"Mrs Perfect"

Margaret Truman, in her book First Ladies, refers to Lady Bird Johnson as "the almost perfect first lady." And indeed she was. A lady with her own personal successes before she became First Lady, she came to be First Lady under the most horrific circumstances. Who could ever have been adequately prepared to assume the job after the horror of the assasination of John Kennedy? In a matter of a few seconds Lady Bird was thrown from the Washington sidelines into the spotlight. Devastated Americans read reports of her compassion to Mrs. Kennedy as they flew back to Washington with the slain President. Her strength in coping with what must have been tremendous responsibilities and arrangements, not to mention her concerns for her children and her husband were extraordinary. I remember watching her on tv the day after the assasination where she was acting as hostess at the White House for the many government workers who came through the East Room to pay their respects. How tough a job must that have been to greet each of these people warmly and with sympathy for their individual grief. She must have been spinning inside herself with all that was suddenly her job AND that the American public needed to see a competent administration taking charge. I wondered then if after the lights were turned off, she didn't just go home and have a good cry. I would have.

Lady Bird eventually put together a first-class staff, headed by a Washington newspaperwoman, Liz Carpenter. Even LBJ respected Liz and said of her, "She'd charge hell with a bucket of water." Liz and Lady Bird were the only White House occupants who had the courage to tell LBJ he was wrong. And he listened to them.

Lady Bird's business acumen served her well in the White House. She planned wonderful dinner parties designed to assist her husband in wooing his Congressional enemies. She told LBJ's campaign people not to give her the easy places on the campaign trail. But where she shined the brightest was in dealing with her husband. One day on the campaign trail when things were unbearably hot, the hecklers vicious and Lady Bird was hobbling on a swollen sprained ankle Liz Carpenter overheard Lady Bird talking to LBJ on the phone in Washington. He evidently had asked her how the day had gone. She told him "Just perfectly, dear, and how are YOU, dear." Liz realized that she was learning from the pro how to deal with a man...and that Lady Bird was unique. She was always the center of his life even though he strayed from time to time. When he had a heart attack LBJ asked Lady Bird to accompany him to the hospital, where she stayed in the room next to his for six weeks. She loved him dearly.