Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 24 July 2018

Texas ranch shows President Johnson’s struggles and triumphs

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS face of a young child,” the
Associated Press president said as he urged
STONEWALL, Texas (AP) Congress to pass the Vot-
— Fifty years ago, a de- ing Rights Act and expand
pressed President Lyndon anti-poverty programs.
Johnson decided not to During his years as presi-
seek another term. Mar- dent, the ranch served as
tin Luther King, Jr. had just the Texas White House.
been assassinated. Cities Johnson invited members
were burning in riots. Col- of Congress and world dig-
lege students marched nitaries to “relax” here, but
against the Vietnam War. usually they ended up be-
Four years earlier, Johnson ing cajoled by Johnson into
had won re-election in one endorsing a policy or idea.
of the greatest landslides Tours these days include
in U.S. history and passed visits to the airplane han-
a slew of bills ensuring civil gar with a refurbished
rights, fighting poverty and presidential plane and a
expanding educational mobile structure used by
opportunities. Now, with television reporters. Aides
the nation in turmoil and his often briefed the president
approval ratings in decline, about the Vietnam War or
he was set to leave office. pending legislation while
Back at his Texas ranch, he Johnson swam nude in the
wondered: Where did it all ranch pool. The ranch also
go wrong? was a place of laughter.
That ranch is often viewed In this July 11, 2012 photo, the boyhood home of future U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson is shown On Nov. 21, 1964, a day
as a place where a heart- in Texas, as part of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park. before the one-year an-
broken president went to Associated Press niversary of President John
die. He left office in Janu- try about an hour west of speculator. His unsuccess- school in Cotulla, Texas. An F. Kennedy’s assassination
ary 1969 and had a fatal Austin, the ranch offers free ful business ventures meant exhibit at the ranch visitor — the event that had cat-
heart attack at the ranch tours led by park rangers, there was no money for center includes photos of apulted Johnson into the
four years later, at age 64. but visitors can also obtain Lyndon to attend an ex- him with former students presidency — Agriculture
But any visit to the Lyndon free driving permits to ex- pensive college. Instead he and an audio recording in Secretary Orville Freeman
B. Johnson National Histori- plore the grounds with an studied at Southwest Texas which he reflected on his tried to subdue a balky
cal Park in Stonewall, Texas, audio tour on their own. State Teachers College af- teaching experience in a pig at the ranch. Johnson
shows how important this Guided tours begin at ter a stint as a day laborer. speech to Congress. watched, laughing as Free-
sprawling place was to his Johnson’s humble child- While taking classes, he “Somehow you never for- man wrangled with the ani-
world view, planting no- hood home. The original worked for a year teaching get what poverty and ha- mal, named Mr. I.Q.
tions about battling pov- structure was built in 1889 poor Mexican-American tred can do when you see The president and Lady Bird
erty and inequality. He was by Sam Ealy Johnson Sr., children in a segregated its scars on the hopeful took strolls in a meadow
born there and his family the president’s grandfa- where he paused to see
suffered misfortunes there, ther. It was reconstructed in the lights of nearby towns
but even after exiting the 1964 from photos and out- that once had no electric-
White House, he thrived fitted with period furnish- ity. As a U.S. senator, John-
there. ings illustrating the family’s son was responsible for
“All my life I’ve wanted to simple but harsh life in rural bringing power to the area.
enjoy this land,” Johnson Texas. When Johnson returned
said after leaving office. The president’s father, Sam- here after leaving the
“I bought it. I paid it off. I uel Ealy Johnson, Jr., served White House, he drank,
watched it improve. It’s all in the Texas House of Rep- smoked, let his hair grow
I have left.” resentatives but struggled like the young hippies who
Located in Texas Hill Coun- as a farmer and cattle cursed him and listened
to Simon & Garfunkel’s
“Bridge Over Troubled Wa-
ter” over and over. When
one of his daughters tried
to intervene, he said, “No,
I’ve raised you girls, I’ve
been president, and now
it’s my time.”
Sometimes he acted like
he was still in office, hold-
ing meetings with Secret
Service agents on ranch
matters like they were na-
tional security gatherings.
The former president would
In this July 11, 2012 photo, a pasture where the late U.S. President
Lyndon B. Johnson often strolled to clear his mind is shown in In the Nov. 4, 1964, file photo, President Lyndon Johnson proves get on a walkie-talkie to a
Stonewall, Texas, as part of the Lyndon B. Johnson National he’s a pretty good cowhand as he puts his horse, Lady B, foreman to ask about any
Historical Park. through the paces on his LBJ Ranch in Texas. out-of-place cow.q
Associated Press Associated Press