Johnson, Lady Bird

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{{Infobox_Person  
 
| name = Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson
 
| name = Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson
 
| image = Lady Bird Johnson, photo portrait, standing at rear of White House, color.jpg
 
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| caption = <small>Lady Bird Johnson at rear of White House</small>
 
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1912|12|22}}
 
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1912|12|22}}
| birth_place =  [[Karnack, Texas]], [[United States|USA]]
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| birth_place =  [[Karnack, Texas]], [[United States|U.S.]]
 
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'''Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson''' (born December 22 1912) is the wife of former [[President of the United States]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], and was [[First Lady of the United States]] from 1963-1969. From infancy she has been known as '''Lady Bird'''.
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'''Claudia Alta (Lady Bird) Taylor Johnson''' (December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007) was the wife of [[President of the United States]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]. Throughout her life, she was an advocate for beautification of the nation's cities and highways and conservation of natural resources. The former First Lady was a recipient of the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] and the [[Congressional Gold Medal]].
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As [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]], Johnson started a capital beautification project ''(Society for a More Beautiful National Capital)'' to improve physical conditions in [[Washington, D.C.]], both for residents and tourists. Her efforts inspired similar programs throughout the country. She was also instrumental in promoting the [[Highway Beautification Act]], which sought to beautify the nation's highway system by limiting [[billboard (advertising)|billboards]] and by planting roadside areas. She was also an advocate of the [[Head Start]] program.
  
 
==Early life==
 
==Early life==
[[Image:Andrews-Taylor_House_in_Karnack,_Texas.jpg|thumb|left|The Brick House, Lady Bird Johnson's birthplace and childhood home in Karnack, Texas.]]
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[[Image:Andrews-Taylor House in Karnack, Texas.jpg|thumb|left|The Brick House, Lady Bird Johnson's birthplace and childhood home in Karnack, Texas.]]
Of [[English people|English]] and [[Scottish people|Scottish]] descent, Claudia Alta Taylor was born in Karnack, [[Texas]], at The Brick House, the plantation home of her parents. Her father was Thomas Jefferson Taylor, a wealthy businessman who owned a general store; her mother, who died when she was five, was the former Minnie Pattillo (1868-1918). She had two elder brothers, Thomas and Antonio. Mrs. Taylor died under suspicious circumstances after falling down a set of stairs in the family home while pregnant. After she died at a [[hospital]] in [[Marshall, Texas]], no [[official]] [[death certificate]] was ever filed, thereby leaving suspicion regarding the actual cause of death. Following her mother's death, she and her siblings were largely raised by Minnie Taylor's sister, Effie Pattillo.
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Claudia Alta Taylor was born in [[Karnack, Texas]], a town in [[Harrison County, Texas|Harrison County]], near the state's border with [[Louisiana]]. Her birthplace was "The Brick House," a former slave [[plantation]] mansion on the outskirts of town, which her father had purchased shortly before her birth. Her parents, both natives of [[Alabama]], were of [[English people|English]] and [[Scottish people|Scottish]] descent.  
  
During her infancy, a nursemaid commented, "She's as pretty as a [[coccinellidae|ladybird]]," and the nickname virtually replaced her given name for the rest of her life.
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Though she was named for her mother's brother Claud,<ref>''Palm Beach Post,'' [http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/shared/news/stories/ladybird/0711BIRDPAGE2.html Vibrant spirit takes Lady Bird from a small town to UT.] Retrieved July 19, 2007.</ref> during her infancy, her nursemaid, Alice Tittle,<ref>PBS, [http://www.pbs.org/ladybird/earlyyears/earlyyears_index.html Lady Bird Johnson: Her Early Years.] Retrieved July 19, 2007.</ref> commented, she was as "purty as a [[coccinellidae|ladybird]],"<ref>Lady Bird Johnson Tribute, [http://ladybirdjohnsontribute.org/biography.htm Lady Bird Johnson: Final Tribute.] Retrieved July 19, 2007.</ref> and that nickname virtually replaced her given name for the rest of her life. Her father and siblings called her Lady,<ref>Time, [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,876083–5,00.html The First Lady Bird.] Retrieved July 19, 2007.</ref> though her husband called her Bird, which is the name she used on her marriage license. During her teenage years, her schoolmates called her Bird, though mockingly, since she reportedly was not fond of the name.
  
Lady Bird Taylor graduated from Marshall Senior High School in [[Marshall, Texas]], studied [[journalism]] and [[art]] at St. Mary's Episcopal School for Girls, and graduated from the [[University of Texas at Austin|University of Texas]].
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Her father was Thomas Jefferson Taylor (August 29, 1874 – October 22, 1960), a sharecropper's son who became a wealthy businessman and the owner of 15,000 acres of cotton and two general stores. "My father was a very strong character, to put it mildly," his daughter once said. "He lived by his own rules. It was a whole feudal way of life, really."
  
