On January 22, 1973, former President Lyndon Baines Johnson dies in Johnson City, Texas, at the age of 64.
After leaving the White House in 1968, L.B.J. returned to his beloved home state, Texas, with his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, and immersed himself in the activity dearest to him: ranching. Although ostensibly retired, L.B.J. kept up a busy daily schedule reminiscent of his days in the White House.
His biographer, Doris Kearns, observed Johnson going about ranching duties with the same intensity he had once displayed at work in the Oval Office. At morning meetings on the ranch, Johnson instructed each hand to “make a solemn pledge that you will not go to bed tonight until you are sure that every steer has everything he needs.”
Additionally, Johnson insisted that “We’ve got a chance of producing some of the finest beef in this country if we work at it.” Regarding his chickens, Johnson said, “if we treat those hens with loving care we should be able to produce the finest eggs in the country.”
Each night he found not presidential briefings on his bedside table, but reports he had ordered on the ranch’s daily production of eggs. To Kearns, Johnson’s obsession with his hens’ inability to produce as many eggs as he expected contained a hint of the frustration he had once experienced in trying to win an apparently un-winnable war in Vietnam.
Beneath the bustle, Johnson remained, in his own words, miserable. For a man who had wanted to carve out a legacy as the creator of a Great Society in America, his disappointment that his part in escalating the Vietnam War overshadowed his other accomplishments was immense.
Johnson’s impressive record included successful social and economic reforms such as the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, improvements in housing and urban development and strong support for America’s space program, but these seemed to be forgotten as public criticism of the war dogged L.B.J. into retirement and even beyond the grave.
On the day of Nixon’s second inaugural celebration, Johnson watched sullenly as Nixon announced the dismantling of many of Johnson’s Great Society social programs and, the next day, that he had achieved the ceasefire in Vietnam that had eluded Johnson.
The following day, while Lady Bird and their daughters were in Austin, Johnson suffered a fatal heart attack at his ranch in Johnson City.
READ MORE: LBJ: His Life and Legacy
Lyndon Baines Johnson Passes Away
Today in Masonic History Lyndon Baines Johnson passed away in 1973.
Lyndon Baines Johnson was an American politician and 36th President of the United States.
Johnson was born on August 27th, 1908 in Stonewall, Texas. He was the oldest of 5 children. Johnson was an awkward and talkative child in school. He attended and graduated from Johnson City High School, a town named for his cousin's family, in 1924. He would enroll in the Southwest Texas State Teacher's College (now Texas University) in 1926. He would take 9 months off from school in 1928 and 1929 to help teach Mexican-American children at a segregated school. Both before and after his hiatus from his education, Johnson was active in the campus politics and honed his skills of persuasion while there. He would graduate in 1930.
Johnson would run for the United States House of Representatives in 1937 during a special election. He would contest the results of the election successfully and begin serving in the House of Representatives in April of that year. Johnson was a close ally of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). The two men worked closely together on several projects involving Texas. Not the least of which was Operation Texas. Operation Texas an undercover operation that brought European Jews to Texas to get away from Nazi persecution. Johnson would serve in the House of Representatives until 1949.
In 1940, Johnson was appointed as a lieutenant commander in the United States Naval Reserve. He would report to for duty three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. FDR would take advantage of his allies position in the Navy. FDR did not trust the information that was coming up through the normal chain of command in the South Pacific so he arranged for Johnson and two other officers to go there and to bring back accurate information.
In 1948, Johnson would run for the United States Senate. This was the second time that he would run, the first being unsuccessful. This time he would be elected to the Senate. He would serve in the senate until 1960. Johnson would further his reputation in the Senate. His reputation grew strong enough that some wanted him to run for President in the 1956 election. For the 1960 election, Johnson delayed seeking the Democratic nomination, he portrayed it as a strategy thinking that a split would form in the party from Kennedy. The delay instead cost him value campaign time. At least one historian stated that it was possibly from a fear of failure that Johnson actually hesitated to get in.
