diff --git a/bin/ansible b/bin/ansible
index 1591e28b635..909e62b40b0 100755
--- a/bin/ansible
+++ b/bin/ansible
@@ -17,9 +17,13 @@
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with Ansible. If not, see .
+try:
+ import json
+except ImportError:
+ import simplejson as json
+
from optparse import OptionParser
import sys
-import json
import os
import getpass
import shlex
diff --git a/lib/ansible/runner.py b/lib/ansible/runner.py
index aad75532595..8a343a37d68 100755
--- a/lib/ansible/runner.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/runner.py
@@ -16,11 +16,15 @@
# along with Ansible. If not, see .
#
+try:
+ import json
+except ImportError:
+ import simplejson as json
+
import fnmatch
import multiprocessing
import signal
import os
-import json
import traceback
import paramiko # non-core dependency
import ansible.constants as C