaster there thought very highly of Al because he successfully tutored many students so they could pass the MCAS exam, when previously they had failed it, sometimes multiple times. While teaching, Al attended Law School and passed the Bar Exam. He worked as an attorney often doing pro bono work for social justice causes.



In 2009 he became a member of the Smedley Butler Brigade, which is Boston’s chapter of Veterans for Peace. For years he was co-coordinator of VFP.



Al’s last passion was getting Bernie elected. He drove to New Hampshire nearly every weekend, canvassing, organizing and inspiring others, especially young people. All this time he was struggling with the discomforts of Stage 4 cancer. He helped organize a local Bernie affiliate group in Dorchester. He raised thousands of dollars for the campaign from his attorney friends on the golf course and had a mission to give every volunteer a Bernie T-shirt.



The day before he went into the ICU, he made 200 phone calls for Bernie from his hospital bed. Al had a profound impact on the lives of many people and his legacy lives on.

The New Hampshire Labor News is a group of NH Workers who believe that we need to protect ourselves against the attacks on workers. We are proud union members who are working to preserve the middle class. The NHLN talks mostly about news and politics from NH. We also talk about national issues that effect working men and women here in the Granite State.

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