At the 1960 Democratic convention, Johnson tried to drum up support. He would go to Tip O'Neil from Kennedy's home state of Massachusetts and ask "Tip, I know you have to support Kennedy at the start, but I'd like to have you with me on the second ballot." O'Neill replied, "Senator, there's not going to be any second ballot." Which there was no second ballot, Kennedy was the Democratic nominee. Although the Kennedy's, both John and Robert, were not fans of Johnson, John F. Kennedy knew that adding him to the ticket would secure the southern Democratic vote, which it did.
After Kennedy and Johnson took office, Kennedy decided that he needed to keep Johnson busy and happy. Kennedy stated to an aide once "I can't afford to have my vice president, who knows every reporter in Washington, going around saying we're all screwed up, so we're going to keep him happy." Kennedy appointed Johnson as the head of the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities where Johnson worked with African-Americans and other minorities on Civil Rights issues. In that position, Johnson would end up pushing Kennedy on Civil Rights issues farther and faster than Kennedy was originally planning.
On November 22nd, 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Texas. Johnson would be sworn in just two hours later on Air Force One.
During Johnson's Presidency which lasted until 1969, Johnson would domestically focus on Civil Rights issues. In 1965, the Higher Education act would be passed. Johnson chose Texas University as the place to sign the bill in to law. He would return to the school in Welhausen where he taught as a college student. There he would state "I shall never forget the faces of the boys and the girls in that little Welhausen Mexican School, and I remember even yet the pain of realizing and knowing then that college was closed to practically every one of those children because they were too poor. And I think it was then that I made up my mind that this nation could never rest while the door to knowledge remained closed to any American."
On the international side, the Vietnam War occupied all of Johnson's administration. At times members of the press sensed that Johnson was being less than honest with his assessments regarding the war in Vietnam. This would be known as the "credibility gap."
Despite the issues of Vietnam, on domestic issues Johnson left a legacy of great social reforms and changes, some political and some social. It was the changes in the area of Civil Rights that caused him to loose support in the Southern states though toward the end of his presidency.
Johnson would pass away from a massive coronary event on January 22, 1973.
Johnson was a member of Johnson City Lodge No. 561 in Johnson City, Texas. Johnson would only receive the Entered Apprentice degree and would not continue on with his masonic work.
Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973) was the 36th president of the United States, taking office after the assassination of John F. Kennedy until his retirement in 1968. He is best known for approving American military escalation in the Vietnam War.
Born in rural Texas, Johnson trained as a teacher then worked for a time in a one-room schoolhouse. His experiences with poor minorities left Johnson with an interest in social reform, particularly in the areas of poverty, education and racial equality.
Previously involved in student politics, Johnson ran for Congress as a Democrat, winning a seat in the House of Representatives in 1937. He later moved to the Senate (1948) and became majority leader there (1954).
During his time in Congress, Johnson became a champion of domestic reform. He hoped to forge what he later called the “Great Society”, where government provided education, healthcare and support to the poor and marginalised. Johnson’s attention to social reform was typified by two Civil Rights Acts, passed in 1957 and 1960, both championed by Johnson.
Vice-president to president
John F. Kennedy chose Johnson as his running mate for the 1960 presidential election, due to Johnson’s Senate leadership, his reformist agenda and his popularity in Texas. Johnson became Kennedy’s vice president in January 1961. Among other roles, he was given oversight of the US space program, with a view to overtaking the Soviet Union in this area.
Johnson was thrust into the presidency after Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963. Like the presidents before him, Lyndon Johnson was a strong advocate for containment and the Domino Theory. He was not well versed in foreign policy, so relied heavily on advice from his military chiefs and White House staff.
The Cold War loomed large during Johnson’s presidency but the pressing issue was America’s involvement in Vietnam. Johnson came to see Vietnam as a national challenge. To withdraw from South Vietnam and surrender it to the communists would undermine America’s authority and capacity to lead the Cold War. During 1964 Johnson strengthened America’s military presence in South Vietnam and appointed General William Westmoreland and Maxwell Taylor to significant roles there. The president privately consented to military action against North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, though he preferred to wait until after the 1964 presidential election.
Involvement in Vietnam
In late 1964, Johnson used the Gulf of Tonkin incident (August 1964) as a pretext for American military intervention. Johnson sought and obtained a sweeping resolution from Congress, which became his ‘blank cheque’ for waging war in Vietnam. American air strikes against North Vietnam were expanded and intensified, followed by the first landings of US combat troops in March 1965.
