Ok, so I'm behind. Like WAY behind. LBJ's birthday was almost two weeks ago (yikes!) and we are just now getting to celebrating. I knew I should have done it before we went on vacation, but since we were visiting Ben Harrison's house on our trip, I wanted his birthday to be the last we celebrated before we left. My options for LBJ was a super early, or kind of late celebration. And, while, I'm a procrastinator. I totally intended to do it last Thursday, but Asa was in the office, and we were between two of Madison's birthday celebrations, so it just didn't seem like a good fit.
So, sorry for the delay LBJ, but today we finally got to it. Happy belated birthday to our 36th President! (Oh, and excuse the formatting, I just copied and pasted a bunch of this from the story I wrote because I really want to get this blog done, but I didn't so much want to type it.)
Samuel and Rebekah Johnson were farmers and ranch owners in Stonewall, Texas. Samuel was elected to the Texas House of Representatives, but state government is not a lucrative career, and the Johnson's were pretty (and by pretty, I mean super) poor.
But, that didn't stop them from having a whole mess of kids. Their firstborn was Lyndon Baines Johnson who was born on August 27, 1908 . Then they had one more boy, and three girls.
Lyndon grew up under difficult circumstances. His parents were constantly worried the bank might take away their house. There was no money for food, and neighbors would bring over covered dishes just to make sure the Johnson children could eat. Lyndon did whatever he could to help financially and even as a kid picked up odd jobs. He shines shoes, and trapped animals for cash. (But, it wasn't all terrible he joined the debate club and played baseball too).
Even as a young, poor, awkward
boy in rural Texas, an extremely talkative Lyndon was telling his classmates in
grade school that he was going to be president someday. Pull just about any
president out of a hat and you’ll hear the same story: “I had no ambition to be
the president of the United States, but God (or ‘the people’) seemed to want me
to be president”, Washington created the mold by being the farmer who
reluctantly became a soldier, who reluctantly became a commander who
reluctantly became a politician, and every president since has followed in his
faux-humble footsteps. Except Lyndon Johnson.
As he grew up, he never stopped saying “I want to
be the president. Maybe all his talking about being president is what got him
elected student body president of his high school.
But the presidency was a
long way away for a poor boy living in Texas. He graduated high school when he
was 15, but instead of going off to college, he and some friends decided to
move out to California, where he performed odd jobs (like being an elevator
operator) just to survive. But, his trip out west was short-lived.
He returned to Texas, borrowing $75 so he could
enroll in college. Lyndon enrolled in Southwest Texas State Teachers College at
San Marcos (Today it's Texas State). He worked his way through school, participated in debate and campus
politics, and edited the school newspaper. But, he still didn’t have any money,
he picked up jobs as a janitor and as an office helper, but had to pause his
education when he could no longer pay for it.
He took a job teaching fifth, sixth, and seventh
grades at Welhausen School, a Mexican-American school in south Texas. He fixed
cars and picked grapes, anything he could do to earn some more money.
Eventually, he had enough to finish his schooling earning a bachelor’s degree
and began teaching public speaking classes at a high school.
His teaching career was short-lived though, and
by the time he was 22, he had moved to Washington D.C. to be a secretary for
Congressman in the House of Representatives. Lyndon held the job for over three
years and learned how the Congress worked. In 1933, he was elected speaker of
the "Little Congress," an organization of congressional workers, where
he cultivated Congressmen, newspapermen and lobbyists. He formed friendships
with the aids of the President (FDR) and the Vice President. (Ok, here's where you need to disregard my screw up. I thought the block that said Senate was actually the House. And nobody drew my attention to it until much later!)
While working as an aid, Lyndon was introduced to
Lady Bird. Born Claudia Alta Taylor, she inherited her name “Lady Bird” because
as a baby, her nurse commented that she was as "purty as a ladybird".
The nickname virtually replaced her actual first name for the rest of her life.
Her father and siblings called her Lady (though Lyndon called her Bird). Lady
Bird came from a wealthy family, unlike Lyndon. Her
father was a wealthy businessman and the owner of 15,000 acres of cotton and
two general stores.
She
was notably well-educated for a woman of her era, and had dreamed of a career
in media. But, when she met Lyndon in Austin, Texas she was like a moth to a
flame and when he asked her to breakfast the next morning, she accepted. By the end of the next day, Lyndon had asked Lady Bird to marry him. But she was all "dude, we just met!" But Lyndon knew how to lobby, and for the next ten weeks he lobbied Lady Bird to marry him.
Lyndon arrived at
Lady Bird's doorstep and made it clear it was now or never. Not wanting to lose him, she finally agreed. The next day, Lyndon bought Lady Bird a ring for $2.50 at the
local Sears store and with just two of their friends in attendance, the Johnson's were married.
