SHE wasn’t pretty enough for Camelot. She wasn’t young enough or sufficiently at ease socially. And some people never forgave Lady Bird Johnson for not being Jackie Kennedy.
They never forgave her husband for not being Jack Kennedy. Lyndon Johnson was a tough, profane politician and, at times, an arrogant bully. With his mournful, hound dog face, he looked out of place in a tuxedo, like a cheap rent-a-cop brought in to keep an eye on the silver at a fancy dinner party. The thought that this drawling oaf should inherit the mantle of the martyred, perfect Jack Kennedy, that his Texas wife should rule in Jackie’s elegant White House and that their adolescent daughters should supplant poor, brave little John-John and Caroline — well, that was just wrong!
It took awhile for the nation to see the Johnsons for who they were, instead of who they were not.
Lyndon Johnson looked like a bumpkin, but he had matchless political skills. He bullied his staff and other politicians, but he had a good heart and genuinely wanted to use his office to make life better for all Americans — especially the poor.
Lady Bird Johnson wasn’t pretty, but she was handsome. She was no longer young, but she was wise, and her kindness and good manners were all the social graces she needed.
If not for the war in Vietnam, Lyndon Johnson might be remembered today as one of the nation’s most effective presidents — active in preserving and extending civil rights and in establishing the Great Society social programs intended to help millions of Americans climb out of poverty. But the war poisoned his presidency. He left office with the nation in chaos and died four years later .
Lady Bird Johnson survived her husband by 34 years, dying Wednesday at 94. Her legacy seems to have outlasted his. The wounds of the war have never fully healed and most of the Great Society programs have been dismantled over the past decade.
But Lady Bird Johnson’s legacy is thriving as near as the Flint Hills on the Kansas Turnpike. The miles of beautiful vistas are visible courtesy of the Highway Beautification Bill of 1965, known as the Lady Bird Bill. The bill controlled the placement of billboards along federal highways and provided money to landscape roadsides and interchanges.
Some of the wildflower plantings along highways are also the result of her determination of preserve and enhance the nation’s natural beauty.
The Kennedys spruced up the White House to make it a suitable showcase for the nation. They did a fine job.
Lady Bird Johnson spruced up the rest of the country. She did a fine job, too.