Under Johnson, America’s military commitment to Vietnam steadily increased so too did the numbers of American deaths and casualties. Johnson himself spoke optimistically of the war in Vietnam, telling the American people that progress had been made and that the enemy was weakening. Privately, however, he often expressed frustrations, doubts and misgivings about the Vietnam conflict.
Johnson made numerous attempts to build a working peace with North Vietnam. Some of these attempts were made privately and others publicly a pause or cessation of US bombing was often held out as an incentive to Hanoi.
Escalation and growing unpopularity
By 1968, the Johnson administration was approaching a state of crisis. American military strategy in Vietnam had failed to achieve much except thousands of US casualties. The political and economic costs of the Vietnam War had crippled Johnson’s program of social reforms and caused the budget deficit to almost triple in the space of a year.
The Tet Offensive (January 1968) prompted Johnson to order an analysis and reevaluation of the situation in Vietnam. This was followed by a shift in policy and the replacement of Westmoreland as the commander of US forces in South Vietnam.
Johnson’s approval rating had also declined rapidly through 1967 and it appeared he may lose the Democratic nomination to Robert F. Kennedy. On March 31st 1968, Johnson addressed the nation, declaring that bombing runs against North Vietnam would be suspended – and that he would not seek or accept reelection as president in November that year.
Johnson retired in January 1969. His memoirs and subsequent interviews revealed a man still troubled by the Vietnam War and how it was handled. Lyndon Johnson died at his Texas home in January 1973.
1. Lyndon Baines Johnson was the 36th president of the United States, serving from the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963 until his retirement in January 1969.
2. Johnson was born in rural Texas and spent his early years working as a teacher in poor communities. This gave him a lifelong interest in social reform and welfare policies.
3. On becoming vice president in January 1961 Johnson was given oversight of the US space program. He became president after Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas in November 1963.
4. Johnson was an advocate of containment and the Domino Theory. The pressing issue of his time was Vietnam, which Johnson was determined not to lose to the communists.
5. Following his advisors, Johnson approved American military escalation in Vietnam. The human and financial costs of the Vietnam War were disastrous, however, and Johnson’s approval rating plummeted. In March 1968 he announced that he would not seek re-election in that year’s presidential election.
‘History With The Bark Off’: LBJ Presidential Library Celebrates 50 Years
On May 22, 1971 &ndash 50 years ago this Saturday &ndash a high-powered audience of politicians, religious leaders, educators and even Hollywood stars, gathered for the dedication of the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin. Then-President Richard Nixon led the honors for his predecessor&rsquos project.
Lyndon Baines Johnson&rsquos would be the first presidential library located in Texas &ndash the George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush libraries are in Dallas and College Station. The LBJ Library commemorate one of the most turbulent, consequential presidencies of the 20th century, and, in the mold of its namesake, it was the first really big, grand facility of its kind to be built.
President and Mrs. Johnson stand, along with other dignitaries, at the dedication of the LBJ Library in May, 1971.
Michael Rusnak, LBJ Presidential Library
The 1971 dedication took place on an outdoor platform, just south of the new library.
&ldquoPresident Nixon was there. President Johnson&rsquos cabinet was there. Gov. John Connally was there. Dr. Billy Graham was there,&rdquo said Ben Barnes, who was Texas&rsquo lieutenant governor at the time He&rsquos now vice chair of the LBJ Foundation.
Nixon spoke first, accepting the new library on behalf of the American people &ndash presidential libraries are built with private funds, but operated by the National Archives, Johnson rose to acknowledge his achievement &ndash a massive ten story structure that then held 31 million pages of archives &ndash it&rsquos up to 45 million pages, today, including papers given by Johnson associates and members of his government.
As the dignitaries celebrated the library, some 2.000 protesters &ndash according to the New York Times &ndash chanted and banged trash can lids, kept several blocks away by police. The Vietnam War, which escalated dramatically during Johnson&rsquos time in office, was still raging, and in May 1971, many were in no mood to join the in celebrating LBJ&rsquos legacy.
