About Lady Bird Johnson

(December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007) 

Lady Bird Johnson was First Lady of the United States during the Presidency of her husband Lyndon Baines Johnson, from 1963 to 1969. Born Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson, from a young age she was affectionately known as Lady Bird.  She essentially invented the job of the modern first lady. She was the first one to hire a press secretary and have a big staff, the first one to have a comprehensive program in her own name, and the first one to advocate for legislation, the 1965 Highway Beautification Act, informally known as “Lady Bird’s Bill”. She is most remembered as advocate for beautifying the nation’s cities and highways (“Where flowers bloom, so does hope”). But it turns out that her environmental concerns went way beyond just pretty flowers.

Writer Terry Tempest Williams tells of meeting Lady Bird in December, 2000, when at the age of 88 Lady Bird told her: “I’ll never forgive Lyndon’s boys for turning my environmental agenda into a beautification project. But I went ahead and talked about wildflowers so as not to scare anybody, because I knew if the people came to love wildflowers they’d have to eventually care about the land that grew ’em.”

Lady Bird Johnson worked tirelessly for the preservation of wild landscapes and the environment. 

As first lady, Mrs. Johnson established herself as one of the
nation’s chief proponents of environmental conservation. Using her influence as a resident of the White House, she gave speeches on environmental issues, led the fight against the proliferation of billboards along highways, spurred the beautification of our nation’s capital and pushed her husband to enact environmentally friendly legislation.

More than 200 laws related to the environment were passed during the Johnson Administration, many of which were adopted due to Mrs. Johnson’s urging. Among the major legislative initiatives were the Wilderness Act of 1964, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Program, the 1965 Highway Beautification Act and many additions to the National Park system.

“It’s a well-established fact by historians and surviving members of the Johnson administration that the reason Lyndon Johnson signed more national park legislation than any other president in history is because his wife had such an influence on him,” says Russ Whitlock, superintendent of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park. “She was out traveling and seeing these places. He signed 47 different national park bills that either created or enlarged national parks. That’s pretty amazing.”

Some of Mrs. Johnson’s most effective tools in promoting her cause of conservation and beautification were her tours of natural areas, frequently with Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall.

The press corps couldn’t resist tagging along as she visited places such as California’s redwood forests, Wyoming’s Teton Mountains, New York’s Hudson River, and Big Bend National Park in Texas. The publicity promoted her and LBJ’s environmental agenda. The environment may not be the first thing people associate with Lyndon Johnson, but before leaving office, due to Lady Bird’s influence, he proved to be one of America’s top conservation presidents, along with Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt.

After leaving the White House and returning to Texas, Lady Bird continued to work for environmental and conservation causes. Her legacy continues with her creation of the National Wildflower Research Center (founded on her 70th birthday), now named the “Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center” which is a national leader in research, education, and projects encouraging the use of wildflowers and native plants.

Lady Bird Johnson gives us some prime advice valuable for any Planet Patriot: ““Beautiful language isn’t enough,” she said. “You have to be very smart about what you are doing when talking about the environment. You have to reach people where they are-not where you are. You must find out what they care about and build relationships with them, involve them in your cause. Then, you can speak like a writer, but until then, you must speak like one of them.”

As an eight-year member of a city Beautification Committee myself, I can confirm that working on behalf of trees (preserving and planting new ones), and flowers can have even longer-lasting environmental benefits than simple recycling or trash-clean-up campaigns.

In 2012, Lady Bird was honored with a centennial postage stamp, and the re-issue of beautification stamps from the 1960’s, and numerous artistic “First Day Covers” have been created based on these stamps.