April 2, 1967. The Johnsons are on their way from San Antonio to Austin:  “While flying over San Marcos, the President had the chopper divert off regular flight pattern and circle over the college (Southwest Texas State College)… Arrive Balcones Research Center, landing in a field of bluebonnets which afforded much delight to the President and Mrs. Johnson.” They are shown possible materials for the exterior of the LBJ Library, on the University of Texas campus. One type is emerging as a favorite:  “Several buildings are made, around the University and Austin, of the shellstone — the museum of history, etc. Mrs. Johnson said she favored this, for it has such as interesting texture and history since ‘it once lived on the floor of the ocean.’ Mrs. Johnson seemed to lean toward a shellstone with the Italian travertine floors…. The President said that all three — the shellstone and the New Mexico and Italian travertine—should be bid for the sake of good business. Thus also it could be justified that the reason a foreign product was imported was for economies sake, since a State Institution (The University of Texas) must take the most economical route.” —The President’s Daily Diary, April 2, 1966. Pg. 4.  Photo of UT via Wikimedia Commons.  
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April 2, 1967. The Johnsons are on their way from San Antonio to Austin: 

“While flying over San Marcos, the President had the chopper divert off regular flight pattern and circle over the college (Southwest Texas State College)…

Arrive Balcones Research Center, landing in a field of bluebonnets which afforded much delight to the President and Mrs. Johnson.”

They are shown possible materials for the exterior of the LBJ Library, on the University of Texas campus. One type is emerging as a favorite: 

“Several buildings are made, around the University and Austin, of the shellstone — the museum of history, etc. Mrs. Johnson said she favored this, for it has such as interesting texture and history since ‘it once lived on the floor of the ocean.’ Mrs. Johnson seemed to lean toward a shellstone with the Italian travertine floors….

The President said that all three — the shellstone and the New Mexico and Italian travertine—should be bid for the sake of good business. Thus also it could be justified that the reason a foreign product was imported was for economies sake, since a State Institution (The University of Texas) must take the most economical route.”

—The President’s Daily Diary, April 2, 1966. Pg. 4.  Photo of UT via Wikimedia Commons.  

March 18, 1967. Lady Bird records in her diary: “This morning I went into the Yellow Oval Room to meet a student group from Texas, brought here by the Texas State Society for their annual brunch. Horace Busby was the entrepreneur and the purpose was to honor ‘the campus generation’ in Texas and especially the University of Texas. This provided an opportunity to show another face of our young people and another face of Texas. The honor guests were the members of the University of Texas College Bowl Team, which has just won the championship on television in a contest of academic knowledge against teams from other major colleges. The competition was a cliff-hanging thriller. Dr. Harry Ransom, Chancellor of the University of Texas, ordered the lights on the Main Building tower turned orange when they won, just as for a triumphant football team.”  Texas-Ex Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary, New York: Dell Books, 1971, pg 503. Photo by Smarter Within via flickr.
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March 18, 1967. Lady Bird records in her diary:

“This morning I went into the Yellow Oval Room to meet a student group from Texas, brought here by the Texas State Society for their annual brunch. Horace Busby was the entrepreneur and the purpose was to honor ‘the campus generation’ in Texas and especially the University of Texas. This provided an opportunity to show another face of our young people and another face of Texas.

The honor guests were the members of the University of Texas College Bowl Team, which has just won the championship on television in a contest of academic knowledge against teams from other major colleges. The competition was a cliff-hanging thriller. Dr. Harry Ransom, Chancellor of the University of Texas, ordered the lights on the Main Building tower turned orange when they won, just as for a triumphant football team.”

 Texas-Ex Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary, New York: Dell Books, 1971, pg 503. Photo by Smarter Within via flickr.

March 15, 1967. The President and First Lady visit the Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson, in Nashville, TN. Mrs. Johnson speaks first, and then presents the Regent of the Ladies Hermitage Association with a seedling for the grounds.  After LBJ’s speech, according to the Daily Diary, the party heads into the house for a breakfast of frosted strawberries and pears, Tennessee Country Ham, Turkey Hash, grits souffle, fried apples, beaten biscuit, hot biscuit, coffee, and sweet rolls.  Photo #A3816-3, LBJ Presidential Library. Mrs. Johnson (center of the frame) presents a seedling to Mrs. Horatio B. Buntin, Regent of the Ladies Hermitage Association. Public domain. 
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March 15, 1967. The President and First Lady visit the Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson, in Nashville, TN. Mrs. Johnson speaks first, and then presents the Regent of the Ladies Hermitage Association with a seedling for the grounds. 

