Presidential Presents

             

I have long been taken with the idea of trying to visit all the Presidential Libraries in the U.S.- there are 13 in total. Progress thus far hasn't been brilliant: in three years, I have managed a grand total of none. So I was delighted that Robert and Alexis suggested that we spend a couple of hours at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library & Museum, which is located within the Texas State University in Austin. (TSU is the home of the Texas Longhorns, and the whole campus was dwarfed by the mighty stadium).

I previously knew very little about LBJ - other than he was the President who took over after Kennedy was shot, that he appointed Thurgood Marshall as the first black Supreme Court judge and that he got himself in rather a mess over Vietnam. But, predictably enough, the museum was informative, thoughtfully curated and entertaining, and I now know a lot more about the old man.

There is something quite fascinating about seeing history presented through the spectrum of one individual - and the timespan of LBJ's life (1908-1973) meant that this museum was pretty much a history of the twentieth century. LBJ lived through a period of incredible social, economic and technological change - his early years as a Congressman were occupied with bringing electricity to the rural poor yet by the time he was President a man was walking on the moon. Although conscious that the hidden purpose of any Presidential Library is to preserve the individual's legacy as they would wish - and in some cases to rewrite history as they wish it had been written - I thought that the whole museum was surprisingly balanced, particularly the section on Vietnam. There was even reference in the introductory film to the 'suspiciously lopsided trend' in the ballot boxes which helped elect 'Landslide Lyndon' to the Senate in 1948 by a mere 87 votes (as well as to the similar phenomenon in his opponent's favour that had helped defeat him in his first run for the Senate in 1941). LBJ declared that 'This Library will show the facts - not just the joys and triumphs, but the sorrow and failures too' and to a large degree it seems to have done so. 

LBJ was born in a farmhouse in Stonewall, Texas and, judging from the photos on display, definitely wins the contest for cutest President baby. (I will verify this once I have visited the other 12 museums, but I'm pretty sure this portrait will be hard to beat). LBJ's father was a Congressman at the Texas House of Representatives and his grandfather declared that he expected LBJ to be a United States Senator before he was 40. Young Lyndon must have been a huge disappointment, as he was already 40 by the time he was elected to the Senate in 1948 (although he had already been a Congressman for 11 years and did then go on to be the youngest leader of the Democratic Party in history, aged 44). It is clear that politics was in LBJ's blood from an early age - the introductory movie contained some illuminating footage of President Johnson 'working the phones' ahead of a vote. (This was as much as we saw in the whole museum of the famous 'Johnson treatment'.) LBJ was famously hard-working and his long years of experience in Congress, particularly his time as Senate Majority Leader, meant that he knew how to get things done. As the film says: "He knew what was in the committees, he knew what came out of the committees; and he knew what made the members of Congress tick'. The footage evidences LBJ's sense of urgency and makes one realise that it was not by chance that such a huge number of bills were signed under his leadership; LBJ drove forward a huge legislative program (his vision was that of a 'Great Society' for the American People) on education, poverty, civil rights, the environment and healthcare, as well as treaties on space exploration and Nuclear Non-Proliferation. Incidentally, all this bill-signing required a huge number of pens. (I know know that the reason for this is so the Presidents can give the used pens as gifts to their mates as this article from Time Magazine explains - and please do note the part about George Bush not bothering with this tradition and just pocketing the pen). When LBJ signed the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964, he apparently used over 75 pens. It must have taken ages.

There was a suitably sombre section on Vietnam, including some extremely poignant letters from soldiers to their families. The section on 1968 was also extremely well curated - with the escalation of the Vietnam conflict, domestic civil unrest and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy so well documented that it gave one some idea of the pressure that President Johnson must have been under during that 'agonizing' year, a time during which he later wrote that he 'sometimes felt that I was living in a continuous nightmare'. However, the most moving item in the collection was a letter from Jackie Kennedy to President Johnson written the day after the funeral of her late husband. I couldn't help feeling I was invading her privacy by reading this most private of notes - her curly blue characters set out on single sheets of small white paper. The letter is poignant, but also incredibly illuminating - particularly in the light it sheds on the relationship between the Kennedy and Johnson families. I was touched by how young she sounds - she was 34 at the time of JFK's death - and it made me realise what it must have been not only to lose her husband, but also her home and her identity, and all with two small children to care for. The museum provided a transcript of the letter - of which I have transcribed a small section below. (The full text is available here). 

"Dear Mr. President,

Thank you for walking yesterday - behind Jack. You did not have to do that - I am sure many people forbid you to take such a risk - but you did it anyway.

Thank you for the letters to my children. What those letters will mean to them later - you can imagine. The touching thing is, they have always loved you so much, they were most moved to have a letter from you now.

And most of all Mr. President, thank you for the way you have always treated me - the way you and Lady Bird have always been to me - before, when Jack was alive, and now as President.  [...]

"It mustn't be much help to you your first day in office - to hear children on the lawn at recess. It is just one more example of your kindness that you let them stay - I promise - they will soon be gone -

Thank you Mr. President,

Respectfully

                                                                 Jackie."

Now, before I get too carried away with the sad letters of grieving widows, I'll race forward to the best bit of the museum: The Presents. One of the great perks of being president is that other heads of state bring you lots of great gifts - ostensibly as an expression of their respect and admiration. There are 1400 state gifts in the LBJ museum, 81 of which were on display and, rest assured, there are no DVD box sets here. Treasures include a Ceremonial Headdress by Yoruba master sculptor, Etoube of Ketu, given by the President of Senegal; a 1st Century Perfume Bottle presented by the Prime Minister of Israel; and a Diego Rivera Naturaleza Muerta offered by the President of Mexico. Classy stuff. But these 1400 items do not include the gifts given to President & Lady Bird Johnston by the American people, which are amongst the most bizarre artifacts that I have ever laid eyes on. Gifts sent to LBJ include a selection of hideous homemade ceramics, a monogrammed white tie, drawing of dogs, a white elephant (I jest not), hand-pressed wildflowers and, my absolute favourite, a 'Fired Brick' with the initals LBJ written upon it. 

  

And to think that this is just a small proportion of the gifts. Small wonder that recent Presidents felt the need to create these Presidential Libraries - there is no way you would want all that lot cluttering up your mantelpiece.

And then, just as I thought I couldn't take any more kitsch, we stumbled across a section entitled 'The Humour of LBJ' - which features an animatronic LBJ as a raconteur in his retirement years on his ranch. The waxwork figure, which had Alex transfixed, tells a sampling of LBJ's favourite stories, showcasing the 'homespun wit' that featured in his speeches. The tales sounded quite amusing but unfortunately I was unable to hear the punchlines to any of the jokes as whenever the strange talking man moved its head poor Alex got freaked out and started screaming.

     

There's so much more to tell - I haven't even mentioned the replica Oval office yet - but I must stop writing and get to bed.

So, one Presidential Library down, 12 to go. And we have six months left in the US. I'd better get a move on - I have an estimated 400 million pages of textual materials, 10 million photographs, 100,000 hours of audio and video recording and 500,000 museum objects to admire. It might be tight.

Comments

[Colette]

Come on, mama shercs, it's time for another quarterly report! Eloise needs to know how her fiance is getting on... either that or a Skype.
x

[Mike Belile]

Great post! One quick note, Texas State University (TSU)is located in San Marcos, Texas; The University of Texas (UT) which houses the LBJ Library is in Austin.