Theodore (Ted) R. Johnson is a senior advisor at New America, leading New America’s flagship Us@250 initiative. Johnson’s research explores the role that race plays in electoral politics and its influence on the national narrative and the American identity. He is a retired U.S. Navy Commander following a two-decade career that included service as a White House Fellow and speechwriter to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Prior to New America, Johnson was a senior fellow and senior director of the Fellows Program at the Brennan Center for Justice as well as a research manager at Deloitte.
Johnson is a writer for The Washington Post and author of the forthcoming book If We Are Brave: Essays from Black Americana (HarperCollins, 2024) and 2021’s When the Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America (Grove Atlantic, 2021). He’s a proud HBCU graduate, holding a BS in mathematics from Hampton University as well as an ALM with a concentration in international relations from Harvard University and a doctorate of law and policy from Northeastern University.