Lady Bird Johnson: The Beautifying First Lady

The Beautifying First Lady
It was addressed at a convention by Lady Bird Johnson that, “The job really requires thoughtful interrelation of the whole environment… and that, of course, only begins with trees and flowers and landscaping.” Claudia Alta Taylor, mostly known by her nickname Lady Bird, always had wonderful encounters with nature. As a little girl, she was very lonely in her time of play. Because she had no one to associate with, Lady Bird would often go into the forest to smell the aroma of the daffodils and enjoy the sweet sounds of nature. This made her feel at peace (Woo). Many years later, gardening became one of her favorite hobbies to do. She always managed to keep her gardens up to par by planting many flowers, numerous trees, and other crops (Bergeron). These
These trips resulted in over millions of tulips and daffodils planted all throughout the parks of Washington. There was also an estimate of over 16,000 junkyards along highways that were beautified (Bergeron). These many flowers gave an amazing scenery to be enjoyed by three million people that live there and by the seventeen million people that visit each year. Mrs. Johnson also inspired many other cities across America to take more pride in beautifying their areas (The First Lady’s Beautification Campaign). Passing the Highway Beautification Act gave Lady Bird the title of the most active first lady since first lady Roosevelt was in office, who also happened to be her role model (Woo). Additionally, there was also a belief that there were over 300 environmental laws passed just by her husband after the beautification act. The act was considered as, “the first major legislative campaign launched by a first lady.” (Lady Bird Johnson Biography). With Johnson’s work ethics, she helped to open up our minds about the importance of beautifying our areas and keeping them