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Lady Bird Johnson, née Claudia Alta Taylor, (γεννήθηκε στις 22 Δεκεμβρίου 1912, Karnack, Texas, ΗΠΑ - πέθανε στις 11 Ιουλίου 2007, Austin, Texas), αμερικανίδα πρώτη κυρία (1963–69), η σύζυγος του Lyndon B. Johnson, Ο 36ος πρόεδρος των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών και ένας περιβαλλοντολόγος σημείωσε την έμφαση στην ομορφιά.
Κουίζ
Διάσημα αμερικανικά πρόσωπα: Γεγονότα ή φαντασία;
Ο Μπέντζαμιν Φράνκλιν δεν έγραψε ποτέ ένα βιβλίο.
Η κόρη του Τόμας Τζέφερσον Τέιλορ, ενός ευημερούμενου επιχειρηματία, και της Μίνι Μπάτιλο Τέιλορ, η Κλαούντια Άλτα Τέιλορ πήρε το παρατσούκλι «Lady Bird» μετά από πρόταση μιας οικογενειακής νοσοκόμου. Μετά το θάνατο της μητέρας της το 1918, η Lady Bird μεγάλωσε από μια θεία που ήρθε να ζήσει με την οικογένεια. Η παιδική της ηλικία ήταν πολύ μοναχική και αργότερα σημείωσε ότι κατά τη διάρκεια αυτών των χρόνων ανέπτυξε την αγάπη της για ανάγνωση και το σεβασμό της για την ηρεμία της φύσης. Ασυνήθιστα φωτεινή, παρακολούθησε τοπικά σχολεία και αποφοίτησε από το λύκειο σε ηλικία 15 ετών. Αργότερα παρακολούθησε την Επισκοπική Σχολή για Κορίτσια της St. Mary στο Ντάλας του Τέξας, όπου ακολούθησε το ενδιαφέρον της για γραφή.
Στο Πανεπιστήμιο του Τέξας στο Ώστιν, το οποίο εισήλθε το 1930, απολάμβανε πολλές πολυτέλειες που δεν μπορούσαν να αντέξουν οι περισσότεροι άλλοι φοιτητές, όπως το δικό του λογαριασμό αυτοκινήτου και χρέωσης, αλλά είχε ήδη αναπτύξει τις πολύ προσεκτικές συνήθειες δαπανών που θα την χαρακτήριζαν αργότερα στη ζωή. Αφού ολοκλήρωσε πτυχίο στην ιστορία το 1933, παρέμεινε ένα επιπλέον έτος για να πάρει πτυχίο δημοσιογραφίας. Η εκπαίδευσή της σε αυτόν τον τομέα την βοήθησε να αναπτύξει δεξιότητες που αργότερα θα χρησιμοποιούσε στις σχέσεις της με τον τύπο.
Γνώρισε τον Lyndon Baines Johnson το καλοκαίρι του 1934 και πρότεινε σχεδόν αμέσως. Παντρεύτηκαν στην Επισκοπική Εκκλησία του Αγίου Μάρκου στο Σαν Αντόνιο του Τέξας, στις 17 Νοεμβρίου 1934. Μετά από αρκετές αποβολές, η Lady Bird γέννησε δύο κόρες, την Lynda Bird το 1944 και την Luci Baines το 1947.
In 1937 Lady Bird used $10,000 of her inheritance to support Lyndon’s first congressional campaign. After his election, she assisted constituents visiting the capital by showing them the main tourist attractions of the city. In 1941–42, while Lyndon was serving in the military (Lyndon was the first congressman to volunteer for active duty in World War II), she ran his congressional office and further developed her skills at handling his constituents.
In 1943, with more of Lady Bird’s inherited money, the Johnsons purchased a radio station in Austin, and Lady Bird took over as manager. Although it was never clear how much of her ensuing success was due to her own decisions and how much to Lyndon’s political connections or to sheer luck, her interest and expertise were genuine, and she continued to be active in managerial decisions long after the station became profitable.
As her husband’s political career advanced and he became a powerful figure in Washington, D.C., Lady Bird participated in his campaigns but shied away from giving speeches, preferring to shake hands and write letters instead. After taking a course in public speaking in 1959, however, she became an excellent extemporaneous speaker. In 1960, when Lyndon was nominated for vice president on the Democratic ticket with John F. Kennedy, she actively campaigned throughout the South, and Robert Kennedy later said that she had carried Texas for the Democrats.
Lady Bird used the three years of her husband’s vice presidency to hire an expert staff, including Liz Carpenter, a seasoned reporter, who served as both staff director and press secretary. Carpenter helped to portray Lady Bird in the best possible light when, after the assassination of President Kennedy in November 1963, she faced unfavourable comparisons with her stunning predecessor, Jacqueline Kennedy.
In the election of 1964, Lady Bird campaigned vigorously. Although Lyndon’s strong stand on civil rights had made him a pariah in many parts of the South, she insisted that no state be written off. From her campaign train, dubbed the “Lady Bird Special,” she rode through seven Southern states, urging voters to support her husband.
Following his election, she moved to establish her own record as first lady. She concentrated on Head Start, a program aimed at helping preschool children who were from disadvantaged backgrounds. But she became most closely identified with an environmental program, called “beautification,” that sought to encourage people to make their surroundings more attractive, whether they were wide-open spaces or crowded urban neighbourhoods. To encourage private donations, she formed the First Lady’s Committee for a More Beautiful Capital.
In an attempt to improve the appearance of the nation’s highways, she urged Congress to pass the Highway Beautification Bill, which was strenuously opposed by billboard advertisers. Her involvement in the legislation was highly unusual, and, though she received some criticism, the bill (in diluted form) passed Congress and became law in October 1965.
After Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not seek reelection in 1968, Lady Bird continued a busy round of official activities but also prepared for retirement in Texas. There she continued the interests that had long sustained her, especially her family and environmental concerns, including the National Wildflower Research Center (now the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center). Although she occasionally made political appearances for her son-in-law, Virginia governor (and later senator) Charles Robb, she dedicated most of her time to the family business and her grandchildren.
Early in her White House tenure, she began to record her impressions in daily tape recordings. A fraction of the thousands of hours she taped became the basis of her book, A White House Diary (1970), which was one of the most complete and revealing accounts ever left by a president’s wife.
Following her husband’s death in 1973 she divided her time between the LBJ ranch and her home in Austin. She could take satisfaction in the fact that Americans typically ranked her in the top half dozen of all first ladies.
