Carol
07-11-2007, 09:32 PM
Lady Bird Johnson, former first lady, dies
By Jeff Franks
Lady Bird Johnson, who quietly served as one of the most trusted advisers to her husband President Lyndon Johnson, died of natural causes on Wednesday at the age of 94, family spokeswoman Elizabeth Christian said.
The former first lady died at her Austin, Texas, home with friends and family around her, Christian said.
During their White House years Lady Bird campaigned for her Democratic husband's civil rights, environmental and war-on-poverty policies and also zealously pushed her own pet cause -- beautifying America.
President George W. Bush said Americans "will always remember her with affection" and paid tribute to her strength in the days after President John Kennedy's assassination, which led to her becoming first lady.
She "was a steady, gentle presence for a mourning nation in the days that followed," he said in a statement.
Lady Bird was at Johnson's side as he came under fire for escalating the Vietnam War and fully supported his surprising decision not to seek re-election as president in 1968.
A PBS documentary said she had long feared the stress of the presidency would kill her husband and that she insisted his speech announcing his plans include the definitive phrase "I shall not seek and I will not accept" his party's nomination.
She was often the target of anti-war hecklers herself but of her years in the White House, Lady Bird recalled: "A lot of it was desperately painful but on balance, I loved it."
The former first lady on Friday will "lie in repose" at the LBJ Library and Museum in Austin, Texas, where the public is invited to pay respects, her family said. A private funeral on Saturday in Austin will be followed on Sunday by private burial at the Johnson family cemetery in Stonewall, Texas.
CHILDHOOD NICKNAME
Claudia Alta Taylor was born in Karnack, Texas, near the Louisiana border, on December 22, 1912. She was 2 years old when she was given her nickname by a maid who described her as "purty as a lady bird."
She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1934 with bachelor of arts and bachelor of journalism degrees, and met Johnson, then a congressional aide, the same year.
On their first date he asked her to marry him, and although she thought at first his proposal was a joke, they were married two months later in November 1934.
Johnson was elected to the House of Representatives in 1937, and 11 years later won a Senate seat by a mere 87 votes.
In 1960, he was elected vice president on the ticket with Kennedy and succeeded to the presidency three years later when Kennedy was killed by a sniper in Dallas. The Johnsons were two cars behind Kennedy in a motorcade when he was shot.
Sen. Edward Kennedy on Wednesday said Lady Bird "was a great friend to the Kennedy family, in both good times and bad, and we cherished every moment we spent with her."
Former first lady Nancy Reagan said in a statement on Wednesday: "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."
Johnson was elected to a full term in his own right in 1964 and often privately turned to Lady Bird for advice and consolation during tough political times.
Lady Bird, a nature lover, successfully lobbied for the Highway Beautification Act which encouraged wildflower planting on public land and regulation of highway billboards.
SHUNS POLITICS
After Johnson died of a heart attack in 1973, Lady Bird shunned active party politics.
In 1988 she received the Congressional Gold Medal for her environmental and humanitarian work, becoming the first wife of a president to do so.
Despite a 2002 stroke that affected her mobility and speech, she remained active in running a family business that operated radio and television stations in Austin for 60 years until 2003.
The Johnsons had two daughters, Lynda Bird, who is married to Charles Robb, the former Virginia senator and governor, and Lucy Baines, who is married to Ian Turpin. She had seven grandchildren -- six girls and one boy.
By Jeff Franks
Lady Bird Johnson, who quietly served as one of the most trusted advisers to her husband President Lyndon Johnson, died of natural causes on Wednesday at the age of 94, family spokeswoman Elizabeth Christian said.
The former first lady died at her Austin, Texas, home with friends and family around her, Christian said.
During their White House years Lady Bird campaigned for her Democratic husband's civil rights, environmental and war-on-poverty policies and also zealously pushed her own pet cause -- beautifying America.
President George W. Bush said Americans "will always remember her with affection" and paid tribute to her strength in the days after President John Kennedy's assassination, which led to her becoming first lady.
She "was a steady, gentle presence for a mourning nation in the days that followed," he said in a statement.
Lady Bird was at Johnson's side as he came under fire for escalating the Vietnam War and fully supported his surprising decision not to seek re-election as president in 1968.
A PBS documentary said she had long feared the stress of the presidency would kill her husband and that she insisted his speech announcing his plans include the definitive phrase "I shall not seek and I will not accept" his party's nomination.
She was often the target of anti-war hecklers herself but of her years in the White House, Lady Bird recalled: "A lot of it was desperately painful but on balance, I loved it."
The former first lady on Friday will "lie in repose" at the LBJ Library and Museum in Austin, Texas, where the public is invited to pay respects, her family said. A private funeral on Saturday in Austin will be followed on Sunday by private burial at the Johnson family cemetery in Stonewall, Texas.
CHILDHOOD NICKNAME
Claudia Alta Taylor was born in Karnack, Texas, near the Louisiana border, on December 22, 1912. She was 2 years old when she was given her nickname by a maid who described her as "purty as a lady bird."
She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1934 with bachelor of arts and bachelor of journalism degrees, and met Johnson, then a congressional aide, the same year.
On their first date he asked her to marry him, and although she thought at first his proposal was a joke, they were married two months later in November 1934.
Johnson was elected to the House of Representatives in 1937, and 11 years later won a Senate seat by a mere 87 votes.
In 1960, he was elected vice president on the ticket with Kennedy and succeeded to the presidency three years later when Kennedy was killed by a sniper in Dallas. The Johnsons were two cars behind Kennedy in a motorcade when he was shot.
Sen. Edward Kennedy on Wednesday said Lady Bird "was a great friend to the Kennedy family, in both good times and bad, and we cherished every moment we spent with her."
Former first lady Nancy Reagan said in a statement on Wednesday: "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."
Johnson was elected to a full term in his own right in 1964 and often privately turned to Lady Bird for advice and consolation during tough political times.
Lady Bird, a nature lover, successfully lobbied for the Highway Beautification Act which encouraged wildflower planting on public land and regulation of highway billboards.
SHUNS POLITICS
After Johnson died of a heart attack in 1973, Lady Bird shunned active party politics.
In 1988 she received the Congressional Gold Medal for her environmental and humanitarian work, becoming the first wife of a president to do so.
Despite a 2002 stroke that affected her mobility and speech, she remained active in running a family business that operated radio and television stations in Austin for 60 years until 2003.
The Johnsons had two daughters, Lynda Bird, who is married to Charles Robb, the former Virginia senator and governor, and Lucy Baines, who is married to Ian Turpin. She had seven grandchildren -- six girls and one boy.