LBJ Home and Library

The Hill Country of Texas is the birthplace of the 36th President of the United States. He was born on August 27, 1908 on a ranch near Stonewall and died on the same ranch 64 years later. He was president during some of the greatest upheavals in American history, from the Vietnam war to the civil rights movement and the riots in American cities after the assassination of Martin Luther King. We visited both his homes in the Hill Country and the Johnson Library in Austin.  

Seems I have been meeting with presidents on a regular bases lately. I have always felt close to LBJ since his policies led to me being drafted and being stationed in Texas. We started our tour at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park which includes sites in Johnson City and the LBJ Ranch.

The home where Johnson was born. The original house was rebuilt in 1964 as a guest house for those visiting the ranch.

When he was four he learned to read at Junction School, a one room schoolhouse. He returned here in 1965 to sign the first Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

When he was five the family moved fourteen miles to Johnson City. He lived in this house until he was married to Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor.

Beautiful wildflowers on the ranch. One of Lady Birds signature projects was highway beautification which included planting flowers along the roadsides.

Johnson made over 70 trips to the ranch during his presidency, spending about one-fourth of his time at the Texas White House. He would fly to Austin on Air Force One and then on one of these smaller jets to the ranch. Johnson referred to these Lockheed Jet-Stars as Air Force One-Half.

The Johnson's bought this house from his aunt in 1951. It was originally a small one room home that is now nearly 8,000 square feet including his office. The oak tree in front of his office is known as the Cabinet Oak because he held so many meetings there. Lady Bird lived in the home until her death in 2007. Then the house and 600 acres were donated to the park service which has restored it to its 1960's style. No photos are allowed. 

When he was president the hanger was turned into a meeting and press room where they would show movies and hold news conferences. I loved this old Seeburg jukebox. My dad's vending business had several of these.

Johnson always said "All the World is Welcome Here" and when famous people visited he would have them sign their names on these friendship stones. Very neat! 

Lyndon and Lady Bird are buried in the Johnson Family Cemetery on the ranch. I find it amazing that this man who rose to the highest office in the land was born, lived, died and was buried all within a couple miles in Texas Hill country.

The LBJ Presidential Library is on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin. The mission of the library is best stated in the words of LBJ at the dedication in 1971,“It is all here: the story of our time with the bark off...This library will show the facts, not just the joy and triumphs, but the sorrow and failures, too.” Those words from a man who came to the office after one of the greatest tragedies of my lifetime, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963 and who was forced by the tragedy of the Vietnam War to not seek another term in the 1968 election. 

This limo that looks like the president's was purchased by Johnson after he left office. While it looks like the official limo, this one only weighs 5,000 pounds compared to the real one that weighs 10,000 pound with its bullet-proof armor.

This exhibit on LBJ's humor not only had the political cartoons but a speaking Lyndon telling jokes.

LBJ's first job was teaching Mexican-American children in a segregated school in Cotulla, Texas. The experience of having these students, who often came to school hungry, helped shape his ideas about the need for the government to help the poor and downtrodden.

The positions held by LBJ before he became president, from a member of the US House to Vice-President under Kennedy. He honed the political skills in the leadership positions in the Senate that he used to pass his domestic agenda as president.

Building on the legacy of Kennedy and his landslide election in 1964, Johnson signed nearly 1,000 pieces of legislation into law during his five years in office. 

LBJ's legislative agenda, the Great Society, was to be a continuation of FDR's New Deal. This picture is Johnson signing Civil Rights legislation into law in 1964. Laws banning discrimination in public facilities, interstate commerce, housing and the workplace were passed. The Voting Rights Act prohibited requirements that many Southern states had passed to stop Black Americans from voting. 

Other major legislation included Medicare and Medicaid. In education the ESEA and Head Start were passed. Johnson visited the Head Start program in Stonewall with treats so often the kids called him Mr. Jelly Bean for the candy he brought. In arts and environment, laws establishing the Public Broadcasting System were passed and new National Park sites were added to the system. In immigration, he signed laws that encouraged immigrants from areas other than Europe.

Mural with the various presidents Johnson worked with before he became president.

Other legislation was called a War on Poverty that helped lift many into the middle class through education.

This large exhibit show the struggle he had with the Vietnam War. He grew to believe that the war was not winnable, but did not know how politically to withdraw. This was the greatest flaw of his presidency.

Johnson was eligible to run for another term because he had only served 14 months of Kennedy's term. While he had planned to run in 1968, the events of the country turned against him so he announced his decision not to seek another term. This is a photo of Johnson addressing the nation and the manuscript used on the teleprompter. 

