Tuesday, April 18, 2017

LBJ Library and Ranch

March 26, 2017
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum
and His Ranch
Austin, TX




Phone booths the reporters used to phone in their stories.



LBJ signing the Civil Rights Act

He felt that the press would never say anything positive about him.



He seemed a bit of a comedian at times.

This is an etched in metal mural with him and the past presidents.  It spans the width of the building.






He took a leave of absence from Congress and served in WWII.


He meant it.


He was awarded the silver star, but he had trouble seeing how his actions warranted it.


His Archives


When he decided not to run in 1968, he hoped he had made a positive difference in peoples lives.

A meaningful quote from his inaugural address, January 20, 1965.

Sculptures on the outdoor terrace. FDR

LBJ

Ladybird's thoughts


The Vietnam War was his Achilles Heel and the main reason he did not seek reelection. 


Some of his history during the war.


The Cold War





His Legacy








The Great Society.








After the Kennedy Assassination



Conspiracy Theories, they persist.

1960 and on.



You could say he was a consummate politician, but it seems he had a conscience and that is lacking in much of today's politics.  After reading some of his letters and memos and such, I find him to have been a much more complex and thoughtful person than I believed him to be.

The Oval Office looked like this during his term in office.

Presidential Seal in the ceiling

He had phones everywhere.  This one in the coffee table

He liked to lean into people while talking, to emphasize a point.







A little about Lady Bird Johnson.  

I always wondered how she got that nickname and I never knew her "proper" name.  Alice Tittle was her nanny and said Claudia was as "pretty as a Lady Bird," the nickname stuck.


This is so true.

A model of the LBJ ranch house.

His favorite Boots.

His Limo

It sure was an eventful time.

LBJ's Birthplace.


Where he went to school.


Now, on to the ranch




This is a working ranch and the cattle roam freely.  This one decided not to roam and just stood in the middle of the one way road.  Donna tried to reason with him, but he didn't listen.  We ended up driving on the grass to get by.


Donna got up close and personal.


He needed to have many many phones.  I didn't take a picture of the green buildings.




He had a landing strip built in 1953, long before he became president.




This building once was the hangar for his plane, today it is the visitor center and gift shop.

He liked cars.




He had a sense of humor.




Not like today's ATVs



Even when he spent much of his time in Washington DC, this was his "home." 




This live oak tree is so old that it needs a cane.


Love this rocking chair.











These critters look pretty comfortable living here.



The Johnson Cemetery

The taller stones are Lady Bird and Lyndon's gravestones

"ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD"
The Curfew Tolls the Knell of Parting Day
The Lowing Herd Winds Slowly O'er the Lea
The Plowman Homeward Plods His Weary Way
And Leaves the World to Darkness and to me.

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