Passed Presidents - # 36 – Lyndon B. Johnson

I visited Lyndon Johnson’s grave on June 18, 2008.  His was the last grave visited on the Dead Presidents Quest.  Thirty nine last resting places were photographed in the ten years since the pursuit began with Harry Truman. 

Baby Lyndon

Taken through the glass at the Visitor Center at the

LBJ National Historical Park in Johnson City.

One can see where his famous ears started

but he was cute nonetheless

Lyndon Baines Johnson had energy and ego the size of Texas.  He met ‘Lady Bird’ at a party, asked her to breakfast the next morning and proposed to her by the end of the day.  He served six terms in the House before he was elected to the Senate.  After two years in the Senate, he was elected Minority Whip.  Two years later, he was minority leader and in 1954, at age 46, he was elected majority leader.  Many consider him to be one of the finest floor leaders in Senate history.

He campaigned for the presidency in 1960 but when the nomination went to John Kennedy, he accepted the running mate’s job.  Given the close vote, it was clear that Johnson won Texas and enough southern states to clinch it.  Then, a short three years later, he was taking the oath of office on Air Force One with Jackie in her blood-stained dress standing beside him.

LBJ, grandson Patrick Nugent and Yuki

Taken in 2011 at the Newseum exhibit of president’s pets,

where it was noted that Johnson and his

favorite mutt enjoyed howling together

In a lesson the GOP may soon learn again, Johnson trounced the uber-conservative Barry Goldwater in 1964 and used the popular mandate to launch the ‘Great Society’ programs.  In this era of gridlock, obstructionism and hyper-partisan nonsense, one might look back at this single term when so much was accomplished.  Laws were passed to aid education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development was created, Medicare gave health services to the elderly and the Voting Rights Act was passed.

Unfortunately, LBJ couldn’t do the right thing in Viet Nam.  We were still stuck in that Cold War, anti-Communist mindset and, by the end of his term, we had over 500,000 troops on the ground fighting a war we would never win.  Still, the nation was shocked when he announced he would not seek reelection.

The 60’s was a tumultuous decade and much was changing.  The damn war, race riots, the women’s movement, drugs, sex and rock and roll...it all energized the Boomers and made my parents’ generation crazy.  By the time LBJ left office, he was gaunt, gray and haggard.  The strain of the job showed on him more than any president I remember.  He died on this day in 1973 at age 64.

The Texas White House (18 June 2008)

The tour guide said Lady Bird would occasionally meet

with tour visitors and chat over her back fence.

Like the Founding Fathers who are buried on their plantations, LBJ rests in the Johnson Family Cemetery on the Johnson Ranch, which is now in the Lyndon Johnson State Park outside of Johnson City, Texas. 

This was a somewhat anticlimactic end to the Quest.  I had been able to get close to most of the presidents’ graves, read inscriptions and get decent shots of the spaces.  For LBJ, the only way one can get onto the property is to buy a tour bus ticket and no one is permitted inside the walls of the graveyard.  Fair enough, I suppose, since the ranch is still the family’s residence.

Lady Bird had died almost a year earlier and her daughters had not yet erected a marker next to the president’s.

 Lyndon Baines Johnson

36^th President; Served 1963-1969

Born: August 27, 1908, Stonewall, TX

Died: January 22, 1973, Johnson City, TX

Grave Location: LBJ Ranch, Johnson City, TX

Date Visited: 6/18/2008