FORMER FIRST LADY LADY BIRD JOHNSON DIES AT 94
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Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson (December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007[1]) was the wife of former President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson, and was First Lady of the United States from November 1963 to January 1969. From infancy, she was 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, her family’s plantation. During her infancy, a nursemaid commented, “She’s as pretty as a ladybird”, and that nickname virtually replaced her given name for the rest of her life.
Her father was Thomas Jefferson Taylor (1874-1960), a wealthy businessman who owned a general store. Her mother, who died when the future First Lady was six years old, was Minnie Pattillo (1874-1918). She had two elder brothers, Thomas (1901-1959) and Antonio (a.k.a Tony, 1904-1986). After the children’s pregnant mother died at a hospital in Marshall, Texas, following a fall, no official death certificate was filed, an oversight that led to some suspicion regarding the actual cause of death.
Lady Bird Taylor and her siblings were largely raised by their aunt, Effie Pattillo. She 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.
Marriage and family
She was married to Lyndon Baines Johnson on November 17, 1934, at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in San Antonio, Texas. After several miscarriages, they had two daughters, Lynda (born 1944), wife of Charles S. Robb; and Luci, (born 1947), who married, first, Pat Nugent and, after a divorce, Ian Turpin.
She was known for her love of the environment, which she developed as a child growing up near Caddo Lake in East Texas. She greatly enjoyed wildflowers along Texas highways, which were encouraged by long-established state conservation policies.[2]
First Lady of the United States
Official White House portrait of Lady Bird Johnson, painted in 1968 by Elizabeth Shoumatoff.
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, 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 an advocate of the Head Start program.
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
Lady Bird Johnson watches a dogwood tree being planted along Interstate 95 in Virginia during her highway beautification tour in 1965.After President Johnson died in 1973, 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. On December 22, 1982 (her 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.[3]
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
Beginning in 1993, Johnson’s health began to fail. In August 1993, she suffered a stroke, leaving her 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”.[4] In June 2007, Johnson spent six days in an Austin hospital after suffering from a low-grade fever.[5] On the afternoon of July 11, 2007, she died at home of natural causes.
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