A Great Lady Passes

If you have a minute or two, I’d ask that you read this fine tribute to the former Claudia Alta Taylor written by Enid Nemy of the New York Times. It details the quite-full life of “Lady Bird” Johnson, who left us yesterday at 94.

I suppose it’s hard now to conceive of a woman acting in a subservient manner to a powerful man who could still be formidable herself, but that was very much the case with Mrs. Johnson, and it was a role she chose at a time when others chose the same, for good or ill.

There’s so much to appreciate and respect about her life that it’s hard to summarize it, though many people have focused on her commitment to the environment, which is as it should be. But it’s important that we not forget about her compassion and understanding as well.

I dusted off our copy of “The Vantage Point” last night, which is the memoir Lyndon Johnson wrote about his presidency, in an effort to find some anecdotes about her. There are plenty of acknowledgements of her, but not a lot that reveals anything about her. However, the book does note how she comforted Jacqueline Kennedy after the assassination, and I also found this recollection after they both returned to Austin, TX in 1969 after the inauguration of Richard Nixon…

The weather was warm and mild at the Ranch. After we changed into comfortable clothes, Lady Bird and I walked around the yard together. In the carport behind the house the luggage was piled in a giant mound. For the first time in five years there were no aides to carry the bags inside. Lady Bird looked at the scene and began to laugh. “The coach has turned back into a pumpkin,” she said, “and the mice have all run away.”

Here are other examples of her characteristic folksiness, emblematic of her character, as noted in the Times tribute…

Mrs. Johnson’s Texas heritage was often evident in her speech. “I’ll see you next week if the Lord be willing and the creek don’t rise” was one expression. Her description of someone who acted without thinking was “the type who would charge hell with a bucket of water.”

I know I shouldn’t dishonor this tribute by noting the obvious connection to that phrase and another Texas president who is microscopic versus LBJ in terms of intellect and integrity, but…

I doubt we will ever see the likes of Lady Bird Johnson again, largely because she was a product of her time, and we will be the worse for it.

Update 7/20: Though this tells an unfortunate story, it also honors her legacy; it also shows that we have much to do to build on her fine work.