Lady Bird Johnson, widow of former President Lyndon Johnson, died on July 11th at the age of 94.
Lady Bird was known as a gracious hostess and a loving wife. She found herself thrust suddenly into the role of first lady after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. “I feel as if I am suddenly on stage for a part I never rehearsed,” she said then.
While she might have not rehearsed for the part, she performed it well.
Manners before Politics
Former President Bush said she exemplified "the grace and the elegance and the decency and sincerity that you would hope for in the White House." He said that, as a freshman congressman in the opposing political party from Texas, Lady Bird and President Johnson warmly and graciously welcomed him to Washington.
Lady Bird campaigned with her husband for his reelection in 1964, a tumultuous time: the Vietnam War was underway and President Johnson signed The Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964.
Johnson’s hopes for election were threatened by Southern Democrats threatening to leave the party. Lady Bird supported her husband by traveling on a four-day, 1,628-mile campaign train trip. The train was called the Lady Bird Special and the trip included eight southern states beset by racial turmoil. President Johnson won with the 1964 election 61 percent of the vote.
Focus
Her approach was thoughtful and focused. “Shortly after the election of ‘64, I began to realize that I wanted to choose some of those things in his administration that I was most in tune with, that made my heart sing most, and try to apply myself to them and support them in any way I could,” she said. “Otherwise, the number of calls upon you would mean that your efforts would be fragmented and would be of little use. And so there arose to the surface the interest in children and education, which was formulated in Head Start, and in conservation, which found its expression very much in beautification.”
Lady Bird was smart. She slowed down and picked passions that would blend with the goals of her husband’s administration. She deliberately focused