After LBJ’s speech, according to the Daily Diary, the party heads into the house for a breakfast of frosted strawberries and pears, Tennessee Country Ham, Turkey Hash, grits souffle, fried apples, beaten biscuit, hot biscuit, coffee, and sweet rolls. 

Photo #A3816-3, LBJ Presidential Library. Mrs. Johnson (center of the frame) presents a seedling to Mrs. Horatio B. Buntin, Regent of the Ladies Hermitage Association. Public domain. 

March 14, 1967. Lady Bird (in the green dress) and her entourage of 50 or more reporters descend on the Mathis family during her visit to North Carolina. The First Lady talks with family members about favorite television programs, the garden at the Ranch, and how the children like the Teacher Corps teachers in their school. Lady Bird presents Mrs. Mathis with preserves and honey from the ranch “wrapped incongruously in the elegant embossed paper from the White House.” LBJ Library Photo #C4719-3, public domain. Lady Bird quote from A White House Dairy. 
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March 14, 1967. Lady Bird (in the green dress) and her entourage of 50 or more reporters descend on the Mathis family during her visit to North Carolina.

The First Lady talks with family members about favorite television programs, the garden at the Ranch, and how the children like the Teacher Corps teachers in their school. Lady Bird presents Mrs. Mathis with preserves and honey from the ranch “wrapped incongruously in the elegant embossed paper from the White House.”

LBJ Library Photo #C4719-3, public domain. Lady Bird quote from A White House Dairy. 

March 8, 1967. Lady Bird attends the dedication of playground and playground equipment donated by Mrs. Diaz Ordaz, the First Lady of Mexico, at Hains Point, in Washington, DC.  LBJ Library photo #C4649-30A, Sec. Stewart Udall, Lady Bird Johnson, and others. Public domain. 
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March 8, 1967. Lady Bird attends the dedication of playground and playground equipment donated by Mrs. Diaz Ordaz, the First Lady of Mexico, at Hains Point, in Washington, DC. 

LBJ Library photo #C4649-30A, Sec. Stewart Udall, Lady Bird Johnson, and others. Public domain. 

March 2, 1967. Lady Bird welcomes to the White House family members of former Presidents: FDR’s granddaughter; President Taft’s son; Ike’s daughter-in-law, Barbara Eisenhower; and Margaret Truman and her husband Clifton Daniel.  “We sat around in the West Hall with a cup of tea and talked about their life and times here….They all seemed excited, but not as excited as I was.” Lady Bird Johnson  A White House Diary, New York: Dell Books, 1971, pg 538. LBJ Presidential Library photo #C4632-17, public domain. 
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March 2, 1967. Lady Bird welcomes to the White House family members of former Presidents: FDR’s granddaughter; President Taft’s son; Ike’s daughter-in-law, Barbara Eisenhower; and Margaret Truman and her husband Clifton Daniel. 

“We sat around in the West Hall with a cup of tea and talked about their life and times here….They all seemed excited, but not as excited as I was.”

Lady Bird Johnson  A White House Diary, New York: Dell Books, 1971, pg 538. LBJ Presidential Library photo #C4632-17, public domain. 

February 16, 1967. Lady Bird Johnson and Mary Lasker accept on behalf of their beautification program a surprise donation of flower seeds to be used in Washington, DC school grounds, in a presentation at the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden of the White House.  LBJ Presidential Library photo #C4560-20a, public domain. 
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February 16, 1967. Lady Bird Johnson and Mary Lasker accept on behalf of their beautification program a surprise donation of flower seeds to be used in Washington, DC school grounds, in a presentation at the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden of the White House. 

LBJ Presidential Library photo #C4560-20a, public domain. 

“Operator—Call Mrs. Johnson in the bowling alley and tell her I am upstairs.” —-LBJ, February 13, 1967, 7:30 PM, according to the Daily Diary. Photo: Muriel Humphrey and Lady Bird Johnson bowl as others watch, 3/1/1966. LBJ Presidential Library #C1387-6a, public domain. 
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“Operator—Call Mrs. Johnson in the bowling alley and tell her I am upstairs.”

—-LBJ, February 13, 1967, 7:30 PM, according to the Daily Diary.

