Johnson became vice president at J&J in 1918. Johnson also had an abiding interest in politics, and served a term as the mayor of
Highland Park, New Jersey from 1920 to 1922. He was elected president of
Johnson & Johnson from 1932 to 1938, and became chairman of the board of J&J in 1938. Johnson also held a reserve commission in the U.S. Army
Quartermaster Corps during the 1930s. During 1943, firms with under 100 employees were awarded 86,000 contracts, about 35% of the total number awarded (241,531), but worth only 3.5% of the total value ($35.3 million) of all contracts awarded by the SWPC. This infuriated Johnson's military superiors in the War Department, who realized that the diversion of materials to peacetime production meant less factory capacity for new weapons and increased production of war materiel just as victory seemed to be within the grasp of Allied forces. The Credo states that the company's first responsibility is to “the doctors, nurses and patients, the mothers and all others who use our products”, and also sets out responsibilities to customers, suppliers, distributors, employees, communities and stockholders. In 1962, Johnson, as chairman of the board of J&J, fired his nephew,
John Seward Johnson II. In 1965, he fired his own son,
Robert Wood Johnson III. ==Personal life==