==Marriage and family==
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[[Image:Lady bird 1915.jpg|thumb|A portrait of Lady Bird Taylor at about age 3.]]
She married [[Lyndon Baines Johnson]] on November 17 1934, at [[Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, San Antonio|Saint Mark's Episcopal Church]] in [[San Antonio, Texas]]. After several miscarriages, they had two daughters, [[Lynda Bird Johnson Robb|Lynda]] (born 1944), wife of [[Charles S. Robb]], and [[Luci Baines Johnson|Luci]] (born 1947), who married Pat Nugent and Ian Turpin.
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Her mother was the former Minnie Lee Pattillo (1874–1918), an opera lover who felt out of place in Karnack and who was often in "poor emotional and physical health." While pregnant, she died after falling down a flight of stairs when her daughter was five and died of complications after miscarrying. In a profile of Lady Bird Johnson, ''Time'' magazine described her mother as "a tall, eccentric woman from an old and aristocratic Alabama family, liked to wear long white dresses and heavy veils [… and who] scandalized people for miles around by entertaining Negroes in her home, and once even started to write a book about Negro religious practices, called ''Bio Baptism.''" Her unreconstructed husband, however, tended to see blacks as "hewers of wood and drawers of water," according to his younger son.
  
She is known for her love of the environment, which she developed as a child growing up near [[Caddo Lake]] in [[East Texas]]. She helped convince [[Texas]] to plant [[wildflower]]s on [[numbered highways in the United States|state highways]].
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Lady Bird had two elder brothers, Thomas Jefferson Jr. (1901–1959) and Antonio, a.k.a. Tony (1904–1986). She also had two stepmothers, one whom her father divorced and Ruth Scroggins (who married Thomas Taylor in 1937).<ref>University of Texas, [http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/TT/fta26.html The Handbook of Texas] Retrieved July 19, 2007.</ref>
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She was largely raised by her aunt, Effie Pattillo, who moved to Karnack after her sister's death, though Lady Bird visited her Pattillo relatives in Autauga County, Alabama, every summer until she was a young woman. As she explained, "Until I was about 20, summertime always meant Alabama to me. With Aunt Effie we would board the train in Marshall and ride to the part of the world that meant watermelon cuttings, picnics at the creek, and a lot of company every Sunday."<ref>Time, [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,939432,00.html So Glad, So Glad.] Retrieved July 19, 2007.</ref> According to Lady Bird, her aunt Effie "opened my spirit to beauty, but she neglected to give me any insight into the practical matters a girl should know about, such as how to dress or choose one's friends or learning to dance."
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Lady Bird was a shy quiet girl who spent much of her youth alone in the outdoors. "People always look back at it now and assume it was lonely," she once said about her childhood. "To me it definitely was not. [...] I spent a lot of time just walking and fishing and swimming."<ref>Henry Brandon, "A Talk With the First Lady," ''The New York Times'', September 10, 1967</ref> She developed her lifelong love of the environment as a child growing up in the tall [[pine]]s and [[bayou]]s of [[East Texas]] and watching the [[wildflower]]s bloom each spring.<ref>Wilson, Janet. "East Texas wildflower." ''The Austin American-Statesman'', July 13, 2007, p.2 (Lady Bird Johnson Commemorative Section).</ref>
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When it came time to enter high school (her brothers, however, had attended boarding schools in New York),<ref>Henry Brandon, "A Talk With the First Lady," ''The New York Times'', September 10, 1967.</ref> Lady Bird moved away from home to live with another family during weekdays in the town of [[Jefferson, Texas]],<ref>Statesman, [http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared/news/stories/ladybird/0711ladybird.html Former first lady leaves rich legacy as political wife, environmental activist, businesswoman.] Retrieved July 19, 2007.</ref> there being no high school in the Karnack area. Eventually, she graduated third in her class at the age of 15, from [[Marshall High School (Marshall, Texas)|Marshall Senior High School]] in nearby [[Marshall, Texas|Marshall]]. Despite her young age, she drove herself to school in her own car, a distance of 15 miles each way, because, she said, "it was an awful chore for my daddy to delegate some person from his business to take me in and out."<ref>Henry Brandon, "A Talk With the First Lady," ''The New York Times,'' September 10, 1967.</ref> During her senior year, when she realized that she had the highest grades in her class, she "purposely allowed her grades to slip" so that she would not have to give the [[valedictorian]] or salutatorian speech.
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She studied [[journalism]] and [[art]] at [[St. Mary]]'s [[Episcopal]] School for Girls, a junior college in Dallas, during which time she converted to [[Episcopalian]]ism. She graduated with honors from the [[University of Texas at Austin|University of Texas]] with a Bachelor's degree in Arts in 1933 and a degree in Journalism in 1934—a time when women were hard pressed to have a career of their own, let alone a college education. Her goal was to become a reporter.
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== Marriage and family ==
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Her goal of a career in media was deferred when a friend in Austin introduced her to [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Lyndon Baines Johnson]], a young up-and-coming political hopeful.<ref>Axcess News, [http://www.axcessnews.com/index.php/articles/show/id/11584 Lady Bird Johnson, the First Lady a Nation Mourns.] Retrieved July 19, 2007.</ref>
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On their first date, which was breakfast the next morning at the [[Driskill Hotel]] and a long drive in the country, Johnson proposed. Lady Bird did not want to rush into marriage, but Lyndon Johnson was persistent and did not want to wait. The couple married on November 17, 1934, at [[Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, San Antonio|Saint Mark's Episcopal Church]] in [[San Antonio, Texas]].
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Three years later, when Lyndon decided to run for Congress from Austin's 10th district, Lady Bird provided the money to launch his campaign. She took $10,000 of her inheritance from her mother's estate to help start his political career.
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After several miscarriages, they had two daughters, [[Lynda Bird Johnson Robb|Lynda]] (born in 1944), whose husband [[Charles S. Robb]] went on to become governor of [[Virginia]] and a U.S. Senator, and [[Luci Baines Johnson|Luci]] (born in 1947), who married, firstly, [[Pat Nugent]] and, secondly, Ian Turpin.
  
