Lady Bird Johnson

Lady Bird Johnson

Claudia Alta Taylor was born on December 22, 1912, in Karnack, Texas. She was a descendant of English Protestant martyr Rowland Taylor through his grandson Captain Thomas J. Taylor II. Her father, a native of Alabama, had primarily English ancestry, and some Welsh and Danish. Lady Bird was a shy and quiet girl who spent much of her youth alone.

About Lady Bird Johnson in brief

Summary Lady Bird JohnsonClaudia Alta Taylor was born on December 22, 1912, in Karnack, Texas. She was a descendant of English Protestant martyr Rowland Taylor through his grandson Captain Thomas J. Taylor II. Her father, a native of Alabama, had primarily English ancestry, and some Welsh and Danish. Lady Bird had two elder brothers, Thomas Jefferson Jr. and Antonio, also known as Tony. Her mother, born Minnie Lee Pattillo, loved opera and felt out of place in Karnacks, Texas, where she was often in poor emotional and physical health. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1988, the highest honors bestowed upon a US civilian. Lady Bird was a shy and quiet girl who spent much of her youth alone, but her Aunt Effie opened her spirit to beauty but neglected to give her any insight into the practical matters of life.Until she was about 20, every summer meant a train ride to Alabama until she was a young woman until she learned how to ride a bike. As First Lady, she broke new ground by interacting directly with Congress, employing her own press secretary, and making a solo electioneering tour. Johnson was an advocate for beautifying the nation’s cities and highways. The Highway Beautification Act was informally known as \”Lady Bird’s Bill. \” Her husband, Lyndon B. Johnson, tended to see blacks as nothing more than \”hewers of wood and drawers of water,\” according to his younger son Anthony.

His daughter once said, ‘He lived by his own rules. It was a whole feudal way of life, really.\’ Lady Bird’s mother was a tall, eccentric woman from an old and aristocratic Alabama family, who scandalized people for miles around by entertaining Negroes in her home, and once even started to write a book about Negro religious practices, called Bio Baptism. Her father became a wealthy businessman, and owned 15,000 acres of cotton and two general stores. His second wife was Beulah Taylor, a bookkeeper at a general store. His third wife was Ruth Scroggins, whom he married in 1937. In a profile of Lady Bird Johnson, Time magazine described her mother as ‘a tall and eccentric woman who liked to wear long white dresses and heavy veils, liked to entertain Negroes and scandalize people by entertaining them at her home. She was named for her mother’s brother Claud. During her teenage years, some classmates would call her Bird to provoke her, since she reportedly was not fond of the name. During her infancy, her nursemaid, Alice Tittle, said that she was as ‘purty as a ladybird.’ Her father and siblings called her Lady, and her husband called her Bird—the name she used on her marriage license, He became a businessman and became the 36th President of the United States.