Their oldest daughter, Hannah, is a second-year law student. Abbie will graduate from Louisiana Tech and is about to enter law school. Jack is a senior at Benton High School and has applied to the Naval Academy as an aspiring Navy Seal. That leaves 13-year-old Will, who has been described as the family mascot.

With two May graduations followed by a June wedding, the Johnson family household is hopping. SB Magazine was fortunate to interview Speaker Johnson for a few moments before the fundraiser reception held at the Petroleum Club on Monday, March 4th. Guests were treated to hors-d’oeuvres and refreshments before Speaker Johnson spoke (without notes) about his family, the state of our country, and what must be done to preserve our nation’s founding principles.

 had about half the staff here in the district and half in Washington, to around 100 employees. The speaker’s responsibility – the scope of it is so broad. It is one of the only offices listed in the Constitution. And so, you’re in charge of everything from the actual grounds of the Capitol itself to obviously the legislative agenda, the policy agenda, and the fundraising for effectively half the party, and it’s a lot to say grace over. It comes with a whole security detail. I mean, your entire life changes in every conceivable way. But I’m happy to report that our family’s adjusted well and are all great sports.

SB: It’s going to make them very successful adults.

SPEAKER JOHNSON: Yeah, if they can endure all this.

SB: Well, my next question- you answered it already-was going to ask how you balance your marriage, your family, and being a public figure.

SPEAKER JOHNSON: Well, they all have to be very forgiving, and they are, and we try to incorporate them in as much of it as possible; I mean, when we’re not in session, I’m on the road just almost constantly. I think I’ve been in 24 States since I’ve been a speaker since early November because you have to go and do events, campaign, and fundraise all around the country. As much as possible, I’ve tried to take one of the kids along with me. My wife Kelly is a saint, and she has been able to come with me on a few of those things and to Washington more often than we thought. We still have our home base here, and that’s always been important to us. It requires a lot of adaptability and flexibility, but so far, it’s worked out okay.

anything under the sun or something like that. And I said, well, I’m pretty simple. Just pick up the Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s what I believe. That’s what I stand for. There’s no mystery about this. That was regarded to be such a controversial statement in Washington. I’ve been reminding people ever since that this is exactly what previous generations of leaders said and did. I quote the founders from Washington to Adams to Lincoln, all the way down. Until very recently, all the leaders of the country believed in these basic principles. Inscribed above the Rostrum in the house is our national motto: In God We Trust. I reminded people in my speech the night I took the oath, and in the nationally televised speech, I said,
“This isn’t on your screen.” But that’s what it says, and it was put there in 1963. Why was it put there? If you look in the guidebook for visitors to the house, it will tell you that it was put there as a rebuke at the beginning of the Cold War to the Soviet’s worldview, which is Marxism, Communism, and Socialism, that begin with the premise that there is no God. I said our country is different and exceptional and extraordinary. We’re the greatest nation in the history of the world because we were founded on an opposite premise. We are founded on the idea, articulated in the Declaration, in the second paragraph, that we hold these truths to be self-evident that all of us are born equal, created equal by our creator, and that God’s the one that gives us her rights and that is the foundational principle of our country. We lose it at our peril.

SB: How did we go off the rails?

SPEAKER JOHNSON: I’ve got a five-hour seminar that explains all that. It was a series of cultural shifts. It was really big in the early 1900s, with the push of the Marxists, frankly, who infiltrated trade unions and universities and tried to sort of change the minds of Americans to think differently. And now that has taken root, and we’re dealing with an open conflict between two different worldviews.
This isn’t even Republicans versus Democrats anymore. It’s two competing visions about who we are as a nation. Our group believes we should hold fast to the founding principles, which I describe as individual Freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, and human dignity. That’s what America is founded upon. There’s another group advocating that we jettison all the founding principles. We traded it in for something else, and they want a European-style sort of Marxist Utopia. Well, that’s a Fool’s errand. That is not who we are as Americans, and we have to stand strongly against that, so every day, we’re advancing policies, events, and legislation, trying to move the ball for our principles. we have in mind that we are fighting to preserve the foundations of this, which is the greatest country in history, the world.

SB: What do you want to be remembered for?

SPEAKER JOHNSON: Adherence to our founding principles, somebody who is faithful and practical. I want to be known as a servant leader. That’s how I try to live my life. It’s sacrificial service at this level. This is not a job I ever aspired to. This was not ever on my bucket list for very practical reasons. Steve Scalise from Louisiana, our small state, was way ahead of me on the totem pole in years of service and every other way. He’s like my brother, and it never occurred to me that it would ever be a scenario where I would leapfrog Steve Scalise. As fate would have it when the speaker’s chair was vacated, he had just gotten his cancer diagnosis, and it just wasn’t his time. And so, I tried to get lots of others – I tried to get Jim Jordan elected speaker and other friends, and it didn’t happen. I knew all along I could get the votes, but I wasn’t trying to; I wasn’t running for it.

Somebody told me when I was in eighth grade at Middle Magnet always to remember that real leadership is recognized and not imposed. I wasn’t trying to impose myself on anybody, but my colleagues ultimately said it was you all along, and I needed to do it. We’re very sober minded about the challenges we face. But I’m very Resolute. I mean, “without vision, the people perish,” is what scripture says. We have a real vision of where we’re supposed to go and how to get there, and it’s grounded in those timeless principles. I want to be remembered for that. I didn’t do this for myself. I did it for my kids – for our country.

SB: For our fellow Americans.

SPEAKER JOHNSON: That’s right. That’s right.