 
==First Lady of the United States==
 
==First Lady of the United States==
[[Image:MrsJohnson.png|thumb|right|200px|Official White House portrait of Lady Bird Johnson, painted in 1968 by Elizabeth Shoumatoff.]]
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[[Image:MrsJohnson.png|thumb|right|150px|Official White House portrait of Lady Bird Johnson, painted in 1968 by [[Elizabeth Shoumatoff]].]]
[[Image:johnson-343.jpg|thumb|200px|'''The Lyndon Johnson State China Service''' features American wild flowers and was manufactured in the United States by Castleton China. Mrs. Johnson was involved in the selection of the flowers for the dinner and dessert plates.]]
 
  
As [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]], Johnson started a capital beautification project (''Society for a More Beautiful National Capital'') to improve physical conditions in [[Washington, D.C.]], both for residents and tourists.  Her efforts inspired similar programs throughout the country. She was also instrumental in promoting the Highway Beautification Act, which sought to beautify the nation's highway system by limiting [[billboard (advertising)|billboards]] and by planting roadside areas.
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Johnson's [[press secretary]] from 1963–1969 was [[Liz Carpenter]], a fellow University of Texas alumna. Carpenter was the first professional newswoman to be press secretary to a First Lady, and she also served as Lady Bird's staff director.
  
She was an advocate of the [[Head Start]] program.
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In 1970, ''A White House Diary,'' Lady Bird Johnson's intimate, behind-the-scenes account of Lyndon Johnson's presidency from November 22 1963 to January 20 1969, was published. Beginning with the tragic assassination of [[John F. Kennedy]], Mrs. Johnson recorded the momentous events of her times, including the [[Great Society]]'s [[War on Poverty]], the national [[civil rights]] and social protest movements, her own activism on behalf of the environment, and the [[Vietnam War]]. Long out of print, the paperback edition of ''A White House Diary'' will be available again through the University of Texas Press in Fall 2007.<ref>University of Texas, [http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/johwhp.html A White House Diary, By Lady Bird Johnson.] Retrieved July 19, 2007.</ref>
  
Johnson's [[press secretary]] from 1963-1969 was [[Liz Carpenter]], a fellow University of Texas alumna. Carpenter was the first professional newswoman to be press secretary to a first lady, and she also served as Lady Bird's staff director.
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She was acquainted with a long span of fellow First Ladies, from [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] to [[Laura Bush]], and was protected by the [[United States Secret Service]] for forty-four years, longer than anyone else in history.<ref>Claudia Feldman, [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4964938.html Secret Service agent will miss Lady Bird.] Retrieved July 19, 2007.</ref>
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[[Image:Lady Bird Johnson planting dogwood 1965.jpg|left|thumb|Lady Bird Johnson watches a dogwood tree being planted along [[Interstate 95]] in Virginia during her highway beautification tour in 1965.]]
  
 
==Later life==
 
==Later life==
In the 1970s, she focused her attention on the [[Austin, Texas]] riverfront area through her involvement in the Town Lake Beautification Project. On December 22 1982 (Lady Bird Johnson's 70th birthday) she and [[Helen Hayes]] founded the [[Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center|National Wildflower Research Center]], a nonprofit organization devoted to preserving and reintroducing native plants in planned landscapes, located east of Austin, Texas. The Center opened a new facility southwest of Austin on LeCross Avenue in 1994. It was officially renamed The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in 1998. On June 20 2006, The University of Texas at Austin announced plans to incorporate the 279 acre Wildflower Center into the University. <ref name="Office of Public Affairs">{{cite press release | publisher=University of Texas at Austin | date=June 20 2006 | url=http://www.utexas.edu/opa/news/2006/06/wildflower20.html | title=University of Texas System Regents authorize union of The University of Texas at Austin, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center | accessdate=2006-07-02}}</ref>
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After former President Johnson died in 1973, Lady Bird Johnson remained in the public eye, honoring her husband and other Presidents.
  
