High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Keen Johnson (January 12, 1896 – February 7, 1970) was the 45th Governor of Kentucky, serving from 1939 to 1943. He remains the only journalist to have served in that capacity. After serving in World War I, Johnson purchased and edited the Elizabethtown Mirror. After reviving the struggling paper, he sold it to a competitor and used the profits to obtain his journalism degree from the University of Kentucky in 1922. After graduation, he became editor of the Anderson News, and in 1925, he accepted an offer to co-publish and edit the Richmond Daily-Register.