Photo: Muriel Humphrey and Lady Bird Johnson bowl as others watch, 3/1/1966. LBJ Presidential Library #C1387-6a, public domain. 

January 27, 1967. After the signing of the Outer Space Treaty, Lady Bird shares a laugh with Vice President and Muriel Humphrey.  LBJ Presidential Library photo #7C4348-8A, public domain. 
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January 27, 1967. After the signing of the Outer Space Treaty, Lady Bird shares a laugh with Vice President and Muriel Humphrey. 

LBJ Presidential Library photo #7C4348-8A, public domain. 

We interrupt this regularly scheduled LBJ Time Machine:  To tell y’all that we have posted the 1934 love letters between LBJ and Lady Bird, available in full for the very first time, on the web. You can find them here: searchable, downloadable, and transcribed. LBJ and Lady Bird met on September 5, 1934 and  ”committed matrimony,” as Lady Bird described it, on November 17 of that same year. These 90-odd letters are their correspondence during the time of their (brief) courtship, while he was in Washington and she was in Texas. Enjoy—and Happy Valentine’s Day, from us to you.  — LBJ Presidential Library Archives Staff
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We interrupt this regularly scheduled LBJ Time Machine:  To tell y’all that we have posted the 1934 love letters between LBJ and Lady Bird, available in full for the very first time, on the web. You can find them here: searchable, downloadable, and transcribed. LBJ and Lady Bird met on September 5, 1934 and  ”committed matrimony,” as Lady Bird described it, on November 17 of that same year. These 90-odd letters are their correspondence during the time of their (brief) courtship, while he was in Washington and she was in Texas. Enjoy—and Happy Valentine’s Day, from us to you.  — LBJ Presidential Library Archives Staff
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We interrupt this regularly scheduled LBJ Time Machine:  To tell y’all that we have posted the 1934 love letters between LBJ and Lady Bird, available in full for the very first time, on the web. You can find them here: searchable, downloadable, and transcribed. LBJ and Lady Bird met on September 5, 1934 and  ”committed matrimony,” as Lady Bird described it, on November 17 of that same year. These 90-odd letters are their correspondence during the time of their (brief) courtship, while he was in Washington and she was in Texas. Enjoy—and Happy Valentine’s Day, from us to you.  — LBJ Presidential Library Archives Staff
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We interrupt this regularly scheduled LBJ Time Machine:  To tell y’all that we have posted the 1934 love letters between LBJ and Lady Bird, available in full for the very first time, on the web. You can find them here: searchable, downloadable, and transcribed. LBJ and Lady Bird met on September 5, 1934 and  ”committed matrimony,” as Lady Bird described it, on November 17 of that same year. These 90-odd letters are their correspondence during the time of their (brief) courtship, while he was in Washington and she was in Texas. Enjoy—and Happy Valentine’s Day, from us to you.  — LBJ Presidential Library Archives Staff
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We interrupt this regularly scheduled LBJ Time Machine: 

To tell y’all that we have posted the 1934 love letters between LBJ and Lady Bird, available in full for the very first time, on the web. You can find them here: searchable, downloadable, and transcribed.

LBJ and Lady Bird met on September 5, 1934 and  ”committed matrimony,” as Lady Bird described it, on November 17 of that same year. These 90-odd letters are their correspondence during the time of their (brief) courtship, while he was in Washington and she was in Texas. Enjoy—and Happy Valentine’s Day, from us to you. 

— LBJ Presidential Library Archives Staff

December 30, 1966. Lady Bird Johnson, President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Don Thomas look at art in the LBJ Ranch hangar. LBJ Presidential Library photo #4219-0020, public domain. 
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December 30, 1966. Lady Bird Johnson, President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Don Thomas look at art in the LBJ Ranch hangar.

LBJ Presidential Library photo #4219-0020, public domain. 