After President Johnson died in 1973, Lady Bird remained in the public eye, honoring her husband and other Presidents.  She was the most active presidential widow during the 1970s, 1980s and the early 1990s, and she was in attendance at the [[inauguration]] of [[President George W. Bush]] in January of 2001.
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In the 1970s, she focused her attention on the [[Austin, Texas|Austin]] riverfront area through her involvement in the Town Lake Beautification Project. From 1971 to 1978, Johnson served on the [[University of Texas System#Board of Regents|board of regents for the University of Texas System]].<ref>Daily Texan Online, [http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2007/07/12/TopStories/A.Former.First.Lady.Leaves.Us.Her.Legacy-2923280.shtml A former first lady leaves us her legacy.] Retrieved July 19, 2007.</ref>
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[[Image:Lady bird 1990.jpg|thumb|A portrait of Lady Bird Johnson in the Texas Hill Country.]]
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On December 22, 1982 (her 70th birthday), she and actress [[Helen Hayes]] founded the [[Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center|National Wildflower Research Center]], a nonprofit organization devoted to preserving and reintroducing native plants in planned landscapes, located east of Austin, Texas. The Center opened a new facility southwest of Austin on La Crosse Avenue in 1994. It was officially renamed The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in 1998. On June 20, 2006, The University of Texas at Austin announced plans to incorporate the 279 acre Wildflower Center into the University.<ref>University of Texas, [http://www.utexas.edu/opa/news/2006/06/wildflower20.html University of Texas System Regents authorize union of The University of Texas at Austin, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.] Retrieved July 19, 2007.</ref>
  
By 1993, however, Johnson's health began to fail. She suffered a minor stroke in August 1993, and became [[legally blind]] due to [[macular degeneration]]. Johnson was hospitalized for a fainting spell on November 11, 1999. On May 2, 2002, she suffered another [[stroke]], and was left unable to [[speak]] coherently or walk without assistance. In January of 2005, she spent a few days in an Austin hospital for treatment of [[bronchitis]].  
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For twenty years, Lady Bird Johnson spent her summers on the island of Martha's Vineyard, renting the home of [[Charles Guggeinheim]] for many of those years. She said she had greatly appreciated the island's natural beauty and flowers.
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On October 13, 2006, Johnson made a rare public appearance at the renovation announcement of the [[Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum]]. Sitting in a wheelchair and showing signs of recent health problems, Lady Bird seemed engaged and alert, and clapped along with those present at the ceremony.
  
In February 2006, Lynda Johnson Robb told a gathering at the Truman Library in [[Independence, Missouri]] that her mother is now totally blind and "is not in very good health." Mrs. Robb also said that she and her sister, Luci Johnson Nugent, still read to their mother and talk to her. <ref>http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13834818.htm</ref>
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==Health problems and death==
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In 1993, Johnson's health began to fail. In August 1993, she suffered a [[stroke]] and became [[legally blind]] due to [[macular degeneration]]. In 1999, she was hospitalized for a fainting spell, and in 2002, she suffered a second, more severe, stroke, which left her unable to speak coherently or walk without assistance. In 2005, she spent a few days in an Austin hospital for treatment of [[bronchitis]]. In February 2006, Lady Bird's daughter, Lynda Johnson Robb, told a gathering at the Truman Library in [[Independence, Missouri]], that her mother was now totally blind and was "not in very good health."<ref>Find Articles, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmtkc/is_200602/ai_n16075587 Recalling life in the mansion.] Retrieved July 19, 2007.</ref>  
  
At 94, Lady Bird Johnson is currently the oldest surviving First Lady of the United States. Only one former First Lady has lived longer: [[Bess Truman]] died at the age of 97 in 1982. Mrs. Johnson and Bess Truman are the only First Ladies of the United States to live to 90 or more. Should Lady Bird Johnson live to or beyond August 26, 2010, she will become the longest living First Lady of the United States. Mrs. Johnson has outlived one of her successors, [[Pat Nixon]], and has also outlived three of her husband's successors as president: [[Richard Nixon]], [[Gerald Ford]] and [[Ronald Reagan]]. Lady Bird Johnson has personally known every other First Lady from [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] through [[Laura Bush]].
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In June 2007, Johnson spent six days in Seton Hospital in Austin after suffering from a low-grade fever. At 4:18 p.m. ([[Central Time Zone (North America)|CDT]]) on July 11, 2007, she died at home of natural causes, surrounded by members of her family.
  
She was the only living presidential widow from May 19, 1994 to June 5, 2004 (some ten years), i.e. between the death of [[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis]] and the day when [[Nancy Reagan]] was widowed.
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=== Memorial services ===
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Johnson's family held a private mass at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center on July 13. The public was able to pay tribute as she lay in repose in the Great Hall of the [[Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum]] from the afternoon of July 13 to the morning of July 14. The library remained open all night as more than 12,000 mourners filed by her casket.
  
