Lady Bird Johnson

Lady Bird Johnson

Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson (December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007) was First Lady of the United States (1963–69) during the presidency of her husband Lyndon B. Johnson.

Notably well educated for her time, she proved a capable manager and a shrewd investor. After marrying LBJ in 1934, when he was a political hopeful in Austin, Texas, she used a modest inheritance to bankroll his congressional campaign, and then ran his office while he was serving in the navy. Next, she bought a radio station and then a TV station, which would soon make them millionaires. As First Lady, she broke new ground by interacting directly with Congress, employing her own press secretary, and making a solo electioneering tour.

Johnson was a lifelong advocate for beautifying the nation's cities and highways ("Where flowers bloom, so does hope") and the Highway Beautification Act was informally known as Lady Bird's Bill. She was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest US civilian honors.

Read more about Lady Bird Johnson:  Early Life, Education, Marriage and Family, Early Politics, Business Career, Second Lady of The United States, First Lady of The United States, Honors, Later Life

Famous quotes containing the words lady bird, lady, bird and/or johnson:

    “The first lady is, and always has been, an unpaid public servant elected by one person, her husband.”
    —Lady Bird Johnson (b. 1912)

    “There once was a lady of Spain
    Who liked it now and again:
    That’s now, then again
    And again and again
    And again and again and again.”
    —Anonymous.

    “With a broad shoehorn
    I am unstuffing a big bird in this dream
    Msomebody else’s holiday feast—
    and repacking the crop of my own,
    knowing it will burst with such
    onion, oyster, savory bread crust.”
    —Maxine Kumin (b. 1925)

    “There is no private house in which people can enjoy themselves so well as at a capital tavern.... No, Sir; there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.”
    —Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)