Three years later,
Lyndon decided to run for a vacant seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Without money to fund his campaign, Lady Bird took her $10,000 inheritance to
fund the campaign.
Lyndon won, and the couple was off to Washington, D.C. (This is again where I totally thought he was on the "House of Representatives" block, so excuse my mistake!)
After the bombing of
Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 Johnson became the first member of Congress to
volunteer for active duty in the armed forces, reporting for active
duty two days after the attack.
But, his office was in good hands. Lady Bird ran it for him.
Fun story alert!: (Well, maybe not FUN, but interesting): LBJ was part of the
Naval Reserves and took part in just 1 bombing run in total. He was on board
the plane, ready to go, and suddenly had to use the bathroom.
Johnson ran off the plane, used the restroom, and then boarded another plane since the one he’d been on had already taken off. That fateful moment saved his life. The plane that he’d been on first crashed on the mission and all lives on board were lost.
President Roosevelt
ordered all members of Congress in the armed forces to return to their offices
8 months later, and Lyndon was released from active duty. He was awarded a
Silver Star for his service in WWII.
Everyone in the
Johnson family had the same initials—Lyndon Baines, Lady Bird, and their
daughters, Lynda Bird and Luci Baines. (Don't think for a moment that it was a
coincidence, either. They named the family dog Little Beagle Johnson---although they also went by the names Him and Her.)
In 1948 Lyndon set
his sights on the Senate. He won the election, but only by 87 votes earning the
sarcastic nickname "Landslide Lyndon", and allegations of voter fraud
are still debated to this day about the election.
But, it wasn't as if he were a terrible Senator. Lyndon served for the
next twelve years. He became the youngest Minority Leader in
Senate history, and then
Majority Leader. Lyndon had the brains (and the balls) to successfully navigate
to the top of the hill. But, he lacked any sort of sophistication.
He could count floor
votes better than anyone else and he’d spent night after night at his desk
lighting one cigarette after another, telephoning members of Congress to bully
his way for whatever bill was on deck. And
people listened to LBJ, even if he was being a bully. He knew all the other
Senators strengths and weaknesses keeping a file on each of them, and he would
play off of them as if he was playing a reality show game.
When they came into
his office, he’d pour them both drinks, his cocktail would be made
significantly weaker so he could more easily bend them to his will.
Lyndon was a smoker, and
a drinker, and ate every meal like it was a buffet, so it’s really no surprise that
at the age of 47, Lyndon suffered a severe heart attack which took him out of
work for five months.
But, those five months weren’t all bad. He spent
them on his ranch in Texas, which the Johnson’s could afford thanks to Lady
Bird. She had bought a radio station and then a TV station, which soon made
them millionaires. LBJ gave up smoking, and dialed back the drinking.
Even after his heart
attack, Lyndon worked tirelessly to promote himself, and agendas he backed,
including Civil Rights legislation and the American space program.
His ability to persuade politicians of both parties was legendary, making him a puppet master of sorts.
In 1960, Lyndon decided
it was finally time to run for president. He’d been claiming his whole life
that he was someday going to be “a great president”, and now was his chance to
prove it. But, in the Democratic primaries he was facing competition from John
F. Kennedy. LBJ in the end, just couldn't compete with JFK's charisma.
The election of 1960 is particularly interesting, because the three front runners (Nixon, JFK, and LBJ) would all end up holding the office of the presidency.
Obviously, we all know Kennedy won. But, it was pretty shocking when he chose LBJ for his Vice President. JFK and the
Democrats needed to carry Texas in the upcoming election to beat Richard Nixon, and LBJ on the ticket would ensure Texas went
blue. LBJ saw the position of Vice President as expanding his power base in the
Senate, and accepted.
When JFK defeated Nixon
and was inaugurated, LBJ was sworn in as Vice-President. But being
Vice-President wasn’t all he thought it would be. The Senate wasn’t under his
thumb like he thought it would be, and many members of the Kennedy White House,
including the president's brother and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy,
ridiculed Lyndon’s crude manner. ((President Kennedy,
however, made efforts to keep Johnson busy, informed, and at the White House
often, telling aides "I can't afford to have my vice president, who knows
every reporter in Washington, going around saying we're all screwed up, so
we're going to keep him happy."))
Then, the Kennedy's took a trip to Texas to kick off the 1964 campaign.
Then, you know.
