Marilyn P. Johnson

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Marilyn P. Johnson

| image = Marilyn Johnson.png

| order = 8th

| ambassador_from = United States

| country = Togo

| term_start = September 23, 1978

| term_end = July 29, 1981

| president = Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan

| predecessor = Ronald D. Palmer

| successor = Howard Kent Walker

| birth_name = Marilyn Priscilla Johnson

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1922|6|19}}

| birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|9|19|1922|6|19}}

| death_place = Bethlehem, New Hampshire, U.S.

| profession = Diplomat

| religion =

| serviceyears = 1944–1946

| branch = United States Navy

| rank =

| unit =

}}

Marilyn Priscilla Johnson (June 19, 1922 – September 19, 2022) was an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Togo.{{Cite web|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/po/11552.htm|title=J|first=Bureau of Public Affairs|last=Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information|website=2001-2009.state.gov}} She was appointed to that position on September 23, 1978, and left her post on July 29, 1981.

She graduated from Radcliffe College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1944 and from Middlebury College in 1952 with an Master of Arts She joined the U.S. Navy and served as a lieutenant from 1944 to 1946 as a WAVES.{{Cite journal |date=September 1978 |title=Marilyn Johnson is headed for Togo post |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112108168938&seq=628 |journal=State Department Newsletter |pages=20 |via=Hathitrust}}

From 1952 and 1959, Johnson taught French at high schools. She was a Fulbright scholar in France from 1957 to 1959, and a Smith-Mundt grantee in Guinea from 1960 to 1961. Between 1962 and 1964, she taught English as a foreign language in various schools inside Cameroon and Mali. She joined the Foreign Service in 1964, and was a cultural affairs officer in Bamako, Mali, and Tunis, Tunisia, as well as public affairs officer in Niamey, Niger.

From 1971 to 1974, Johnson was the Deputy Assistant Director of the Information Centers Program.{{Cite web |date=4 August 1986 |title=The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project Women Ambassadors Series AMBASSADOR MARILYN JOHNSON |url=https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Johnson,%20Marilyn%20P.toc.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240722164434/https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Johnson,%20Marilyn%20P.toc.pdf |archive-date=22 July 2024 |access-date=22 July 2024 |website=Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training}} The following year, she attended the Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy, and from 1975 to 1976 she learned Russian through training. In 1976 she was cultural affairs officer in Moscow, Soviet Union. In September 1978 she was assigned as United States Ambassador to the Republic of Togo until July 1981.{{Cite web|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/united-states-ambassador-togo-nomination-marilyn-p-johnson|title=United States Ambassador to Togo Nomination of Marilyn P. Johnson. | The American Presidency Project|website=www.presidency.ucsb.edu}}

Johnson died at her home in Bethlehem, New Hampshire, on September 19, 2022, at the age of 100.{{Cite web|url=https://www.caledonianrecord.com/community/deaths/marilyn-priscilla-johnson-obituary/article_b0d06d4f-1ba3-5dce-902a-921e9a434578.html|title=Marilyn Priscilla Johnson Obituary|website=Caledonian Record|date=September 20, 2022}}{{cite web |title=Marilyn P. Johnson |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/marilyn-johnson-obituary?id=36608881 |website=Legacy |access-date=30 September 2022}}