Lady Bird Johnson

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Lady Bird Johnson (1967)

Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson , née Taylor (born December 22, 1912 in Karnack , Texas , † July 11, 2007 in Austin , Texas) was the wife of the 36th US President Lyndon B. Johnson and from November 22, 1963 U.S. First Lady until January 20, 1969 . She received her nickname "Lady Bird" (English for ladybird ) when she was a child.

Childhood and youth

Claudia Johnson was the youngest daughter of Thomas Jefferson Taylor (TJ, 1874-1960) and his wife Minnie Lee Patillo (1874-1918). She had two older brothers, Thomas (1901–1959) and Antonio (Tony, 1904–1986). Her nickname "Lady Bird" comes from her infancy. A nanny said of her that she was as pretty as a ladybug ( English lady bird ). This nickname was later used in official matters with her consent.

Her mother fell down a flight of stairs, pregnant again, and died on September 4, 1918 as a result of a miscarriage.

Lady Bird graduated from Marshall Senior High School in Marshall and studied journalism and arts at St. Mary's Episcopal School for Girls and the University of Texas at Austin .

marriage

Lady Bird Johnson and her husband Lyndon B. Johnson at an event at the White House in 1968

On November 17, 1934, she married Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973) at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in San Antonio , Texas. The marriage resulted in two daughters: Lynda Bird Johnson (born March 19, 1944, wife of Chuck Robb ) and Luci Baines Johnson (born July 2, 1947, wife of Pat Nugent and Ian Turpin).

Entrepreneur

In 1943, Lady Bird Johnson bought the small radio station KTBC in Austin with funds from her inheritance and expanded it into a radio and television station empire . KTBC had made losses for years because the Federal Communications Commission's broadcast license allowed only an unfavorable frequency and limited airtime. Several requests for more favorable terms have been rejected over the years.

Johnson's husband Lyndon B. Johnson, who operated media politics in Washington among other things and was in close contact with the chairman of the FCC, Clifford Durr, contacted the responsible FCC staff and managed to set airtime to 24 hours within a month of the purchase was expanded daily. In addition, the station received a new frequency in a frequency band with no direct neighbors, so that the small local station could now be heard in 38 neighboring counties and thus charge significantly higher advertising prices. In 1945 KTBC was finally allowed a five times higher transmission power , so that now 63 counties were in the reception area. Lyndon B. Johnson also ensured that the previously independent broadcaster was included in the Columbia Broadcasting System network, so that the attractive, national programming of this provider was available to him. Lyndon Johnson used his influence in Washington regularly for the benefit of companies in his home country that featured extensive advertising on his wife's channels.

In the first year under Johnson's leadership, the station broke even and in the following 20 years Johnson bought several more radio stations from the proceeds and got into the television business in 1952. It held shares in two television stations and one television cable provider . In addition, she acquired a bank, three large farms and various properties, which over the years were brought together and managed under the umbrella of LBJ Holding Co.

First Lady of the United States

Lady Bird Johnson financed her husband's presidential campaign in 1960 and 1964 from her vast fortune. In the fall of 1964 she went on an extensive tour of the USA, where she campaigned for her husband to be re-elected . She was interested in protecting the environment as a child when she grew up near Caddo Lake in East Texas . As a US first lady, she made a name for herself as an environmentalist . She initiated many new environmental protection programs.

Lady Bird embarked on a major project to beautify Washington, DC (Society for a More Beautiful National Capital) to increase the wellbeing of residents and visitors to the city.

She defended the Head Start program (promoting lower-class children).

Your press spokeswoman was from 1963 to 1969 Liz Carpenter , also a former student at the University of Texas at Austin. Carpenter was the first female journalist to work for a first lady. She also served as Johnson's chief human resources officer.

Next life

Lady Bird Johnson and her daughter Lynda Johnson Robb were greeted by Laura Bush on their October 2005 visit to the White House

After moving out of the White House, she and her husband retired to his ranch . After Lyndon Johnson's death in January 1973, Lady Bird continued to live on the ranch until her death. From the 1970s onwards, she focused her attention on Austin, Texas. She founded the National Wildflower Research Center, a national, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and reintroduction of native plants in projected landscapes. This center is now known as the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. On June 20, 2006, the University of Texas at Austin announced a plan to incorporate the Wildflower Center into the university.