She has been protected by the [[United States Secret Service]] longer than anyone else in history.
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The funeral services took place at Riverbend Center in Austin on the afternoon of July 14. The service was by invitation only due to limited space at the venue. Those in attendance included First Lady [[Laura Bush]], former Presidents [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[Bill Clinton]], and former First Ladies [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]], [[Barbara Bush]], [[Nancy Reagan]], and [[Rosalynn Carter]]. Former First Lady [[Betty Ford]] was unable to attend the funeral service and was represented by her daughter [[Susan Ford]]. In addition, [[Caroline Kennedy]] and [[Tricia Nixon Cox]] represented their former first families.  
  
Poor health prevented Lady Bird Johnson from attending the state funerals of former U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan in 2004 and Gerald Ford in 2006. During both funerals, she was represented by her elder daughter, Lynda Bird Johnson Robb.
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At 9 a.m. on July 15, a ceremonial cortège left the [[Texas State Capitol]]. The public was invited to line the route through downtown Austin on [[Congress Avenue]] and along the shores of [[Town Lake]] to pay their respects. The public part of the funeral procession ended in [[Johnson City, Texas|Johnson City]]. The family had a private burial at the Johnson family cemetery in [[Stonewall, Texas|Stonewall]], where Johnson was laid to rest next to her husband.
  
Lady Bird Johnson, [[Betty Ford]], and Nancy Reagan are, [[as of 2007]], the only three surviving widows of former U.S. Presidents.
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==Legacy==
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Lady Bird Johnson was awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] by [[Gerald Ford]] on January 10, 1977. The citation for her medal read:
  
She was an honorary pallbearer for the funeral on May 29, 2006, of former [[Senator]] [[Lloyd Bentsen]] of Texas. It is unclear whether or not she actually attended the funeral.
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<blockquote>One of America's great First Ladies, she claimed her own place in the hearts and history of the American people. In councils of power or in homes of the poor, she made government human with her unique compassion and her grace, warmth and wisdom. Her leadership transformed the American landscape and preserved its natural beauty as a national treasure.</blockquote>
   
 
On September 13 2006, [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] news anchor Bill Balleza, when reporting on the death of [[Ann Richards]], said the former Texas governor's death had come as Texans were still mourning the "recent passing" of Lady Bird Johnson. Balleza was actually referring to [[Nellie Connally]], the former First Lady of Texas, who had passed away on September 6 2006. A clearly embarrassed Balleza apologized later in the broadcast. 
 
   
 
On October 13 2006, Lady Bird Johnson made a rare public appearance at the renovation announcement of the [[Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum|Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum]]. Sitting in a wheelchair and showing signs of recent health problems, Lady Bird seemed engaged and alert, and clapped along with those present at the ceremony.
 
  
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Johnson then received the [[Congressional Gold Medal]] on May 8, 1984.
  
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In addition to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, her name has been lent to the [[Lady Bird Johnson Park]] on [[Columbia Island (District of Columbia)|Columbia Island]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], which was founded as a result of her efforts as First Lady to beautify the capital.
  
==References==
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=== Remembrances of Lady Bird Johnson ===
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In the wake of Johnson's death, a number of politicians and dignitaries made public statements in remembrance of the former First Lady:
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* Former President [[Jimmy Carter]] and First Lady [[Rosalynn Carter]]: "Many people's lives are better today because she championed with enthusiasm civil rights and programs for children and the poor."
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* Former President [[George H. W. Bush]] and First Lady [[Barbara Bush]]: "Like all Americans, but especially those of us who call Texas home, we loved Lady Bird … She made the world beautiful in so many ways, and was beautiful to all of us who knew and loved her."
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* Former President [[Bill Clinton]] and Senator [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]]: "Lady Bird was a strong woman who inspired her daughters and other young women to develop and speak their minds."
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* President [[George W. Bush]] and First Lady [[Laura Bush]]: "Mrs. Johnson became First Lady on a fateful day in November 1963 and was a steady, gentle presence for a mourning Nation in the days that followed."
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* Former First Lady [[Betty Ford]]: "Her beautification programs benefited the entire nation. She translated her love for the land and the environment into a lifetime of achievement."
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* Former First Lady [[Nancy Reagan]]: "When our nation called upon Lyndon Johnson to take the oath of office in the face of tragedy he did so with his courageous wife beside him. As First Lady she represented our nation with honor and dignity."
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* Senator [[Ted Kennedy|Edward Kennedy]]: "Lady Bird Johnson was a wonderful first lady and one of the kindest and most caring and compassionate people I've ever met in politics. She was a great friend to the Kennedy family, in both good times and bad, and we cherished every moment we spent with her. May God bless her and her entire family."
  