But on the grounds of the new LBJ Library, a cross-section of American political leaders paid tribute, including Barry Goldwater &ndash the man Johnson had defeated in 1964.
On the platform, Johnson cut a striking figure.
&ldquoWe all had on dark suits. But President Johnson, and I always remember, wore a tan cotton suit. But he does stand out on the platform because he was the only person in that light colored suit,&rdquo Barnes said.
Johnson&rsquos remarks at the dedication were brief. He offered a vision for the ways in which the library would educate and inform future generations. And he made a commitment to openness and transparency. &ldquoHistory, with the bark off,&rdquo he called it, as the sounds of protest remained audible in the distance.
&ldquoThere is no record of a mistake, or an unpleasantness, or a criticism that is not included in the files here,&rdquo Johnson said. &ldquoWe have papers from 40, some very turbulent, years of public service, and we put them all here in one place, for friends and foes to judge.&rdquo
Indeed, the library has provided some of the most remarkable historical artifacts of any presidency &ndash hours of recordings Johnson made of his Oval Office telephone conversations. The tapes feature Johnson cajoling, bullying and sharing confidences with everyone from uncooperative senators to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In August 1965, King warned Johnson in a phone call that police violence and hopelessness among Black Americans could spark a &ldquofull scale race war&rdquo following the bloody Watts riots in Los Angeles. During the call, Johnson emphasized the need to fight poverty, and the political challenges he faced trying to do it.
&ldquoWe&rsquove got to have some of these housing programs, and we&rsquove got to get rid of some of these ghettos, and we&rsquove got to get these children out of where the rats eat on them at night, and we&rsquove got to get em some jobs,&rdquo he said.
LBJ, who died in 1973, had hoped his White House recordings would not be made public for 50 years. But once their existence became known, the library began releasing them, parceling them out over a fifteen year period.
&ldquoIn the early 1990s, Mrs. Johnson, who was still very vigorous and very much part of daily life at the LBJ Library, made a decision, along with the administration of the library at that time to go ahead and start processing and releasing the LBJ phone recordings, so they wound up being released well ahead of the schedule that LBJ himself had imagined,&rdquo Said Mark Lawrence, who has been the director of the LBJ Library since January 2020.
Recently, audio diaries made by Lady Bird Johnson have added to what we know about the first lady&rsquos role in LBJ&rsquos life and work. The diaries are now the source for a new biography and podcast that also illuminate her role as a witness to history, including the day in Dallas when President John F- Kennedy was assassinated.
&ldquoFriday, November 22nd. It all began so beautifully. The streets were lined with people. Lots and lots of children, all smiling, placards, confetti, people waving from windows. Suddenly, there was a sharp, loud shot,&rdquo Lady Bird Johnson said in her audio diary.
The tapes also show that Lady Bird Johnson played a major role in the creation of the library.
&ldquoMrs. Johnson was undoubtedly really important,&rdquo said library director Mark Lawrence. &ldquoShe, after all, was the UT alum. And she played a really important role in the design, in creating the festivities, of course, around the opening of the library. And then she would go on to be such a central fixture to the library and its programs for many, many years thereafter until she passed away in 2007.&rdquo
Lady Bird Johnson visited other libraries and sites and took on the early planning stages. She hosted numerous meetings at the White House to discuss the designs with Gordon Bunshaft until the final design was complete. May 12, 1966,
Unknown, LBJ Presidential Library
It was Lady Bird Johnson who identified a building whose architectural style she thought would be a match for her husband&rsquos vision. She was inspired by Yale University&rsquos Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
The Beinecke&rsquos architect, Gordon Bunshaft, was hired to design the LBJ library. Once the University of Texas made clear that it wanted the building on its campus, the pieces began to fall into place. After LBJ&rsquos term ended in 1969, the Johnsons took an increasingly active role.
&ldquoThere are many wonderful pictures of President Johnson and Mrs. Johnson on the grounds, looking at the building as it&rsquos under construction. They had their picture taken at just about every angle of the building,&rdquo Lawrence said.
The library sits near the northeast corner of UT&rsquos Austin campus. The land is also home to the LBJ School of Public Affairs, which opened a year before the library and the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. But the library dominates. Lawrence says Johnson wanted something big all along.
