Lady Bird (Claudia) Johnson planted trees
and daffodils around Washington D.C.
during the time her husband, Lyndon Baines Johnson,
was President of the United States from 1963 to 1969.
In February of 1965, undaunted, Lady Bird organized
A Society for a More Beautiful National Capital with private donations.
This Society planted hundreds of bulbs, shrubs and small blooming trees
both in the public areas for tourists and visitors to the city to enjoy as well
as in the inner city areas of D.C.
In her own words, “take the small triangles and squares with which
Washington abounds, now quite barren except for a dispirited sprig of grass,
and maybe a tottering bench, and put shrubs and flowers in them,
through the volunteer help of neighborhood associations or business firms
(it would take some cutting of red tape to do that);
perhaps have a volunteer committee of landscape architects
to draw up plans, so that we can have continuity and
good taste and a wise choice of plants.”
We still enjoy Lady Bird’s efforts each spring when daffodils burst into bloom
and cherry trees blossom in the D.C. area.
Her hope was that Washington D.C. could become an example
for other cities around the country.
In 1965, Lady Bird joined the Keep America Beautiful campaign.
October 1965: Next, she suggested that something be done about the
highways and infrastructure that had been built during the
Eisenhower administration and were clogged with billboards and junkyards.
So entered, The Highway Beautification Act, nicknamed “Lady Bird’s Bill.”
The resulting legislation limited the areas billboards could be placed
and provided for landscaping of roadside areas.
Later that month President Johnson signed into law The Water Quality Act.
November 1965: The Clean Air Act was next.
In 1966, Mrs. Johnson was presented with the George Foster Peabody Award
for the television program,
“A Visit to Washington with Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson on Behalf of a
More Beautiful America.”
In 1967, President Johnson declared a “Youth Natural Beauty and Conservation Year.”
March 1968: Johnson announced, to Lady Bird’s relief, that he would not run
in that fall’s election.
July 1968:President Johnson signed The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act.
October 1968: the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and the National Trails Systems Act
were signed by the President.
All these congressional actions, which should be near and dear to us as gardeners
and stewards of the earth, were suggested or influenced by Lady Bird!
“One method Mrs. Johnson employed in her beautification campaign
was to call attention to important sites by visiting those places
with the media in tow. She visited historic sites, national parks,
and scenic areas, usually accompanied by … a number of dignitaries
and the media. Her nine beautification trips included
Virginia historic places, the Hudson River in New York,
Big Bend National Park and the California Redwoods,
among others,” reports the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
In Lady Bird Johnson and the Environment, Austin historian Lewis Gould wrote that
“having a first lady who said that the Grand Canyon should be preserved
and the redwoods should not be cut down, that parks should be saved
and freeways built with urban residents in mind,
meant that environmental issues received a statement of legitimacy
and value from the White House and the presidency…
The result was an instilling of conservation and ecological ideas
in the national mind with a skill and adroitness that put Lady Bird Johnson
in the front rank among modern first ladies and women in American politics.”
And Lady Bird John herself said “wildflowers and native plants are as much
a part of our national heritage as Old Faithful or the Capitol building,
but the world in which they once flourished is now disappearing.”
“Lady Bird Johnson did more than plant flowers in public places.
She served the country superbly by planting environmental values
in the minds of the nation’s leaders and citizens,” wrote Stewart Udall,
U.S. Secretary of the Interior during Johnson’s administration.
January 1969: His final term at an end, President and Mrs. Johnson left Washington
and moved to the LBJ Ranch, 60 miles west of Austin.
While Lyndon Johnson roamed his ranch, Lady Bird attacked Austin’s problems.
Austin had a polluted waterfront area that was begging
for some of Lady Bird’s “beautification.” And beginning in 1969,
she held a competition, with awards for the best use
of wildflower plantings along Texas highways,
and she wrote personal checks to the winners as prizes.
This lasted until 1989.
In 1982, on her 70th birthday, she established the famous
National Wildflower Research Center with a gift of 60 acres near Austin.
It shortly expanded to “became a national leader in research,
education and projects that encouraged the use of wildflowers.”
She gave it the “mission of increasing the sustainable use and
conservation of native wildflowers, plants and landscapes…
the Center works to teach everyone how these plants conserve water,
minimize the use of fertilizers and insecticides that pollute the atmosphere.”
Later she purchased 40 more acres;
now the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
spans nearly 300 acres of trails, buildings, meadows and gardens.
It has more than 700 plant species on display,
and a fully developed education program.
Lady Bird in her element…Wildflowers.
Beautiful painting of Lady Bird
With U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson are their daughters
—Luci Baines, the younger, at left, and Lynda Bird, at right.
The two girls shared the LBJ initials made famous by their father.
My Notes:
I started to write about Mrs. Johnson’s daffodils but ended up writing
about what she gave to us and how we must care for our environment;
now and for future generations.
I’ll remember Lady Bird, each Spring, when I see a yellow daffodil
or a blooming cheery tree.
God Bless, Lady Bird Johnson.
Yours truly,
Barbara KisKis