LBJ for the USA

When I was in Kindergarten we had a highly technical toy called a spelling board.  It looked something like this:
   Being the precocious child I was I spelled out L-B-J on the first line and U-S-A on the second line.  Miss Warren apparently thought I was quite brilliant and trotted me around the school to show various adults my prodigious accomplishment.  I don't know why I remember that but I do.  I vaguely remember that I had seen that letter combination on something at home-probably a campaign pin or on tv, I don't know.  Anyway, Lyndon Johnson has a place in my memory.  I think he is a fascinating man.  Today, we visited the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in Austin, Texas.  The building itself is a huge white structure on the campus of the University of Texas.  It would have been very modern and beautiful in 1971 when it was dedicated.  Today it is a dated, large white building.  When we walked in the lady at the desk said that they weren't set up to collect admission but donations were encouraged.  She asked us our zip code and then the lady next to her asked if I wore a lot of yellow since we were from Maize. She said she was just asking since I was wearing yellow today. Ha, ha ha...yesterday we were asked if Dorothy had her own museum in Kansas.  I don't ask Texans if they remember the Alamo or if the eyes of Texas are blue.  I mean, come on!

Our tour began with an introductory movie (are you sensing a trend?) about the life of LBJ.  Just as the movie came on a large group of elementary age children came into the theater.  Let's just say, if a couple of them had been my students, they wouldn't have lived long.  Fortunately they left after the movie.  My overall impression of the museum is that it was arranged in a confusing manner, especially on the first floor.  I mean the third floor.  Then you walked up a giant marble staircase to the fourth floor.  There is a photo that shows Johnson's casket being carried up the same stairway for his lying in state.  The fourth floor is a timeline of Johnson's political career.  He was a teacher who became a professional politician.  There was much made of the "Johnson treatment".  He was a tall, imposing man who, if he wanted something, became very insistent.  He had a habit of invading what we now call your "personal space".  He would grab you by your lapels, lean into your face a proceed to make his point.  I think it was Rockefeller who said he had a way of breathing into your mouth until your air was completely sucked out and you had no choice but to give in.  With women he was a shameless flirt.  One thing they did have that I enjoyed were phone kiosks that you could listen to excerpts of conversations he had with various people on different topics.  When you finished the fourth floor you had to take the elevator to the 10th floor for the final 3 exhibits.  The Oval Office reproduction, an exhibit on the lovely Lady Bird and a short movie about LBJ's family life.

Johnson's legacy is a great one.  Many of our social programs were started by Johnson and his Great Society.  He accomplished much during his short tenure.  It is too bad that Vietnam overshadowed his presidency.  Sadly, Johnson died 5 years after leaving office.  Tomorrow we will head over to Johnson City and the Johnson Ranch.

Off to bed.
(Dang Royals just gave STL 4 runs in one inning!)