University of Texas Distinguished Alumni: Lady Bird Johnson
Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson was born December 22, 1912 in a two-story brick southern plantation mansion with a traditional balcony. The mansion is still standing today and is a registered national landmark in Karnack, Texas. Lady Bird Johnson attended St. Mary’s College for Girls boarding school in Dallas, Texas, and earned two bachelor’s degrees at the University of Texas at Austin: one for journalism and another for history. She also earned a teachers certificate at UT. She had a whirlwind courtship with Lyndon Baines Johnson that resulted in marriage three months later.
In 1961, Lady Bird Johnson became the nation’s Second Lady with LBJ’s ascendance to the vice presidency. She often substituted for the First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy with only a moment’s notice at scheduled events. Mrs. Johnson traveled extensively with the Vice President and continued to manage her business. She was an active fundraiser for heart disease prevention in the Washington community, and in 1962 she received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Washington Heart Association.
First Lady of the United States
Mrs. Johnson was in a car behind President Kennedy and his wife when the President was assassinated in November of 1963 in Dallas, Texas. She provided comfort to the widowed Mrs. Kennedy and recorded her thoughts of the tragic experience.
Lady Bird became First Lady at the age of 51. She continued projects identified projects begun by Jacqueline Kennedy, especially efforts on behalf of preserving White House history. By executive order, President Johnson established the Committee for the Preservation of the White House begun as an informal organization by Jacqueline Kennedy.
Beautification Projects
Lady Bird Johnson is perhaps most closely associated with her beautification projects. Her most famous legacy is the Highway Beautification Act, which limited the use of billboards and planted millions of trees and flowers along national highways. Lady Bird also encouraged the Job Corps to include landscaping. Lady Bird Johnson also created the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden and the Children’s Garden on the White House South Lawn. Mrs. Johnson’s Project Pride program went into low-income areas for cleaning, refurbishment and maintenance of city schools, the installation of recreation areas, tree plantings and conservation, and renovation of public buildings. More than a hundred projects resulted from Mrs. Johnson’s beautification efforts.
The accolades flowed in at the announcement of her passing. Former Lt. Gov. of Texas Ben Barnes gave Lady Bird Johnson this tribute: "First Lady Johnson epitomized all that was good and right in America. She encouraged the President and the Congress to beautify our highways and by-ways; she was one of the first ecologists that we knew, and she made us better as a people and a nation." Texas Congressman Chet Edwards said, "Lady Bird Johnson was a Texas treasure who blessed our state and nation with her legacy of decency, dignity and kindness." Senator Edward Kennedy said, "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."