December 24, 1966. LBJ, Lady Bird, and Lynda go to San Antonio to greet wounded soldiers returning home at Kelly Air Force Base. In the First Lady’s words:  “And they began to file down the steps—twenty evacuees, including two children of servicemen stationed in the Far East—with bandaged arms or legs and silent, stunned faces. There was an utter stillness—never had the war felt so close—a strange war. Suddenly, as the first man approached the bottom of the steps, the small crowd burst into spontaneous applause… “The last of the twenty came down, and silently they went their ways and the clapping died. Then the three of us boarded the Jetstar. I felt buffeted by emotions, deep respect for those young men and for an organization that could get them all the way from Vietnam to San Antonio within hours of being wounded and sympathy for their families and a shattering sympathy for anybody who has yes’s and no’s to say about this war—McNamara, Westmoreland, Lyndon.” Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary, New York: Dell Books, 1971, pg 511-512. Photo via Texas Tech’s Virtual Vietnam Archive. 
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December 24, 1966. LBJ, Lady Bird, and Lynda go to San Antonio to greet wounded soldiers returning home at Kelly Air Force Base. In the First Lady’s words: 

“And they began to file down the steps—twenty evacuees, including two children of servicemen stationed in the Far East—with bandaged arms or legs and silent, stunned faces. There was an utter stillness—never had the war felt so close—a strange war. Suddenly, as the first man approached the bottom of the steps, the small crowd burst into spontaneous applause…

“The last of the twenty came down, and silently they went their ways and the clapping died. Then the three of us boarded the Jetstar. I felt buffeted by emotions, deep respect for those young men and for an organization that could get them all the way from Vietnam to San Antonio within hours of being wounded and sympathy for their families and a shattering sympathy for anybody who has yes’s and no’s to say about this war—McNamara, Westmoreland, Lyndon.”

Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary, New York: Dell Books, 1971, pg 511-512. Photo via Texas Tech’s Virtual Vietnam Archive. 

December 13, 1966. Lady Bird Johnson records in her diary:  “Sometime during the morning I became aware snow was falling. It is the most magical experience. I love it. I shall know I am really getting old when my heart doesn’t beat a little faster and a smile naturally break out when it starts snowing.” Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary, New York: Dell Books, 1971, pg 506. Photo: Lynda Johnson and friend Warrie Lynn Smith throw snowballs, 2/11/1964. 
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December 13, 1966. Lady Bird Johnson records in her diary: 

“Sometime during the morning I became aware snow was falling. It is the most magical experience. I love it. I shall know I am really getting old when my heart doesn’t beat a little faster and a smile naturally break out when it starts snowing.”

Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary, New York: Dell Books, 1971, pg 506. Photo: Lynda Johnson and friend Warrie Lynn Smith throw snowballs, 2/11/1964. 

December 1, 1966. Lady Bird attends the Awards Dinner for the National Institute of Social Science. She accepts her award, then sits down to hear the next recipient accept his: “Next there was Danny Kaye. And he didn’t read a word! He simply talked from the heart, impassioned, humorous, charming, about the world’s children, about UNICEF. it was a dear speech. He is a giving man. But I was feeling a little apprehensive—they weren’t closing the evening with Danny Kaye. Cardinal Spellman was still to come. I need not have been! He topped us all!”  Above: Danny Kaye, the man who opened for Cardinal Spellman, photo via the Library of Congress. Cardinal Spellman photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library via Flickr Creative Commons.  Lady Bird quote from A White House Diary, New York: Dell Books, 1971, pg 506.
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December 1, 1966. Lady Bird attends the Awards Dinner for the National Institute of Social Science. She accepts her award, then sits down to hear the next recipient accept his: “Next there was Danny Kaye. And he didn’t read a word! He simply talked from the heart, impassioned, humorous, charming, about the world’s children, about UNICEF. it was a dear speech. He is a giving man. But I was feeling a little apprehensive—they weren’t closing the evening with Danny Kaye. Cardinal Spellman was still to come. I need not have been! He topped us all!”  Above: Danny Kaye, the man who opened for Cardinal Spellman, photo via the Library of Congress. Cardinal Spellman photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library via Flickr Creative Commons.  Lady Bird quote from A White House Diary, New York: Dell Books, 1971, pg 506.
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December 1, 1966. Lady Bird attends the Awards Dinner for the National Institute of Social Science. She accepts her award, then sits down to hear the next recipient accept his:

“Next there was Danny Kaye. And he didn’t read a word! He simply talked from the heart, impassioned, humorous, charming, about the world’s children, about UNICEF. it was a dear speech. He is a giving man. But I was feeling a little apprehensive—they weren’t closing the evening with Danny Kaye. Cardinal Spellman was still to come. I need not have been! He topped us all!” 

Above: Danny Kaye, the man who opened for Cardinal Spellman, photo via the Library of Congress. Cardinal Spellman photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library via Flickr Creative Commons.  Lady Bird quote from A White House Diary, New York: Dell Books, 1971, pg 506.