welcome back to the ancestral findings podcast Claudia Lady Bird Johnson was the wife of U.S
president Lyndon B Johnson and the daughter of a wealthy Texas family with roots in Alabama
her childhood was unconventional as was her school career and her courtship with Lyndon
here is her intriguing and quite frankly remarkable story [Music]
born Claudia Alta Taylor on December 22nd 1912 in Karnak Texas our future 36th first lady gained the
nickname ladybird at a young age and the nickname would become what she was known as publicly for
the rest of her life the nickname came from her childhood nursemaid who said of her when she was
an infant that she was as pretty as a ladybird her given first name of Claudia was in honor of
her mother's brother Claude even her father and siblings called her lady and her future husband
called her bird she also used bird as the name on her marriage certificate instead of Claudia
ladybird grew up in an antebellum plantation house that her father purchased shortly before she was
born she was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson Taylor and Minnie Lee patillo her father was the
son of a sharecropper and a native of Alabama however he worked his way up from poverty to
become a wealthy business person owning fifteen thousand acres of cotton and two General stores
her mother was also a native of Alabama while she adored Opera she was often in poor physical health
and her emotional health was not very strong most of the time either she was considered
eccentric and came from an old aristocratic and Wealthy Alabama family she enjoyed wearing long
white dresses with heavy veils and who caused local Scandal by inviting African Americans
into her home to entertain them at a time when that was simply not done in the American South
in addition many began writing a book about the religious practices of African Americans in the
South called bio baptism she never finished it but merely beginning it was considered scandalous
many died when ladybird was five years old due to the complications of a miscarriage she suffered
after falling down a flight of stairs after the death of her mother ladybird who also had two
Elder Brothers was mostly raised by her aunt Effie patio her mother's sister Effie moved to
Karnak after many died and ladybird visited her mother's relatives in Alabama every summer until
she grew up she was an excellent student and graduated third in her class from high school
she actually had to drive to a different town to attend high school as Karnak did not have one and
her father bought ladybird her own car for this she actually had the graves to be valedictorian
but purposefully let her grades slip to third in her class so she would not have to give a
valedictorian or salutatorian speech because she was shy she graduated from Saint Mary's Episcopal
College in 1930. she later returned to school at the University of Texas and earned a ba in
history with honors in 1933 and a second ba degree in journalism [ __ ] laude in 1934.
a friend from the University of Texas introduced her to her future husband Lyndon Baines Johnson
who was then a 26 year old Congressional aide with political ambitions the attraction
between the two was immediate so much so that Lyndon proposed to ladybird on their first date
she did not want to rush into things but Lyndon did not want to wait to marry her ten weeks later
she finally gave in and accepted his proposal they married on November 17 1934 in San Antonio Texas
starting a family was a challenge for them at first with ladybirds suffering three miscarriages
early on they finally had two healthy daughters together Linda and Lucy everyone in their little
family shared the same initials LBJ Linda and Lucy spent 13 years in the White House and under sharp
media scrutiny as they grew into women ladybird received a substantial inheritance from her father
and spent it on excellent Investments such as radio stations and Banks eventually she turned her
investment of forty one thousand dollars into more than 150 million dollars and was the first wife
of a U.S president to become a millionaire in her own right before her husband was elected to office
as first lady ladybird began a beautification project for the nation's capital wanting to
improve it for both residents and tourists this involved planting millions of flowers in the city
she was quoted as saying where flowers bloom so does Hope ladybird enjoyed being first lady but
was eager for her husband to leave office because she was concerned being president
was bad for his health partially because of her influence and partially because of Party politics
Linden declined to accept a nomination for a second term as president this was a legitimate
concern of ladybirds as Linden died only a few years after leaving office after having a heart
attack unexpectedly ladybird being entitled to Secret Service protection as a presidential Widow
who had not remarried maintained this protection for 44 years longer than any other first lady or
president in history so far she died of old age at 94. on July 11 2007. at the time she had seven
grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren three weeks before she died she gave three
hundred thousand dollars to her church Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg
Texas to pay off its mortgage Lady Bird was the first first lady to die in the 21st century
she also became the third longest living first lady behind only best Truman and Nancy Reagan her
funeral was a public event with the public being invited to line the route in downtown Austin Texas
as her processional went by her pallbearers unlike other first ladies were members of the military
the burial ceremony was Private taking place at the Johnson family Cemetery in Stonewall Texas
she was placed next to her husband who pre-deceased her by 34 years
today Lady Bird Johnson is remembered as a lady of class Elegance distinction and
kindness and is one of the most recognizable first ladies of the 20th century [Music]
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