The Oval Office as it looked during his time in office. This seems to be part of every presidential library.

Also part of every library is a display of gifts the president and first family received while in office.

The special exhibit; Get in the Game, The Fight for Equality in American Sports is at the library until January, 13, 2019. The exhibits honors those who broke barriers and spoke out for equality in sports. The Washington and Jefferson College sweater belonged to Pete Henry who was an athlete and then athletic director at this Washington, PA school.

The exhibit has displays about the Negro league and Jackie Robinson becoming the first Black player in the Majors.

The Gold Metals won by Jessie Owens at the 1936 Olympics that was held in Nazi Germany. Hitler plan to show that Aryans were superior to others did not go so well.

The Tennessee Tornado, Wilma Rudolph, overcame a sickly childhood where she had to wear a leg brace, to compete in the 1956 Olympics. Then, in the 1960 games, she was the first American woman to win three gold metals in one Olympics. 

Cassius Clay before he became Mohammad Ali. He won the heavyweight championship and then gave it up because he refused to be drafted during the Vietnam War. This was an interesting exhibit that came right to the present with a display about Colin Kaepernick's protest against injustice.

Visiting presidential libraries is always interesting, especially how they handled the bad things that happened during their time in office. The LBJ Library did a very good job of balancing the good and the bad.

At the top of the hill near the RV park was this unique building, the Arc de Texas. It advertised wine and views. We thought it was a winery but it is an Inn and bar. 

We stopped for a wine, a Texas beer and a great view of Hill Country. It was an interesting place and well worth a stop for the view from the top.

Hamilton Pool & Nimitz Museum of the Pacific War

There is so much to do we have been super busy in Hill Country. We have taken in sights from Fredericksburg to Austin and have too much for just one post. We went to Hamilton Pool in Dipping Springs, the Nimitz Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, the LBJ ranch near Stonewall and the LBJ Library in Austin. We also checked out a couple wineries.

Fifty-two years ago this summer I was stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. One weekend, along with a few friends, I went to a swimming hole in Hill Country. We paid a rancher $1.00 admission and walked across the field and down an old rickety set of metal stairs to this beautiful spot. There were only a few people and some where jumping off the 45 foot falls. One thing I vividly remember was stepping on a broken beer bottle and going to a doctor in Johnson City to get stitched up. 

I had no idea what the name of the place was and on our first visit here in 2009 I could not find it. Somewhere over the years I saw a picture online and learned it was Hamilton Pool. The grotto and falls were as beautiful as I remember even though there was not a lot of water coming over the spring fed falls.  

It is now a Travis County park and admission is more than a dollar. There is a $10.00 reservation fee for either a morning or afternoon session and there was an additional $5.00 for two seniors upon arrival to the park. This limits the number of people so the place is not overrun. The rickety stairs have been replaced with a path and NO GLASS is allowed. 

To complete my step back in time I had to at least get my feet wet. As we were leaving the pool a young man walking in summed up his first look at the pool very well with an "OH MY GOD". If you are looking for a neat place to cool off on a hot Texas day, don't miss Hamilton Pool. 

From the pool it is about a mile along a spring fed stream with many huge cypress trees to the Pedernales River. It is a neat hike under the big trees which made it cool even on a hot day.

When we got to the river we were greeted by this duck. We believe he may be the resident moocher because when we did not give him any food he visited other hikers as they came to the river.

Keep an eye out along the trail and under the falls for fossils. This is one of the biggest I have ever seen. 

We were early for the afternoon session so we went to the Milton Reimer's Ranch section of the park. I'm guessing Milton was the guy who we paid for a visit 52 years ago. We took a short hike through the beautiful blooming wildflowers. 

The prickly pear cacti were in full bloom. Make sure you watch out for snakes. We saw one that looked harmless, but there are rattlers and coral snakes in the area. Don't let that stop you from visiting this beautiful place.  

Fredericksburg was the birthplace of Chester W. Nimitz who rose to the rank of Fleet Admiral. He was Commander in Chief U.S. Pacific Fleet, commanding allied air, land and sea forces during World War II. Nimitz wanted to attend West Point, but because the class was full that year he went to the Naval Academy instead.   

The entire National Museum Of the Pacific War complex includes a small museum about Nimitz's life growing up here and rising to become the commander in the Pacific Ocean. The George H. W. Bush Gallery explains what lead to the war and covers all the battles of the Pacific theater. There is also a Memorial Courtyard and the Japanese Garden of Peace. We visited the complex for two days and did not get to all of the exhibits.

The exhibits in the Bush Gallery start with the history of Japan rising from a Feudal society in the 1800's to a modern military power that began conquering the countries of Southwest Asia. 

