Difference between revisions of "Lady Bird Johnson" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
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==Marriage and family==
 
==Marriage and family==
Lady Bird met [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] while he was visiting Austin on business in the late summer of 1934. The began their long distance relationship with him in [[Washington D.C]] and her in [[Texas]] with telephone calls, telegrams, and letters. After just ten weeks of their first date, on November 16, 1934, Lyndon and Lady Bird were engaged.  They were married the next day on November 17 1934, at [[Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, San Antonio|Saint Mark's Episcopal Church]] in [[San Antonio, Texas]] and headed to Mexico for their honeymoon.  After several miscarriages, on March 19, 1944 Lady Bird had her first child,  [[Lynda Bird Johnson Robb|Lynda Bird]], who was named as a combination of both her parent's nicknames.  Once again on July 2, 1947, Lady Bird had a second girl, [[Luci Baines Johnson|Luci]].  In another attempt to have a son, she became pregnant for a final time only to lose the child in the first trimester.
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Lady Bird met [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] while he was visiting Austin on business in the late summer of 1934. They began their long distance relationship with him in [[Washington D.C]] and her in [[Texas]] by telephone calls, telegrams, and letters. After just ten weeks of their first date, on November 16, 1934, Lyndon and Lady Bird were engaged.  They were married the next day, at [[Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, San Antonio|Saint Mark's Episcopal Church]] in [[San Antonio, Texas]] and headed to Mexico for their honeymoon.  After several miscarriages, on March 19, 1944 Lady Bird gave birth to her first child,  [[Lynda Bird Johnson Robb|Lynda Bird]], who was named as a combination of both her parent's nicknames.  Once again on July 2, 1947, Lady Bird had a second girl, [[Luci Baines Johnson|Luci]].  In another attempt to have a son, she became pregnant for a final time only to lose the child in the first trimester.
  
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]].
 
  
 
==First Lady of the United States==
 
==First Lady of the United States==
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On the fateful day of November 22, 1963 when [[John F. Kennedy]] was assassinated, [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] became the 36th President and she became his [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]]. One of her first acts of [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]], she organized a train tour with the wives of southern congressmen of the southern states going through eight states in four days.  During this tour, she was faced with harsh criticism from Republican supporters opposed to the policies of her husband.  With this tour she was labeled as a fearless moral representative of her husband.  In the landslide election that followed in the fall, [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] had won the typical Republican southern states which was mostly attributed to Lady Bird's efforts.   
 
On the fateful day of November 22, 1963 when [[John F. Kennedy]] was assassinated, [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] became the 36th President and she became his [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]]. One of her first acts of [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]], she organized a train tour with the wives of southern congressmen of the southern states going through eight states in four days.  During this tour, she was faced with harsh criticism from Republican supporters opposed to the policies of her husband.  With this tour she was labeled as a fearless moral representative of her husband.  In the landslide election that followed in the fall, [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] had won the typical Republican southern states which was mostly attributed to Lady Bird's efforts.   
  
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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She is known for her love of the environment, which she developed as a child growing up near [[Caddo Lake]] in [[East Texas]]. In 1965, 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.  In doing so she planted 400 [[dogwood|dogwoods]] and hundred of flowers throughout the surrounding areas of the [[Potomac River]]. She was also instrumental in promoting the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, which sought to beautify the nation's highway system by limiting [[billboard (advertising)|billboards]] and by planting roadside areas.
  
She was an advocate of the [[Head Start]] program.
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She was an advocate of the [[Head Start]] program, which is a program to assist and advance social and cognitive development of children from low-income families.
  
 
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.
 
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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*[http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/cj36.html/ Claudia Taylor (Lady Bird) Johnson]
 
*[http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/cj36.html/ Claudia Taylor (Lady Bird) Johnson]
 
*[http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=37/ First Lady Biography: Lady Bird Johnson]
 
*[http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=37/ First Lady Biography: Lady Bird Johnson]
 +
*[http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb/about/index.htm/ Office of Head Start]
 +
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
 
<div class="references-small">
 
<div class="references-small">

Revision as of 17:39, 28 May 2007

Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson
Lady Bird Johnson, photo portrait, standing at rear of White House, color.jpg
BornDecember 22 1912 (1912-12-22) (age 111)
Karnack, Texas, USA
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 Taylor Johnson (born December 22 1912) is the widow 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.

Early life

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

Of English and 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 15,000 acres of cotton and two general stores and her mother 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 on September 4, 1918 when Lady Bird was just five. 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.

During her infancy, her African American nurse Alice Tittle commented, "She's as pretty as a ladybird," and the nickname, which she despised at first, virtually replaced her given name for the rest of her life.

Lady Bird Taylor graduated from Marshall Senior High School in Marshall, Texas and St. Mary's Episcopal School for Girls, where she excelled in the subject of classical literature. She received her bachelor's degree in art and stayed an extra year for a degree in journalism from the University of Texas. She planned to be a newspaper reporter after graduation, which ultimately changed when she met the then 26 years old Congressional aide, Lyndon B. Johnson.

Marriage and family

Lady Bird met Lyndon B. Johnson while he was visiting Austin on business in the late summer of 1934. They began their long distance relationship with him in Washington D.C and her in Texas by telephone calls, telegrams, and letters. After just ten weeks of their first date, on November 16, 1934, Lyndon and Lady Bird were engaged. They were married the next day, at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in San Antonio, Texas and headed to Mexico for their honeymoon. After several miscarriages, on March 19, 1944 Lady Bird gave birth to her first child, Lynda Bird, who was named as a combination of both her parent's nicknames. Once again on July 2, 1947, Lady Bird had a second girl, Luci. In another attempt to have a son, she became pregnant for a final time only to lose the child in the first trimester.


First Lady of the United States

Official White House portrait of Lady Bird Johnson, painted in 1968 by Elizabeth Shoumatoff.
File:Johnson-343.jpg
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.

On the fateful day of November 22, 1963 when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Lyndon B. Johnson became the 36th President and she became his First Lady. One of her first acts of First Lady, she organized a train tour with the wives of southern congressmen of the southern states going through eight states in four days. During this tour, she was faced with harsh criticism from Republican supporters opposed to the policies of her husband. With this tour she was labeled as a fearless moral representative of her husband. In the landslide election that followed in the fall, Lyndon B. Johnson had won the typical Republican southern states which was mostly attributed to Lady Bird's efforts.

She is known for her love of the environment, which she developed as a child growing up near Caddo Lake in East Texas. In 1965, 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. In doing so she planted 400 dogwoods and hundred of flowers throughout the surrounding areas of the Potomac River. She was also instrumental in promoting the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, which sought to beautify the nation's highway system by limiting billboards and by planting roadside areas.

She was an advocate of the Head Start program, which is a program to assist and advance social and cognitive development of children from low-income families.

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.

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 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. [1]

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.

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.

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. [2]

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.

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.

She has been protected by the United States Secret Service longer than anyone else in history.

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.

Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, and Nancy Reagan are, as of 2007, the only three surviving widows of former U.S. Presidents.

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.

On September 13 2006, 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 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.


References
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Notes

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'

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