&ldquoI think he wanted to convey grandeur &ndash the importance of the presidency, the importance of the presidency, and his own contributions to American life,&rdquo he said.
And the institution&rsquos first purpose, housing the physical records of the Johnson presidency, was visually apparent to visitors in 1971, as it is today. Row upon row of red archive boxes stored on the upper floors &ndash their presidential seals facing forward &ndash are visible from the ground level.
Lady Bird Johnson got the idea to put the archives front and center when she visited the Harry Truman Presidential Library and found his papers were less prominent.
Spencer Selvidge / KUT News
&ldquoSome more dramatic use ought to be made of them &ndash those papers,&rdquo she recorded in her audio diary. &ldquoThey could still be secure, behind glass partitions. Some use could be made of color. There could be some displays, highlight the outstanding achievements of a president&rsquos year.&rdquo
Over the past five decades, millions of visitors have passed through the library&rsquos permanent museum exhibits, which chronicle civil rights, voting rights, Johnson&rsquos anti-poverty programs and the Vietnam War.
&ldquoWe try our best to capture the sources of LBJ&rsquos big ideas, the sources of his effectiveness as a politician that grows out of his early career,&rdquo Lawrence said. &ldquoAnd then, of course, the heavy emphasis is on the presidency itself. And then another important mission for the museum is to convey the lasting impact &ndash the legacies of the Johnson presidency.&rdquo
The library has also played host to an array of public programs, speakers and special events over the years, including a 2014 civil rights summit, with President Barack Obama in attendance.
&ldquoI would say that the LBJ Library was really the first to attach a high priority to this kind of programming, to the goal of being an active voice in public debate, going well beyond the period of the presidency itself,&rdquo Lawrence said.
The animatronic LBJ replica tells stories to museum visitors.
Spencer Selvidge / KUT News
LBJ&rsquos outsized personality is part of the museum, too &ndash from his Central Texas boyhood, to an almost life-sized replica of Johnson&rsquos Oval Office that features original furnishings, along with the three televisions he used to keep a constant eye on what network news anchors were saying about him. There&rsquos even an animatronic version of the 36th president &ndash a replica that moves and speaks. Passersby hear LBJ tell a series of homespun &ldquoafter dinner&rdquo stories.
On its 50th anniversary, the LBJ Library remains closed to the public, as pandemic precautions continue. Library director Lawrence says the building will reopen gradually, beginning this summer.
For now, visitors can view a new web site featuring the &ldquogreatest hits&rdquo as Lawrence says, of the Johnson phone recordings, along with the documents and photos the contextualize the tapes.
Lyndon Baines Johnson dies in Texas - HISTORY
Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908 to Samuel Ealy (Jr.) and Rebekah Baines Johnson in Stonewall County, Texas. Not intended to be a complete listing all of his ancestors, the following represents a number of them and is based on information mainly from newspaper accounts and traditional genealogical sources.
Samuel Ealy and Rebekah were married August 20, 1907. Lyndon was the oldest of their five children and was followed by Rebekah Luruth (1910), Josefa Hermine (1912), Sam Houston (1914) and Lucia Huffman (1916). Lyndon lived with his brothers and sisters until after 1930 in San Marcos, Hayes County.
Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr. was born in Buda, Hayes County, Texas in 1877. His mother and father were Eliza Jane Bunton and Samuel Ealy Johnson, Sr. At the time of his birth, the family lived on a farm near Buda. The Ealy name, common to Samuel and his father, appears to be a variation on the last name of Samuel Ealy Johnson, senior’s grandmother, Ann Eley.
(Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr. – Image credit: Life Magazine)
Lyndon B. Johnson bore a strong resemblance to his father. Samuel Ealy Johnson has been described as industrious and driven to achieve more than to be a farmer, though farming was a noble calling and was how many American families made their living in his day. As a youth, his family had moved out of Buda to a place on the Pedernales River. Sam was educated in local schools. When he was still a youth, the barber in Johnson City retired. Sam bought his barber chair and in his spare time, he cut hair. Sam had aspirations of becoming a lawyer, but was not able to finance that much of an education. Samuel Ealy’s occupation was listed as inspector for the Texas Railroad Commission. He was said to be well liked. He was also involved in politics and went on to serve five terms in the Texas legislature, succeeding to the seat of his father in law, Joseph Wilson Baines. Samuel died in 1937 of hypertensive heart disease and is buried in the Johnson Family Cemetery, a private cemetery on what is now the LBJ Ranch. Rebekah Baines Johnson survived Sam until 1858 when she also passed away, in Austin. She is buried in the Johnson Family Cemetery on the ranch, as well.
