Family, friends mark ex-President LBJ's centennial

Images (showing 1 of 7 photos)

WALL — Former President Lyndon B. Johnson's family and admirers remembered his civil rights and education legacy during a celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth and the opening of his Texas ranch office to the public.

Daughters Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb and dozens of others gathered at his Hill Country ranch Wednesday for a wreath-laying ceremony at his grave along the banks of the Pedernales River.

Then they filed into the newly opened ranch house office. It's a small room restored to its look in the 1960s, complete with original leather recliner chairs, a horse saddle, an old-style television set and Johnson's eyeglasses placed on his desk.

"Are you paying your taxes?" Luci Johnson asked the first group of visitors. "Then welcome home. This is your place, and we're glad to have you."

At the family cemetery, where Johnson's wife Lady Bird Johnson was buried last year after her death at age 94, Luci Johnson told of her father being born a large baby in a nearby farmhouse a century ago and of his rise through political ranks to U.S. Senate leader and ultimately president.

Without mentioning the Vietnam war that plagued Johnson's administration, she listed his domestic accomplishments, such as the Civil Rights Act and education, Medicare and clean air and water legislation. He called those initiatives his Great Society.

Luci Johnson said Democrat Barack Obama's acceptance of his party's presidential nomination fulfills the vision of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and her father.

"His Great Society legislation made it possible for children of color and of humble origins like Senator Obama to fulfill their dreams — dreams to get the best education, dreams for the chance to vote and be voted for," she said, to applause from the dozens attending the centennial birthday commemoration.

Beneath a canopy of oak trees, with a soft breeze blowing, the crowd completed the ceremony by joining in singing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

Johnson assumed the presidency in 1963 after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He won election on his own the following year and served until 1969. Johnson died in 1973.

The LBJ Ranch house, known during his presidency as the Texas White House, is gradually opening for public tours with the office as the first accessible room.

The Johnsons donated the ranch and its hundreds of acres of land as a national historic site in 1972. It is overseen by the National Park Service. The Johnsons retained a "life estate" in the 8,400 square-foot stone and wood home, allowing the family to remain there as long as Lady Bird Johnson was living.

"It's beautiful," declared 90-year-old Doug Hubbard after touring the ranch office.

Other parts of the ranch land have been open to visitors on bus tours for years. Lady Bird Johnson often entertained at the ranch house and stayed there in the decades after her husband's death, though she also had a home in Austin about 70 miles away.

While he was president, Lyndon Johnson used the ranch as his getaway. But he conducted official business there and enjoyed touring visitors around the hardscrabble countryside in a Lincoln Continental convertible.

He grew up on the surrounding land and bought the limestone ranch home from his aunt in 1951.

Originally, the house was a small cabin, built in the 1890s. Through expansion projects, many done after Johnson bought the house, the home became a sprawling 28-room building with eight bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

Some of Johnson's beloved cars remain encased in glass outside the home for visitors to see. Those stopping in at the ranch Wednesday were treated to refreshments that included one of Johnson's favorite drinks, Fresca.

___

On the Net:

Centennial Celebration: http://www.lbj100.org

LBJ Library and Museum: http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu

Back To Top