Just over 2 hours after
JFK was assassinated, Lyndon Baines Johnson was sworn in as the 36th
President of the United States, standing beside Jacqueline Kennedy and Lady
Bird on Air Force One. He was sworn in by U.S. District Judge Sarah T. Hughes,
a family friend, making him the first president to be sworn in by a woman. In
the rush, a Bible was not at hand, so Johnson took the oath of office using a
Roman Catholic missal from President Kennedy's desk.
Johnson being sworn
in as president has become the most famous photo ever taken aboard a
presidential aircraft.
In the days following
the assassination, Lyndon B. Johnson made an address to Congress saying that he
would carry out JFK’s legislative agenda of civil rights and education
legislation. He also renamed the NASA Cape Canaveral launch facilities as the
John F. Kennedy Space Center. He also formed the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination.
Two weeks after JFK
was assassinated, Jackie, Caroline, and JFK Jr. moved out of the White House,
and the Johnson’s moved in. Lady Bird was the new first lady, and while she
wasn’t as popular as the fashionable Jaqueline Kennedy, she was much more
involved in her husband’s presidency. Lady Bird was her husband's most vital
political ally. In the early days of their marriage, he could boss her into
picking up his socks or shining his shoes, but by the time they moved into the
White House, he couldn't give a speech without consulting her first. She broke
new ground by interacting directly with Congress, employing her own press
secretary, and making a solo electioneering tour.
A lot changed at
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when the Johnson’s arrived. Gone were the days of elaborate,
sophisticated parties. Camelot was over. Instead, LBJ wore his cowboy boots
around, demanded canned peas and spare ribs for dinner, and installed a water
fountain that dispensed Fresca. LBJ had buttons installed on his desk for
Coffee, Tea, Coke, and more Fresca (he really loved Fresca).
One thing that didn’t
change in the White House was the infidelity of the president. When people told
stories about John F. Kennedy's great female conquests (and they often did), it
made LBJ furious. He'd pound his fists on the desk and scream, "Why, I had
more women on accident than he ever had on purpose!" And that may very
well have been true, LBJ brought a lot of pretty young things back from Texas
to work in the White House, even if they couldn't type. He even had a buzzer
installed in the Oval Office so that the Secret Service could warn him when his
wife was on her way, though he was often found hitting on women right in front
of his wife anyway.
LBJ also enjoyed a good
trip to his ranch in Texas, he spent so much time there (the equivalent of one out
of his five years as president) working from the “Texas White House”.At his ranch, he’d
invite friends down and take them for a joyride in his car. He'd drive down a
steep incline toward the lake, pretend to lose control, and then yell,
"The brakes don't work! We're going in! We're going under!" The car
would splash into the lake, and as everyone else was screaming, Johnson would
be doubled over laughing. Turns out, Johnson was the proud owner of an
Amphicar, the only amphibious passenger automobile ever mass-produced for
civilians.
For all his personal
flaws, LBJ did want to do good things for the country. He wanted his presidency
to usher in of a new way of life for America. He called it the Great Society
where everyone would be treated equally and have equal opportunity. He used his
popularity to pass legislation to help fight crime, protect the voting rights
of minorities, improve education, and conserve the environment. He also wanted
to take his experiences as a poor kid to prevent poverty. He called it a “war
on poverty”, because he loved the word ‘war’, and knew how to destroy his
enemies. He instituted Medicare and Medicaid.
But, perhaps the
greatest achievement of Johnson's presidency was the passage of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. This outlawed most forms of racial discrimination including
segregation in schools. He also signed the Voting Rights Act which allowed the
federal government to insure that the voting rights of all citizens regardless
of race were protected.
All of this made
Lyndon fairly popular, and in 1964 when he ran for re-election, LBJ finally
earned his nickname, though he possessed none of JFK’s eloquence or charisma.
Landslide Lyndon had won (in a landslide), with 61.1% of the popular vote. It
is the highest percentage of the popular vote ever won. (He also held the
electoral college record with 486, but that was broken by Ronald Reagan in 1980
with 489).
Lyndon, who had
always dreamed of being president, had finally been elected into the office,
and his ego grew even bigger. He was the one guy acutely aware of how seriously
cool it was to be president. He knew it was one to be taken seriously, and yada
yada yada, but he also knew it was pretty badass. Once when he was addressing
troops and was about to make his exit in a military helicopter, one of the members
of his staff asked which helicopter was his. He replied with “son, all these helicopters
are mine”. (LBJ loved riding in helicopters
so much that his desk chair in the Oval Office was actually a vinyl helicopter
seat—green with a built-in ashtray.)
