James L. Johnson House - Historic Santa Fe Foundation

He: A friend gave us a recent biography of Cutting by Richard Lowitt. At
first I wasn't really that interested in reading the book, but I perused it
for information about our house. Being from Washington, D.C., we
had been surrounded by the world of politics all our lives. But as I
looked through the book I realized that this man was something special,
and I became fascinated by his life and by him as a person.
She: Also, we began to meet people who knew about Cutting or had been to
the house when it was an orphanage, or to see the doctor or the lawyer
who had their offices here at one time.
Q: What especially impressed you about Cutting?
Cutting House inside patio and fountain
Courtesy Museum of New 1\1exico No. 47779
He: Of course, he rose high enough in politics during his time in Washington
to be offered the Vice Presidency under Herbert Hoover, and the Secretary
of Interior by
FOR. But what really
impressed me
were his principles
and how he stuck
with them. He sponsored
the Philippine
Independence bill,
helped found the
American Legion,
championed the
rights of the disabled,
and chastised
FOR's public works
programs as too
conservative. He did
more than anyone
else at the time to enfranchise Hispanics in the state. It seems to me that
he lived his values and even spent his own money in support of them.
One example was his sponsorship of Hispanic kids to go to college.
Through the book, I come to admire his character immensely; psychologically
he is interesting to me as a character study of functional narcissism,
a narcissist who learned to make it work.
Q: Did the house hold any other surprises for you?
She: For a house of its size and expense, the detail work doesn't seem as
finely done as you might expect. For example, the brickwork on the
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