(Lady Bird, LBJ and Rebekah Johnson – Image credit: findagrave.com)
Rebekah Baines Johnson had been born in McKinney, Collin County, Texas in 1881. In all the Federal census reports prior to 1940 when she and Samuel Ealy were married, she was listed as a homemaker and the couple was living in San Marcos. In 1940, her residence was with Lyndon and Lady Bird (Claudia) Johnson outside Blanco, Texas, presumably on some portion of what is now the LBJ Ranch.
Sister Rebekah Luruth Johnson married Oscar Price (Bob) Bobbitt from Mineola, Texas, whom she had met in Washington while they were both working for the Library of Congress. They married in 1941. After serving in the U. S. Army in World War II, Bob went on to manage Lady Bird’s radio and television interests as they grew. Both Rebekah and Bob are now deceased and are buried in the Johnson Family Cemetery.
Sister Josefa Hermine Johnson married James Dee (Buster) Moss in 1954. Buster Moss had been a minister in the Church of Christ. Not much is publicly known about them, other than James’ first wife and daughter had tragically died in an auto accident in 1934. His second marriage apparently ended in divorce. He and Josefa were married about seven years before she passed away in her sleep from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1961. Josefa had previously been married twice and had a son from one of the marriages. She is buried in the Johnson Family Cemetery.
Lyndon’s brother Sam Houston Johnson worked closely with LBJ for many years. He succeeded Lyndon as an aide to Congressman Richard Kleberg, worked for the National Youth Administration, Federal Land Bank, the War Production Board, an advisor to Lyndon and at least two positions in private business. Sam Houston Johnson had earned a law degree from Cumberland School of Law but to the best of our knowledge did not practice law with a law firm. Sam was twice married. He passed away in 1978 and is buried in the Johnson Family Cemetery.
Sister Lucia Huffman Johnson was married to Birge Davis Alexander, a native of Minnesota, in 1933. Birge had earned a degree in civil engineering from University of Texas in 1939. During his career, he primarily worked for the Federal Aviation Administration. He died in 2004, Lucia died in 1997 and both are buried in the Johnson Family Cemetery.
The name Baines, common to Lyndon and others, was a family name and the maiden name of Rebekah, Lyndon’s mother. Her father and Lyndon’s grandfather was Joseph Wilson Baines and her mother was Ruth Ament Huffmann Baines. Joseph Wilson Baines (1846-1906) had come to Texas from his birthplace in Louisiana. He was described as a lawyer, publisher and former Texas Secretary of State. He also had served one term in the Texas legislature. Joseph Wilson Baines had received his education at Baylor University in Independence, Texas before the university moved to Waco. After graduating from Baylor, Joseph moved to McKinney where studied law under James Webb Throckmorton. While residing in Collin County, he published several newspapers, as well. At the time of his death at age 60, the family was living near Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, and he was buried in Der Stadt Friedhof, along with his wife Ruth. The name Der Stadt Friedhof is German and means the city cemetery.
The father of Joseph Wilson Baines and Lyndon’s great grandfather was George Washington Baines, a minister, teacher and former President of Baylor University at Independence. Baines was well known in Baptist circles. Baines had been born in North Carolina in 1809 and made his way to Texas around 1850, after living in several other southern states. At Independence, he was a teacher and pastor. He and his wife had also served as house parents for the on-campus boarding house/dormitory for Baylor female students. Baines served as pastor of the Independence Baptist Church and also was an editor of the denominational periodical, The Texas Baptist. He also served on the board of trustees of Baylor and accepted the position of President of Baylor prior to the Civil War. Baines personally knew Sam Houston and is known to have counselled Houston when Houston was deciding to become a Christian. The two remained friends until Houston died in 1861. Baines eventually moved to Salado in Bell County when he died from complications of malaria in 1882. He is buried in the Old Salado Graveyard.
