A Texas Valentine: LBJ’s Love Letters to Lady Bird
Credit LBJ Presidential Library and MuseumJust in time for Valentine’s Day, the LBJ Presidential Library and Museumis releasing never-before-seen love letters written by the former president and his soon-to-be bride.
Regina Greenwell is the senior archivist at the LBJ Library. She says the letters paint a picture of a 26-year-old Lyndon Johnson who made up his mind about Claudia Taylor – then known as “Bird” – on their first date.
“The story goes is that he asked her to marry him on that first date,” Greenwell says. “Clearly from the very beginning, he is pressuring her to marry him as soon as possible, he doesn’t want to wait. She is clearly in love with him, but is a little more cautious about it.”
The letters span the couple’s ten-week courtship. LBJ and the woman who would come to be known as Lady Bird married on November 17, 1934.
The collection will be on display at the Library on the UT campus and on the Library’s website.
I live in Austin, TX. Lyndon Johnson treated Lady Bird like a dirty rug for decades, constantly disrespecting and humiliating her. LBJ wanted to marry her on Day 1 because he had heard her dad had a little money. LBJ spent the rest of his life stealing from the public and taking massive bribes & kickbacks when he was not murdering John Kennedy. I was told this anecdote from someone close to Democrat Gib Lewis. LBJ told his friends “I met a girl named Lady Bird, but she looked like an Ugly Bee” to me. Did she love LBJ? Yes – but it is really sad that awful way he treated her so often. His later years he was depressed and almost crazy. She took care of him as he was so bitter. The man lived an awful life. I met Lady Bird’s masseuse for 20 years recently. I asked “what did she say about LBJ?” The answer was she never talked about him.