Sunday, April 24, 2022

Austin, Texas

 Austin, Texas     April 16-25, 2022


Our first morning in Austin a cardinal family greeted us.


Gus was a treat to play with during the day.


Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library

One morning we drove into Austin to visit the LBJ Library.





This life size statue of Johnson shows how  large he was. Johnson often used his size to intimidate his colleagues and lobbyers, leaning over them, to get something accomplished.


LBJ stated, "Our mission is at once the oldest and the most basic of this country: to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man." (March 15, 1965)


Larry always enjoys looking over the presidential limos. This particular limousine was ordered by LBJ after he left the presidency. The Secret Service wanted it equipped with a television, a radio, a telephone and other security features. It weighed 5,100 pounds. It was not armored, bulletproof, or bomb-proof as a presidential limo would be.

1908      Lyndon Baines Johnson was born near Stonewall, Texas on August 27 in a home with 
no electricity, no running water, no radio or tv.

October 1, 1908    Henry Ford introduces the Model T.

1909                      NAACP was founded in the United States
.
1912                      The Titanic sank
1912                      Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor was born in Karnack, Texas on December 22.


Early in life Claudia Alta Taylor was given the nickname "Lady Bird". The origin of the name is not entirely certain. The most widely told story is that Alice Tittle, the Taylor family's nanny described young Claudia as "pretty as a lady bird". Another version is that Lady Bird's childhood friends gave her the unique nickname. Either way the name stuck.

Young Lady Bird was born and grew up on a stately antebellum plantation known as Brick House.

Her father ran two general stores and a cotton gin business. Her mother  loved opera, books about classical mythology, and supporting women's suffrage. Her mother died from a fall down the Brick House stairs while pregnant when Lady Bird was five years old.

1914     The Panama Canal opened.

1920     The 19th Amendment of the US Constitution takes effect,  granting women the right to vote.

1922      LBJ graduated from Johnson City High School.

1927      Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

1927    LBJ enters Southwest Texas State Teachers College (now Texas State University in San Marcos.


1929     The Stock Market crashes leading to the Great Depression in the 1930s.

1930     Lady Bird Taylor graduated from St. Mary's Episcopal School in Dallas.

1930     LBJ graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers College and attains a teaching position.


LBJ's first class of students.

1931     Herbert Hoover signs an act officially making "The Star Spangled Banner" the national anthem.

1931     The Empire State Building opens. (then the tallest building in the world)

1931      LBJ accepts a position as secretary to Congressman Richard Kleberg.

1932      Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected into his first of four terms as president. He brought about a                program called the New Deal to bring government assistance to the American people suffering                from the Great Depression.

1934      Lady Bird Taylor graduates from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism
              after receiving a history degree in 1933.


A good friend introduced her to LBJ who was then an administrative aid to 
US Congressman Richard Kleberg. On their first date they met for breakfast at the Driskill Hotel and spent the rest of the day driving around Texas Hill Country. At the end of the day LBJ proposed. Lady Bird was not interested into rushing into a marriage so LBJ returned to Washington,  DC but persistently called and wrote her letters.
On their next date they drove into Austin, where he proposed again. This time she agreed to marry him the same day. They drove to San Antonio where they married at 8:00 that evening, November 17, 1934. The wedding  ring was purchased from Sears and Roebuck department store across the street from the hotel. They honeymooned in Mexico exploring the ruins and floating gardens of Xchocimilco.


LBJ's mother hand stitched and framed this heartfelt wedding gift.

1933     Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.

1935     LBJ becomes Texas Director of the National Youth Administration.

1937     LBJ is elected as US Representative for the 10th Congressional District of Texas.

1939     World War II begins in Europe.

1941     In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Representative LBJ is the first member of Congress                 to volunteer  for active duty in the US Navy. Lady Bird ran his legislative office in his absence               as an unpaid substitute.

1943   Lady Bird purchased KTBC, a small Austin radio station turning it into a profitable venture 
that eventually expanded into television.

1944     Allied forces invade France on D-Day.

1945     Atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Japan surrenders eight days later.


LBJ received a silver star for gallantry during  an aerial mission in the South Pacific.

In 1944 their first daughter, Lynda Bird was born. In 1947 their second daughter Luci Baines was born.
It is interesting to note that the Johnson family all shared the same initials...LBJ.

1945     Fifty-one countries sign the charter that creates the United Nations.

1949     The Soviet Union detonates an atomic bomb, beginning the arms race with the United States.

1950      The Korean War begins.

1952      The The Polio Vaccine is developed by Jonas Salk.


1953      LBJ is elected Minority Leader of the Senate.

1955      LBJ is elected the Majority Leader of the Senate, at the age of 46, the youngest in US history.
              He also suffers a near fatal heart attack.

