Vietnam interactive exhibit. [LBJ Library photo #DIG13447-004 by Lauren Gerson]

Closed for a year, LBJ’s library reborn

Dec 19, 2012

by Jim Swift

[Published by KXAN Tuesday, 18 Dec 2012]

In a twist on the old fable about the emperor having no clothes, the President has some new ones. At the old LBJ Library and Museum , an animatronic version of former President Lyndon Johnson perched a leg on a fence rail and spun humorous yarns beneath a layer of cowboy duds. The problem was that the recordings of the President speaking were made before large indoor audiences who laughed and applauded, hardly consistent with a ranch corral environment.

So now, the library sports a stiff-looking President, clad in a black suit, standing behind a podium. And that’s just the beginning of the changes wrapping themselves around the institution. read more