I woke up this morning and learned that Lady Bird Johnson, First Lady to our 36th President, died last night in Austin of natural causes at the age of 94. Given that KOS is a Democratic diary, I expected to see one or two honoring a woman who had a significiant impact on how we live today. But I have yet to see one, so I will jump into the pool and write my first diary.
Please join me after the jump...
I know she is an old woman who was most famous 40 years ago, so I don't expect Generations X,Y or Z to know much about her. But I ask everyone who commutes to work on a highway, or travels cross country in a car, to relfect on what you see on the side of the roads. Yes, some of our highways can be quite trashy, littered with plastic bags and water bottles. But as my parents explained to me, when I was in 3rd grade and Lady Bird was First Lady, the roads and highways of our country had become, over the first half of the century, essentially public dumps. Not only that, most highway horizons were blocked for miles on end with ugly billboards. Now, when a person drives across the country, while an occasional billboard will come into view, what is mostly seen is land, unfettered land. And in many cases, supporting a wonderfula array of wild flowers and plants. We have Lady Bird to thank for this beautiful scenery.
As First Lady, she promoted a "Beautify America" campaign, which beseeched Americans to take pride in their naturally beautiful environment by cleaning it up and to expand natures' beauty for all by reintroducing the wildflowers and natural plants that had been ripped up and plowed under from two centuries of development. I was a little kid at the time, but I believe Lady Bird took a lot of heat for her Beautify America activism. As I understand it, many saw her work as superfluous. But look how attitudes towards a clean environment have changed in the following 40 years, and we have Lady Bird to thank for getting everyday Americans to start treating their 'outdoors' with care.
So much more can be said about Lady Bird and her times. Her husband became President due to the brutal assination of young, popular and telegenic President. She herself replaced a young, beautiful aristocratic First Lady. Her husband's time in office was turbulent and troubled. Yet she carried on with grace. In a time when women were expected to be just mothers and wives, the seemingly genteel and conventional Lady Bird was actually a crack businesswoman who built a media empire out of Austin, Tx. And, she earned TWO degress at the University of Texas, a BA in 1933, and bachelor of journalism in 1934.
Obviously her obituary will be found in the main media sources today. I urge you all to read about her amazing life and to use the comments section below to share your thoughts on one very special First Lady. Oh, one last thing. She hated the name Lady Bird. So, thank you Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson - may you rest in peace.