bill. The legislators obliged, and passed a bill by the end of the special session. Johnson took an active part in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1943. Among the candidates were Ben Kilgore, Rodes K. Myers, and J. Lyter Donaldson. Myers was Johnson's lieutenant governor, but he had turned on the administration. Johnson called him a carpetbagger from North Carolina, "a political adventurer", and "a phony farmer". He also ridiculed Kilgore, who had strong support from the Louisville Courier-Journal, the Rural Electric Association, and the Farm Bureau, by calling him a "Casanova". Donaldson, Johnson's former campaign manager, secured his support and the Democratic nomination. He was defeated in the general election by Republican Simeon Willis. Later life and death Beginning in 1940, Johnson was a member of the State Democratic National Committee, serving until 1948. On June 6, 1942, he was named to the board of regents of Eastern State College (now Eastern Kentucky University or EKU), a position he held for eight years. EKU's Keen Johnson Building, a 1939 Works Progress Administration project, was named in honor of him. The building and its clock tower is one of the most recognizable landmarks on the university's campus. On January 1, 1944, he was named a special assistant to the president of Reynolds Metals, advising him on postwar unemployment problems. He became vice-president of public relations for the company in 1945. Johnson developed a strong rapport with union leaders and in 1946, President Harry S. Truman and Kentucky Senator Alben Barkley asked him to accept an appointment to the newly created post of Undersecretary of Labor. In August 1946, Johnson took a leave of absence from Reynolds and accepted the appointment. He frequently attended President Truman's cabinet meetings due to the illness of Secretary Lewis B. Schwellenbach. In mid-1947, Johnson returned to Reynolds. In 1950, he became a member of the company's board of directors. In this capacity, he organized meetings of sales executives and traveled extensively to promote the company's aluminum products. He retired from Reynolds in January 1961. In 1960, Johnson sought a seat in the U.S. Senate. He defeated John Y. Brown, Sr. in the Democratic primary, but was unable to unseat Republican incumbent John Sherman Cooper in the general election. In 1961 and 1964, he was appointed to the state board of education. He served as a delegate to an assembly to revise the state constitution in