FIRST LADY LADY BIRD JOHNSON - AUTOGRAPHED INSCRIBED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 3992

LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Small color photograph of Lady Bird Johnson in front of the L.B.J. Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.
Photograph inscribed and signed: "For Paul Hartunian/with best wishes/Lady Bird Johnson". Color, 6¾x4¾. Pictured in front of the L.B.J. Ranch in Stonewall, Texas. Date stamped on verso: "30 August 1968". In the year that this photograph was taken, Mrs. Johnson's husband had withdrawn from the 1968 presidential race and was serving in his last full year in the White House. Born Claudia Alta Taylor, "Lady Bird" (1912-2007) received her nickname after the family nursemaid, Alice Tittle, remarked that the baby of Thomas and Minnie Taylor was "as purty as a little lady bird". On November 6, 1934, she married Lyndon Baines Johnson in San Antonio, Texas. Lady Bird was a shrewd businesswoman who parlayed a small inheritance into a multimillion-dollar fortune in addition to raising the couple's two daughters, Lynda Bird and Luci Baines. Both married while their father was President (1963-1969) and Lady Bird was pursuing an active role as First Lady (she is best known for actively promoting national beautification projects). Following her husband's term, the Johnsons returned to their Texas ranch, where LBJ died in 1973 (the couple had been married for 39 years and 66 days at the time of his death). On December 22, 2006, Mrs. Johnson celebrated her 94th birthday; she died in July 2007. Among First Ladies, only Bess Truman, who died at 97 in 1982, has lived longer. Minor surface creases (most not evident head on). Overall, fine condition.