==External links==
 
{{commons}}
 
*[http://www.pbs.org/ladybird/index.html Lady Bird Johnson: PBS Documentary]
 
*[http://www.wildflower.org/ Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center]
 
*[http://www.nndb.com/people/388/000022322/ NNDB profile]
 
*[http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Lady+Bird+Johnson+Grove Flickr.com image search "Lady Bird Johnson Grove"]
 
* http://www.inn-california.com/redwoods/Humboldt/Orick/ladybird1.html
 
  
==Notes==
 
<div class="references-small">
 
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[[Category:History and biography]]
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==Notes==
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<references />
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==References==
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* Gould, Lewis L. ''American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy''. New York: Garland Pub. 1996. ISBN 9780815314790
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*—. ''Lady Bird Johnson: Our Environmental First Lady. Modern First Ladies''. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1999. ISBN 9780700609925
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* Russell, Jan Jarboe. ''Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson''. New York: Scribner 1999. ISBN 9780684814803
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==External links==
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All links retrieved October 21, 2022.
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*[http://www.pbs.org/ladybird/index.html Lady Bird Johnson: PBS Documentary]
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*[http://www.wildflower.org/ Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center]
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*[http://www.nndb.com/people/388/000022322/ NNDB profile]
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[[Category:Biography]]
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[[Category:Politics and social sciences]]
 
[[Category:History of the United States]]
 
[[Category:History of the United States]]
[[Category:First Ladies of the United States]]
 
  
 
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Latest revision as of 22:46, 21 October 2022

Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson
Lady Bird Johnson, photo portrait, standing at rear of White House, color.jpg
Lady Bird Johnson at rear of White House
BornDecember 22 1912 (1912-12-22) (age 111)
Karnack, Texas, U.S.
OccupationFirst Lady of the United States
PredecessorJacqueline Bouvier Kennedy
SuccessorPat Nixon
Spouse(s)Lyndon B. Johnson
ChildrenLynda and Luci
RelativesThomas Jefferson Taylor and Minnie Pattillo

Claudia Alta (Lady Bird) Taylor Johnson (December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007) was the wife of President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout her life, she was an advocate for beautification of the nation's cities and highways and conservation of natural resources. The former First Lady was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

As First Lady, Johnson started a capital beautification project (Society for a More Beautiful National Capital) to improve physical conditions in Washington, D.C., both for residents and tourists. Her efforts inspired similar programs throughout the country. She was also instrumental in promoting the Highway Beautification Act, which sought to beautify the nation's highway system by limiting billboards and by planting roadside areas. She was also an advocate of the Head Start program.

Early life

The Brick House, Lady Bird Johnson's birthplace and childhood home in Karnack, Texas.

Claudia Alta Taylor was born in Karnack, Texas, a town in Harrison County, near the state's border with Louisiana. Her birthplace was "The Brick House," a former slave plantation mansion on the outskirts of town, which her father had purchased shortly before her birth. Her parents, both natives of Alabama, were of English and Scottish descent.

Though she was named for her mother's brother Claud,[1] during her infancy, her nursemaid, Alice Tittle,[2] commented, she was as "purty as a ladybird,"[3] and that nickname virtually replaced her given name for the rest of her life. Her father and siblings called her Lady,[4] though her husband called her Bird, which is the name she used on her marriage license. During her teenage years, her schoolmates called her Bird, though mockingly, since she reportedly was not fond of the name.

Her father was Thomas Jefferson Taylor (August 29, 1874 – October 22, 1960), a sharecropper's son who became a wealthy businessman and the owner of 15,000 acres of cotton and two general stores. "My father was a very strong character, to put it mildly," his daughter once said. "He lived by his own rules. It was a whole feudal way of life, really."

A portrait of Lady Bird Taylor at about age 3.

Her mother was the former Minnie Lee Pattillo (1874–1918), an opera lover who felt out of place in Karnack and who was often in "poor emotional and physical health." While pregnant, she died after falling down a flight of stairs when her daughter was five and died of complications after miscarrying. In a profile of Lady Bird Johnson, Time magazine described her mother as "a tall, eccentric woman from an old and aristocratic Alabama family, liked to wear long white dresses and heavy veils [… and who] scandalized people for miles around by entertaining Negroes in her home, and once even started to write a book about Negro religious practices, called Bio Baptism." Her unreconstructed husband, however, tended to see blacks as "hewers of wood and drawers of water," according to his younger son.

Lady Bird had two elder brothers, Thomas Jefferson Jr. (1901–1959) and Antonio, a.k.a. Tony (1904–1986). She also had two stepmothers, one whom her father divorced and Ruth Scroggins (who married Thomas Taylor in 1937).[5]

She was largely raised by her aunt, Effie Pattillo, who moved to Karnack after her sister's death, though Lady Bird visited her Pattillo relatives in Autauga County, Alabama, every summer until she was a young woman. As she explained, "Until I was about 20, summertime always meant Alabama to me. With Aunt Effie we would board the train in Marshall and ride to the part of the world that meant watermelon cuttings, picnics at the creek, and a lot of company every Sunday."[6] According to Lady Bird, her aunt Effie "opened my spirit to beauty, but she neglected to give me any insight into the practical matters a girl should know about, such as how to dress or choose one's friends or learning to dance."