1955     Rosa Parks refuses to give her sear to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.                     Her  arrest leads to the Montgomery  Bus Boycott




1957     The surgeon General warns that cigarettes cause disease. LBJ is an avid smoker.

1957      As the Senate Majority Leader, LBJ guides the Civil Rights Movement through the Senate.                      President Eisenhower signs the legislation into law.

1957      The Soviet Union launches the first satellite, Sputnik.

1960      LBJ is nominated for Vice President at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles,                  California.


1960      John F Kennedy is elected the 35th President with LBJ as the Vice President.


Lady Bird Johnson's 1960 inaugural gown.


1961     Construction begins on the Berlin Wall.

1961     LBJ becomes chairman of the Space Council and advised President Kennedy  that a manned                   mission to the Moon is feasible.

1962     John Glenn circles the Earth.


1963     Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in                         Washington, DC.


1963     LBJ becomes the 36th President after  John F. Kennedy is assassinated. He is sworn in aboard                 Air Force One. 




1964     LBJ signs the Economic Opportunity Act as a step toward fighting the "War on Poverty" .
The whole family went on the campaign trail.










1964     LBJ is elected President of the United States with Hubert Humphrey as the Vice President.

Other  gowns that Lady Bird Johnson wore during LBJ's administration.



1965    Civil Rights marchers seeking the right to register to vote are attacked by law enforcement                      officers on "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Alabama.


1965     LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

1965     LBJ signed the Social Security Amendments of 1965 creating Medicare and Medicaid.




1965     LBJ signed the Immigration  and Nationality Act of 1965.




1965     LBJ signed the act creating the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (HUD)

1965     LBJ signed the Highway Beautification Act.


1965     LBJ signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Higher Education Act.

1966     LBJ signed the Freedom of Information Act.

1966     LBJ signed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act as well as the Highway Safety                   Act.

1967     LBJ appoints Thurgood Marshall to the US Supreme Court making him the first African                         American Supreme Court Justice.



1967     Dr. Christian Barnard performs the first heart transplant in the world in South Africa.

1967      LBJ signed Public Broadcasting Act, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,                      which supports PBS and NPR.

1968      LBJ announces the curtailment of bombing in North Vietnam as well as declines to seek                          another term as president.
1968     Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

1968     Robert F Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles following a victory as the California                         Presidential Candidate.

1968     LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which includes provisions for fair housing.

1968     LBJ signed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and three other bills protecting the environment.

1968     LBJ signed the Gun Control Act regulating the fire arm industry and gun owners.

1968     LBJ ordered a halt to all bombing  of North Vietnam.

1968     Nixon was elected the 37th President of the United States, defeating Hubert Humphrey.


1969     LBJ leaves office.

"I hope it may be say, a hundred years from now, that by working together we helped to make our country more just, more just for all of its people....as well as to insure and guarantee the blessings of  liberty for all of our posterity. That is what I hope, but I believe that at least it will be said that we tried."

                                                            Lyndon Johnson, 1969

LBJ and Lady Bird spent the rest of their lives on their ranch in Texas.

1969     Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong steps onto the moon.

1969     The first electronic message travels between two computers on ARPAnet, an ancestor of the                   Internet.


1979      LBJ died at the LBJ Ranch at the age of 64.

2007     Lady Bird Johnson dies at the age of 94. She was the first presidential wife to become a                           millionaire with her own radio and television business. Today, the legacy of Lady Bird Johnson               is in full bloom. From the cherry blossoms that brighten the banks of the Potomac in                               Washington, DC to the Head Start programs that continue to nurture future generations.



Today, the President of the United States occupies the most powerful office in the world. But the job has always come with immense pressures and responsibilities. All Presidents endure withering  criticism from their political opponents and the news media.





An incredible  display of president portraits and their wives was at the end the LBJ Library.

 The First Lady is neither elected , appointed, nor paid, but she holds a position of great influence. Over the decades, the roles of First Ladies have included wife, hostess, diplomat, social activist, champion of arts and the President's closest advisor, among many others. The First Lady can choose a cause to support and accomplish great things. But she comes in for the same fierce criticism as the President. She is rarely  out of the pubic spotlight.

LBJ and Lady Bird are both buried in the family plot at their ranch.

Larry and I enjoyed our second visit to the LBJ Library.







Friday night Larry and I went downtown Austin to the Billy Strings Concert.


One of the two buses that Billy Strings uses.

It was a really nice venue.


Billy led his band starting with a bluegrass tune that led into a jam grass sound and then back to bluegrass. He had the crowd standing the whole time!


We enjoyed having lunch with Zach Davis.

He met us at one of the many food truck areas that Austin is known for.
We enjoyed Mexican Burritos.



Upon returning home  we laughed at Gus having a staring contest with the local squirrel.


We are going to miss this loveable pooch when we leave tomorrow.








Next stop...College Station, Texas; home of Texas A and M.



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