Many of the individuals named above are buried in the Johnson Family Cemetery, on the grounds of the LBJ Ranch, a National Historic Site. The Johnson Family Cemetery is privately owned by the Johnson family. The website for the cemetery states, “Please respect their requests and do not enter the cemetery.” It is quite scenic under a grove of oak trees and easy to view from the roadway.
Johnson, Samuel Ealy, Jr. (1877&ndash1937)
Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr., legislator and father of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the son of Eliza (Bunton) and Samuel Ealy Johnson, Sr., was born at Buda, Texas, on October 11, 1877. He moved with his parents to Gillespie County, where he attended school at Johnson City. Although forced to leave school at an early age, he passed the teacher's examination and was awarded a teaching certification. He taught school in 1896 at White Oak School in Sandy and later at Rocky School near Hye. In 1904 he was elected to the state legislature from the Eighty-ninth District, succeeding his future father-in-law, Joseph Wilson Baines. He served in the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh, and Thirty-eighth legislatures. He was the author of the Alamo Purchase Bill (which appropriated $65,000 for the purchase of the Alamo property), a bill providing $3 million to aid drought-stricken farmers and ranchers of West Texas, the Blue Sky Law, and other important legislative measures. On August 20, 1907, Johnson married Rebekah Baines (see JOHNSON, REBEKAH BAINES). The couple were parents of five children, including the thirty-sixth president of the United States. In 1906 Samuel E. Johnson, Jr., suffered severe financial losses, which wiped out his cotton holdings and left him deeply in debt. For a number of years he was engaged in real estate transactions. In 1935 and 1937 he was stricken with heart attacks. He died on October 23, 1937, and was buried in the family cemetery at Johnson City.
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
[Lyndon Baines Johnson]
Photograph of Lyndon Baines Johnson. He is wearing a suit, a patterned shirt, a tie, a boutonniere, and a ribbon.
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LBJ Museum of San Marcos
The LBJ Museum focuses on former President Lyndon B. Johnson's formative years, which he spent as a college student and teacher in San Marcos. The Museum shows how his early experiences impacted the community and later the nation. Beyond their collections, they also offer training in collection management.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Dies In Texas
On this day in 1973, former President Lyndon Baines Johnson dies in Johnson City, Texas, at the age of 64.
After leaving the White House in 1968, L.B.J. returned to his beloved home state, Texas, with his wife, Ladybird, and immersed himself in the activity dearest to him: ranching. Although ostensibly retired, L.B.J. kept up a busy daily schedule reminiscent of his days in the White House. His biographer, Doris Kearns, observed Johnson going about ranching duties with the same intensity he had once displayed at work in the Oval Office. At morning meetings on the ranch, Johnson instructed each hand to make a solemn pledge that you will not go to bed tonight until you are sure that every steer has everything he needs. We’ve got a chance of producing some of the finest beef in this country if we work at it.and if we treat those hens with loving care we should be able to produce the finest eggs in the country. Each night he found not presidential briefings on his bedside table, but reports he had ordered on the ranch’s daily production of eggs. To Kearns, Johnson’s obsession with his hens’ inability to produce as many eggs as he expected contained a hint of the frustration he had once experienced in trying to win an apparently un-winnable war in Vietnam.
Beneath the bustle, Johnson remained, in his own words, miserable. For a man who had wanted to carve out a legacy as the creator of a Great Society in America, his disappointment that his part in escalating the Vietnam War overshadowed his other accomplishments was immense. Johnson’s record included successful social and economic reforms such as the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, improvements in housing and urban development and strong support for America’s space program, but these seemed to be forgotten as public criticism of the war dogged L.B.J. into retirement and even beyond the grave.
On the day of Nixon’s second inaugural celebration, Johnson watched sullenly as Nixon announced the dismantling of many of Johnson’s Great Society social programs and, the next day, that he had achieved the ceasefire in Vietnam that had eluded Johnson. Johnson had reportedly predicted that [when the Great Society] dies, I, too, will die. The following day, while Ladybird and their daughters were in Austin, Johnson suffered a fatal heart attack at his ranch in Johnson City.