Lady Bird was a shy quiet girl who spent much of her youth alone in the outdoors. "People always look back at it now and assume it was lonely," she once said about her childhood. "To me it definitely was not. [...] I spent a lot of time just walking and fishing and swimming."[7] She developed her lifelong love of the environment as a child growing up in the tall pines and bayous of East Texas and watching the wildflowers bloom each spring.[8]

When it came time to enter high school (her brothers, however, had attended boarding schools in New York),[9] Lady Bird moved away from home to live with another family during weekdays in the town of Jefferson, Texas,[10] there being no high school in the Karnack area. Eventually, she graduated third in her class at the age of 15, from Marshall Senior High School in nearby Marshall. Despite her young age, she drove herself to school in her own car, a distance of 15 miles each way, because, she said, "it was an awful chore for my daddy to delegate some person from his business to take me in and out."[11] During her senior year, when she realized that she had the highest grades in her class, she "purposely allowed her grades to slip" so that she would not have to give the valedictorian or salutatorian speech.

She studied journalism and art at St. Mary's Episcopal School for Girls, a junior college in Dallas, during which time she converted to Episcopalianism. She graduated with honors from the University of Texas with a Bachelor's degree in Arts in 1933 and a degree in Journalism in 1934—a time when women were hard pressed to have a career of their own, let alone a college education. Her goal was to become a reporter.

Marriage and family

Her goal of a career in media was deferred when a friend in Austin introduced her to Lyndon Baines Johnson, a young up-and-coming political hopeful.[12] On their first date, which was breakfast the next morning at the Driskill Hotel and a long drive in the country, Johnson proposed. Lady Bird did not want to rush into marriage, but Lyndon Johnson was persistent and did not want to wait. The couple married on November 17, 1934, at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in San Antonio, Texas.

Three years later, when Lyndon decided to run for Congress from Austin's 10th district, Lady Bird provided the money to launch his campaign. She took $10,000 of her inheritance from her mother's estate to help start his political career.

After several miscarriages, they had two daughters, Lynda (born in 1944), whose husband Charles S. Robb went on to become governor of Virginia and a U.S. Senator, and Luci (born in 1947), who married, firstly, Pat Nugent and, secondly, Ian Turpin.

First Lady of the United States

Official White House portrait of Lady Bird Johnson, painted in 1968 by Elizabeth Shoumatoff.

Johnson's press secretary from 1963–1969 was Liz Carpenter, a fellow University of Texas alumna. Carpenter was the first professional newswoman to be press secretary to a First Lady, and she also served as Lady Bird's staff director.

In 1970, A White House Diary, Lady Bird Johnson's intimate, behind-the-scenes account of Lyndon Johnson's presidency from November 22 1963 to January 20 1969, was published. Beginning with the tragic assassination of John F. Kennedy, Mrs. Johnson recorded the momentous events of her times, including the Great Society's War on Poverty, the national civil rights and social protest movements, her own activism on behalf of the environment, and the Vietnam War. Long out of print, the paperback edition of A White House Diary will be available again through the University of Texas Press in Fall 2007.[13]

She was acquainted with a long span of fellow First Ladies, from Eleanor Roosevelt to Laura Bush, and was protected by the United States Secret Service for forty-four years, longer than anyone else in history.[14]

Lady Bird Johnson watches a dogwood tree being planted along Interstate 95 in Virginia during her highway beautification tour in 1965.

Later life

After former President Johnson died in 1973, Lady Bird Johnson remained in the public eye, honoring her husband and other Presidents.

In the 1970s, she focused her attention on the Austin riverfront area through her involvement in the Town Lake Beautification Project. From 1971 to 1978, Johnson served on the board of regents for the University of Texas System.[15]

A portrait of Lady Bird Johnson in the Texas Hill Country.

On December 22, 1982 (her 70th birthday), she and actress Helen Hayes founded the National Wildflower Research Center, a nonprofit organization devoted to preserving and reintroducing native plants in planned landscapes, located east of Austin, Texas. The Center opened a new facility southwest of Austin on La Crosse Avenue in 1994. It was officially renamed The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in 1998. On June 20, 2006, The University of Texas at Austin announced plans to incorporate the 279 acre Wildflower Center into the University.[16]

For twenty years, Lady Bird Johnson spent her summers on the island of Martha's Vineyard, renting the home of Charles Guggeinheim for many of those years. She said she had greatly appreciated the island's natural beauty and flowers. On October 13, 2006, Johnson made a rare public appearance at the renovation announcement of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. Sitting in a wheelchair and showing signs of recent health problems, Lady Bird seemed engaged and alert, and clapped along with those present at the ceremony.

Health problems and death

In 1993, Johnson's health began to fail. In August 1993, she suffered a stroke and became legally blind due to macular degeneration. In 1999, she was hospitalized for a fainting spell, and in 2002, she suffered a second, more severe, stroke, which left her unable to speak coherently or walk without assistance. In 2005, she spent a few days in an Austin hospital for treatment of bronchitis. In February 2006, Lady Bird's daughter, Lynda Johnson Robb, told a gathering at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, that her mother was now totally blind and was "not in very good health."[17]

In June 2007, Johnson spent six days in Seton Hospital in Austin after suffering from a low-grade fever. At 4:18 p.m. (CDT) on July 11, 2007, she died at home of natural causes, surrounded by members of her family.

