Press Releases | Jul, 9 2021
Jun 25, 2021
Lady Bird: Beyond the Wildflowers features letters, photographs, clothing, and artifacts never seen by the public.
Exhibit dates: July 14, 2021 to August 13, 2023
(AUSTIN, TX) - Opening July 14, 2021, at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, the exhibit Lady Bird: Beyond the Wildflowers celebrates the life and legacy of Lady Bird Johnson, wife of the 36th president of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson. It’s the first time the LBJ Library has curated a major exhibition about Lady Bird Johnson’s complete personal and political life.
"The grand opening of our new exhibit, Lady Bird: Beyond the Wildflowers, is a landmark moment for the LBJ Presidential Library,” said Mark Lawrence, Director of the LBJ Library. “Although it's long been clear that Mrs. Johnson played a pivotal role in her husband's administration, the exhibit is the first time the Library has delved deeply into her life. Visitors will gain appreciation for the first lady's passionate dedication to the environment, her political acumen, and her importance to her era of American history."
The former first lady is often associated with promoting environmental conservation and the wildflowers that brighten the country’s landscape. This exhibit adds to that legacy by guiding visitors through a comprehensive story of Mrs. Johnson’s life featuring letters, photographs, clothing, and artifacts that will be seen by the public for the first time. Lady Bird: Beyond the Wildflowers gives visitors more context to Mrs. Johnson’s education, family, campaign efforts, work as a businesswoman, and her role as a philanthropist.
“Throughout her life, my mother loved history and was always ready for an adventure. Mother would take us on wonderful trips. She researched the locations so thoroughly she often knew more than our guides. This exhibition captures my mother’s never-ending quest for knowledge about travel, art, literature, and environmental conservation as well as her passion for contributing to the community and our country.” - Lynda Johnson Robb
“Wife, mother, businesswoman, philanthropist, University Regent- Lady Bird Johnson was a professional in every role she played, and her roles were as varied as her interests. My mother was the most curious woman I’ve ever known and believed a day without learning was a day that was wasted. She was ‘a gentle heroine of nature and mankind’ and never wasted a moment of her 94 years.” - Luci Baines Johnson
Highlights about Lady Bird Johnson
- Mrs. Johnson was the first former first lady to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Gerald Ford presented her with this country’s highest civilian honor in 1977.
- Mrs. Johnson was the first wife of a president to have a press secretary, Liz Carpenter.
- At Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 swearing-in ceremony, Mrs. Johnson was the first President’s wife to hold the Bible. Previously, the Bible had always been held by the executive secretary of the Joint Congressional Inaugural Committee. The Bible used in 1965 was the one given to Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson by his mother, Rebekah Baines Johnson. This tradition of the first lady holding a family Bible continues today.
- President Johnson consulted Mrs. Johnson, among others, when he was considering naming Thurgood Marshall as the first African American on the U.S. Supreme Court. While she supported the choice of Marshall, Mrs. Johnson suggested naming a woman to the high court. A few women were discussed as a possible appointment but, ultimately, the president chose Marshall.
- The exhibition will feature newly released letters between Lady Bird and Lyndon Johnson spanning the years 1942-1968.The letters feature two major events in their lives when they wrote each other almost every day, sometimes several times a day: World War II and Mrs. Johnson’s work as a businesswoman. When Lyndon Johnson volunteered for the U. S. Navy in World War II, Mrs. Johnson ran his congressional office, working with her husband’s fellow lawmakers and serving constituents needs in every way except casting votes. In 1943, she bought a failing Austin radio station. With a journalism degree from The University of Texas at Austin and a tireless work ethic, she took a hands-on ownership role, selling advertising, hiring staff, and even cleaning floors.
- Lady Bird Johnson was President Lyndon Johnson’s most trusted advisor. One of the many examples of this is from August 1964. Having been president for less than a year, Johnson considered not accepting the Democratic nomination for the next presidential term. Before the Democratic convention, Mrs. Johnson wrote to her husband, “To step out now would be wrong for your country, and I can see nothing but a lonely wasteland for your future.” One or two days later, Johnson accepted the nomination and became the Democratic candidate for president.
Mrs. Johnson’s connection to The University of Texas, Austin, and Central Texas
Although born in East Texas, as a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with degrees in history (1933) and journalism (1934), Mrs. Johnson felt that Central Texas was her home. “What did the University mean to me, a student from a small town in deep East Texas?” she wrote. “Here I discovered that college is only the beginning of learning, and that one new horizon only opens the door to still another.”
After graduation, as a single woman, Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Taylor’s plan was to teach in a faraway place such as Alaska or Hawaii or work as a journalist in New York City. But just after earning her degrees, she met Lyndon Johnson who proposed marriage the same day as their first date at the Driskill Hotel restaurant in Austin. Following a whirlwind two-month courtship, Lady Bird Taylor married the ambitious politician in San Antonio.
While President Johnson was still in office, Mrs. Johnson played a key role in the plans to build the LBJ Presidential Library and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. For more than 20 years, Mrs. Johnson worked in an office on the top floor of the LBJ Library with a breathtaking view of the University and city of Austin.
In January 1971, Mrs. Johnson was appointed to a six-year term as a member of The University of Texas System Board of Regents. She was a life member of The University of Texas Ex-Student Association and was a member of the International Conference Steering Committee (1981-82) and The University of Texas Centennial Commission.
She also chaired the Town Lake Beautification Project, a community effort to create a hike and bike trail and to plant flowering trees along the Colorado River in Austin. After her death in 2007, the city renamed the lake in her honor, now known as Lady Bird Lake.
In December 1972, President and Mrs. Johnson gave the LBJ Ranch house and surrounding property to the people of the United States as a national historic site.
On her 70th birthday in 1982, Mrs. Johnson founded the National Wildflower Research Center, a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to the preservation and re-establishment of native plants in natural and planned landscapes. In 2006, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center became a part of The University of Texas at Austin, guaranteeing its permanent place in the national landscape and ensuring that Lady Bird Johnson’s name will live on in the hearts of Americans.
Visuals: Photos of Mrs. Johnson: https://tinyurl.com/pe9tp64n
https://tinyurl.com/pu4nws
Mrs. Johnson’s home movies: https://tinyurl.com/4avnd535
LBJ Presidential Library
The LBJ Presidential Library, located on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin, is one of 14 presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. Dedicated in May 1971, its mission is to preserve and protect the historical materials in its collections and make them readily accessible; to increase public awareness of the American experience through relevant exhibitions and educational programs; and to advance the LBJ Library's standing as a center for intellectual activity and community leadership while meeting the challenges of a changing world. www.lbjlibrary.org
