Harvey Johnson was born at Laurens, the son of Judge Joseph Travis Johnson and Sarah Margaret Anderson. He attended public schools in Spartanburg and in Washington, D.C. He served in the United States Navy during World War I. He received a B.A. from Wofford College in 1920 and an M.A. in 1930. He received an LL.B. degree from Harvard University Law School in 1923 and began his practice of law in Spartanburg.
In 1937, he married Meredith Elizabeth Price of Spartanburg and they had one daughter who graduated from the University of South Carolina Law School. He was a Steward of the Central Methodist Church, the first President of the Spartanburg County Library Association, President of the Red Cross and the Executive Committee of the Community Chest, and a member of the County Board of Education, the American Legion Posts No. 40 and No. 8, the Spartanburg Country Club, the Piedmont Club and the Lions Club.
He served as a United States Referee in Bankruptcy, Spartanburg City Attorney, a Government Appeals Agent for the United States Selective Service, and as a member of the American and South Carolina Bar Associations, the American Judicature and the American and South Carolina Trial Lawyer’s Association.
He was careful to protect the rights of all parties before him while serving as a Referee and vigorous in asserting the interests of his clients when an advocate. He always sought justice.