In 1977, she received the Medal of Freedom ( "The Presidential Medal of Freedom"), the highest civilian honor in the United States.

At the age of 92 she became the oldest living first lady in the United States, also surviving Pat Nixon . Bess Truman , Nancy Reagan , Barbara Bush , Rosalynn Carter and Betty Ford were the only first ladies with Lady Bird Johnson who lived to be over 90 years old.

In the 1990s, Lady Bird Johnson's health deteriorated. In August 1993, she suffered a stroke, which caused her eyesight to deteriorate. She was hospitalized twice, the first time on November 11, 1999 and the second time in January 2005. On May 2, 2002, she suffered her second stroke, after which she could not speak or walk for a while.

In 2005 she withdrew from the public because she did not want to endanger her health any further. In February of that year, her daughter Lynda told the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri , that her mother was now completely blind and not particularly healthy. Lynda also said that she and her sister Luci would still read to their mother and talk to her.

Lady Bird Johnson died in Austin, Texas on July 11, 2007 at the age of 94. She was buried next to her husband's grave on the LBJ Ranch near Stonewall . Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and their families appeared at her funeral .

Lady Bird Johnson was protected by the United States Secret Service for over 44 years, longer than anyone in history.

Worth mentioning

Two parks were named after Lady Bird Johnson: Lady Bird Johnson Park in Washington DC and Lady Bird Johnson Grove in Redwood National Park .

Lady Bird Johnson was a supporter of the University of Texas Sports Department; In 2005 alone, it made the largest donation of football tickets and the third largest donation of baseball tickets.

literature

  • Betty Boyd Caroli: First Ladies: The Ever Changing Role, from Martha Washington to Melania Trump. 5th updated edition. Oxford University Press, New York 2019, ISBN 978-0-19-066913-3 , pp. 224-260 (= The Turbulent Sixties ).
  • Lisa M. Burns: Lady Bird Johnson. In Katherine AS Sibley (Ed.): A Companion to First Ladies. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester 2016, ISBN 978-1-118-73222-9 , pp. 517-534.
  • Catherine Allgor: James and Dolley Madison and the Quest for Unity. In Katherine AS Sibley (Ed.): A Companion to First Ladies. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester 2016, ISBN 978-1-118-73222-9 , pp. 59-74.
  • Jan Jarboe Russell: Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson. Scribner Book, New York 2016, ISBN 978-1-5011-5288-7 .
  • Claudia Johnson , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 01/2008 from January 1, 2008, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
  • David Murphy: Texas Bluebonnet. Lady Bird Johnson . Nova Science Publishers, 2005, ISBN 1-59454-556-1 .
  • Jan Jarboe Russell: Lady Bird. A Biography of Mrs. Johnson . Taylor Trade Publishing, 2004, ISBN 1-58979-097-9 .
  • Lewis L. Gould: Lady Bird Johnson: Our Environmental First Lady. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence 1999, ISBN 978-0-7006-0992-5 .
  • Carl Sferrazza Anthony: First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents' Wives and Their Power. Volume 2, 1961-1990. William Morrow, New York 1991, ISBN 978-0-6880-7704-4 .

Web links

Commons : Lady Bird Johnson  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Remarks

  1. ↑ New York Times: Lady Bird Johnson, 94, Dies; Eased a Path to Power , July 12, 2007
  2. ↑ a b c Jack Shafter: The Honest Graft of Lady Bird Johnson . In: Slate , July 16, 2007
  3. ↑ a b Washington Post: Champion of Conservation, Loyal Force Behind LBJ , July 12, 2007
  4. ↑ University of Texas at Austin Press (Engl.)
  5. ↑ Kansascity.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (engl.)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.kansascity.com  
personal data
SURNAME Johnson, Lady Bird
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Taylor Johnson, Claudia Alta
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American first lady
DATE OF BIRTH December 22, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Karnack , Texas, USA
DATE OF DEATH July 11, 2007
Place of death Austin , Texas, USA