He’d use those files full of Senator biographies to learn their fears, their desires, their wishes, and their wants, so he could then manipulate, persuade and dominate them. He would badger and yell and spit and mock, all while being just inches from someone’s face. It was about intimidation, and everyone was powerless against the Johnson treatment. He did a lot of other things too, like there's a rumor he peed ON a Secret Service Agent once. And he'd make people follow him into the bathroom and carry on conversations while he #2-ed just because he could. Just, gross creepy stuff. You can google it if you want more info. But be warned.
Whether it was is
bullying tactics, or the momentum form the landslide election, Lyndon flooded
Congress with legislation- more than 200 bills- to achieve economic and social
justice. His “War on poverty” now included such programs as the Job Corps for
inner-city youths, and a Head Start program for disadvantaged preschoolers.
Couple that with the programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and federal aids for school, and LBJ’S “Great Society” was one of the most extensive reform programs in American History (rivaling the New Deal).
LBJ continued to
fight for civil rights and appointed the first African American to the Supreme
Court, Thurgood Marshall. He also had the first African American cabinet
member. But, his presidency also saw the assassination of Malcom X and Martin
Luther King Jr. Both were a loss for the civil rights movement.
LBJ soon discovered
he could not pay for both the Great Society and the war in Vietnam. Though he
had inherited the long-standing American commitment to prevent a communist
takeover in South Vietnam, he was the one who escalated America’s role, and American's were not pleased. The Vietnam War
turned out to be the longest, most controversial, and least successful war in
U.S. history. It was also Johnson's downfall.
Vietnam’s impact
damaged Johnson’s political base severely and feeling there was no way he’d win
re-election (with an approval rating in the 30s) he declined to run in the 1968
presidential election. Instead, LBJ’s VP made a run at the office, but Hubert
Humphrey lost. Richard Nixon, a
Republican, became the 37th president.
After his final day in office, LBJ fired up a
cigarette on the Air Force One flight to his ranch in Texas. It was the first
he had smoked since his heart attack in 1955. For the next five years of his
life, he began drinking and smoking more heavily, and gained a considerable
amount of weight. He would drive around his ranch in his Lincoln convertible,
have a scotch and Fresca out of a Styrofoam cup and watch the antelope, the
deer, and the sunset. He’d come back to house, and Lady Bird would be waiting
with a platter of crackers, cheddar cheese cubes, and venison sausage on
toothpicks.
Then on January 22,
1973, (two days after Nixon’s second inauguration) LBJ placed a call to the
ranch's Secret Service compound complaining of "massive chest pains".
The agents rushed to the former President's bedroom, finding him unresponsive
with the phone receiver still in his hand. He was 64 years old.
His funeral was the
second state funeral within two months. President Harry Truman had died two
months earlier, making LBJ the only living former president. Lyndon was buried
in his family cemetery (which is still privately owned by the Johnson family,
who have requested that the public not enter the cemetery), a few yards from
the house in which he was born. Lady Bird died 34 years later on July 11, 2007
and was buried next to her husband. (Lynda and Luci are still living-- and Lynda holds the record as the oldest living child of a president!).
BJ wanted to be
remembered as the greatest president who ever lived. With that grand ambition
in mind (and an ego to match), he launched such sweeping social programs as
Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, public radio, public television, and food
stamps. Regardless, Johnson will probably be best remembered for his blinding
arrogance, and what many would point to as the result of it—the Vietnam War. He
is usually placed between 12-15 in presidential rankings.
We added all our props to the Texas map.
His famous quote. (Which despite how much I despise LBJ's personality, I really rather enjoy!)
Some fun facts...
His biggest presidential issues..
We did our owl mail this morning.
And watched our president in 60 seconds.
We made our birthday cards too.
I had all kinds of different art projects for the boys to chose from, all using their initials.
They all ended up choosing the same one though.
We taped off our initials on watercolor paper...
And the boys painted the page with watercolors.
We let them dry..
...and then pulled off the tape.
They were all pretty cool (But I enjoyed Hayden's colors the most)
LBJ was a fan of Lemon Bars, but we decided to take a little help from the store.
Plus you know, Fresca.
LBJ was a big fan of BBQ and canned peas, so that was super easy for dinner. (Asa made BBQ burgers and french fries, my favorite!) Plus, in a nod to one of his odd jobs we had grapes.
We even drank our Fresca out of Styrofoam cups like LBJ!
And we decided to eat outside because 1. it's not SUPER hot anymore 2. We just got a new umbrella for the table and 3. LBJ liked to be outside at his ranch.
Oh, and our historical hashtag!
The August board is FINALLY done! YAYYY!
Which means it's time to take down August...
..and put up September. Just the one!
That's it, I'm all caught up! Whooooohoooo! Now I have six days to learn all about President Taft.
Next Up: You guys, FOOTBALL IS ALMOST BACK!
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