Memorial services

Johnson's family held a private mass at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center on July 13. The public was able to pay tribute as she lay in repose in the Great Hall of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum from the afternoon of July 13 to the morning of July 14. The library remained open all night as more than 12,000 mourners filed by her casket.

The funeral services took place at Riverbend Center in Austin on the afternoon of July 14. The service was by invitation only due to limited space at the venue. Those in attendance included First Lady Laura Bush, former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and former First Ladies Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan, and Rosalynn Carter. Former First Lady Betty Ford was unable to attend the funeral service and was represented by her daughter Susan Ford. In addition, Caroline Kennedy and Tricia Nixon Cox represented their former first families.

At 9 a.m. on July 15, a ceremonial cortège left the Texas State Capitol. The public was invited to line the route through downtown Austin on Congress Avenue and along the shores of Town Lake to pay their respects. The public part of the funeral procession ended in Johnson City. The family had a private burial at the Johnson family cemetery in Stonewall, where Johnson was laid to rest next to her husband.

Legacy

Lady Bird Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Gerald Ford on January 10, 1977. The citation for her medal read:

One of America's great First Ladies, she claimed her own place in the hearts and history of the American people. In councils of power or in homes of the poor, she made government human with her unique compassion and her grace, warmth and wisdom. Her leadership transformed the American landscape and preserved its natural beauty as a national treasure.

Johnson then received the Congressional Gold Medal on May 8, 1984.

In addition to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, her name has been lent to the Lady Bird Johnson Park on Columbia Island in Washington, D.C., which was founded as a result of her efforts as First Lady to beautify the capital.

Remembrances of Lady Bird Johnson

In the wake of Johnson's death, a number of politicians and dignitaries made public statements in remembrance of the former First Lady:

  • Former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter: "Many people's lives are better today because she championed with enthusiasm civil rights and programs for children and the poor."
  • Former President George H. W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush: "Like all Americans, but especially those of us who call Texas home, we loved Lady Bird … She made the world beautiful in so many ways, and was beautiful to all of us who knew and loved her."
  • Former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton: "Lady Bird was a strong woman who inspired her daughters and other young women to develop and speak their minds."
  • President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush: "Mrs. Johnson became First Lady on a fateful day in November 1963 and was a steady, gentle presence for a mourning Nation in the days that followed."
  • Former First Lady Betty Ford: "Her beautification programs benefited the entire nation. She translated her love for the land and the environment into a lifetime of achievement."
  • Former First Lady Nancy Reagan: "When our nation called upon Lyndon Johnson to take the oath of office in the face of tragedy he did so with his courageous wife beside him. As First Lady she represented our nation with honor and dignity."
  • Senator Edward Kennedy: "Lady Bird Johnson was a wonderful first lady and one of the kindest and most caring and compassionate people I've ever met in politics. She was a great friend to the Kennedy family, in both good times and bad, and we cherished every moment we spent with her. May God bless her and her entire family."


Preceded by:
Pat Nixon
Second Lady of the United States
1961-1963
Succeeded by:
Muriel Humphrey
Preceded by:
Jacqueline Kennedy
First Lady of the United States
1963-1969
Succeeded by:
Pat Nixon
Preceded by:
Variable (Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of foreign nations); next fixed is Condoleezza Rice
United States order of precedence
as of 2007
Succeeded by:
Betty Ford'


Notes

  1. Palm Beach Post, Vibrant spirit takes Lady Bird from a small town to UT. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  2. PBS, Lady Bird Johnson: Her Early Years. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  3. Lady Bird Johnson Tribute, Lady Bird Johnson: Final Tribute. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  4. Time, The First Lady Bird. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  5. University of Texas, The Handbook of Texas Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  6. Time, So Glad, So Glad. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  7. Henry Brandon, "A Talk With the First Lady," The New York Times, September 10, 1967
  8. Wilson, Janet. "East Texas wildflower." The Austin American-Statesman, July 13, 2007, p.2 (Lady Bird Johnson Commemorative Section).
  9. Henry Brandon, "A Talk With the First Lady," The New York Times, September 10, 1967.
  10. Statesman, Former first lady leaves rich legacy as political wife, environmental activist, businesswoman. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  11. Henry Brandon, "A Talk With the First Lady," The New York Times, September 10, 1967.
  12. Axcess News, Lady Bird Johnson, the First Lady a Nation Mourns. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  13. University of Texas, A White House Diary, By Lady Bird Johnson. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  14. Claudia Feldman, Secret Service agent will miss Lady Bird. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  15. Daily Texan Online, A former first lady leaves us her legacy. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  16. University of Texas, University of Texas System Regents authorize union of The University of Texas at Austin, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  17. Find Articles, Recalling life in the mansion. Retrieved July 19, 2007.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Gould, Lewis L. American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy. New York: Garland Pub. 1996. ISBN 9780815314790
  • —. Lady Bird Johnson: Our Environmental First Lady. Modern First Ladies. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1999. ISBN 9780700609925
  • Russell, Jan Jarboe. Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson. New York: Scribner 1999. ISBN 9780684814803

External links

All links retrieved October 21, 2022.

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