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Lady Bird Johnson (1912–2007)
Born Karnack, Texas
First Lady 1963-1969
When Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in aboard Air Force One two hours after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson became first lady. The following year, she led an unprecedented solo campaign train trip aboard the "Lady Bird Special" to support her husband's presidential bid. This whistle-stop tour, on which she gave forty-seven speeches in eight states from Virginia to Louisiana, sought to win back the white Southern vote after President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This 1968 portrait shows her in a gown similar to the one she wore to the inaugural ball in 1965.
Today, Lady Bird Johnson is often associated with the 1965 Highway Beautification Act, an initiative that incorporated historic site preservation, natural resource conservation, and environmental protection. For her successful efforts, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1988.
Elizabeth Shoumatoff (1888–1980)
Oil on canvas, 1968
The White House |