It continues with the history of the war before the United States entered. These exhibits give you a clear understanding of what was going on worldwide that lead to WWII.

Of course the United States got into this war after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This is a two man Japanese sub that was captured that day. The sailor aboard became the first Japanese POW of the war. The day we were here the father of our friend Ron, who was wounded in the attack, was celebrating his 100th birthday. There are not many of these Pearl Harbor survivors left.

The day after the attack the United States entered the war against Japan, Germany and Italy. The shocked country responded by putting their full effort into winning.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor the United States wanted a quick response, so they planned and carried out a raid on Tokyo. Lead by Jimmy Doolittle, 16 B-25's took off from the deck of the USS Hornet on April 18, 1942 and bombed Tokyo. The raid was a morale success for the Americans and a propaganda success against the Japanese, as they thought their island nation was safe from attack. Because a Japanese patrol boat had spotted them, they had to take off earlier causing them to run out of fuel before reaching a safe landing place in China. Most of the airmen survived but several were captured by the Japanese.

This covers the sad tale of the Sullivan brothers, five sailors from Iowa who joined the Navy with the understanding they could all serve on the same ship. There ship, USS Juneau, was sunk by a Japanese torpedo in November 1942. While nearly 100 other sailors survived the sinking, all the Sullivan brothers where lost. 

A big part of the war effort was promoting the cause at home. There were movies, bond drives and campaigns that promoted working together to win the war.

A huge effort was made to encourage people not to talk about what war-related job they were doing. The poster with the gold star, which showed the family had lost a member in the war, stressed the importance of not talking.

These exhibits show the importance of the production in the United States for the war effort. In 1941 there were 512 B-17's in the military. By the end of the war nearly 13,000 had been built. This massive production gave us a huge advantage.

Another important tool was the jeep. Over 1,000,000 were built during the war by a couple different companies. The Bantam jeep was made in Butler, PA.

This 35 foot US Navy motorboat has been restored to the appearance of the one used by Nimitz when he became CINPAC commander in Pearl Harbor.

There are detailed interactive exhibits on every land and sea battle in the Pacific theater. The plan was to capture only those islands that made it easier for us to bomb Japan. Iwo Jima was needed because it was close enough to Japan that fighter planes could accompany and protect bombers. This battle was of particular interest to me as I had an uncle who fought there. Like so many veterans who have experienced the horror of combat, he never talked about his war time experiences. I only learned he had seen the raising of the flag atop Mount Suribachi in February 1945 when I read his obituary. 

The Bomb. We have visited Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and the Trinity site, all related to the development of the atomic bomb. The first bomb was tested on July 16, 1945 in New Mexico. Three weeks later a bomb was dropped on Hiroshima killing 80,000 people. Three days after that a second bomb (picture) was dropped on Nagasaki killing 75,000. Many people, including Nimitz, were against using the bomb, but it did bring a quick end to the war and meant we did not have to invade the Japanese mainland.  

This map shows how many active combat troops the Japanese had in place when the bomb was dropped, ending the war. The military had ordered 370,000 purple hearts they thought would be needed if we had invaded Japan. I always say that I might not be here today if the invasion had taken place as my father was in the army and training for the invasion when the bomb was dropped.

On September 2, 1945 the peace treaty with Japan was signed aboard the USS Missouri. The Missouri was used because it was named after Truman's home state. Admiral Nimitz signed the treaty for the United States and General Mac Arthur signed for the other Allied forces.

Behind the Nimitz museum is the Garden of Peace that was a gift of the Japanese people. It symbolizes the goodwill between the two nations and the friendship and respect that existed between Admiral Togo and Admiral Nimitz.

This plaza is dedicated to the ten presidents, from Roosevelt to Reagan, who had some role during WWII.   Their positions ranged from Commander in Chief to Naval Academy cadet. 

The Memorial Courtyard honors individuals, ships and units that served in the Pacific theater. Plaques or paving bricks can be placed in the courtyard. We felt The Nimitz Museum complex was the most in depth military museum we  have visited, so make sure you plan plenty of time for a visit. 

We checked out the Fat Ass Winery, one of many that have popped up in Hill Country since our last visit. While we liked the logo, for our tastes the wine left a lot to be desired. If you liked Kool-Ad as a kid these sweet Fat Ass wines may be for you. If you visit us and we give you this glass please don't take offense. 

   While here we also visited two LBJ sites which we will cover in the next post. We have moved on and are now in Waco. We plan to stay in Little Rock and Jefferson City to tour the capitols as we head to the Escapade in Missouri.