Women's History Month--Honoring Lady Bird Johnson

When President Johnson was in office, people sometimes made fun of his wife, Lady Bird, whose Texas-drawled "Plant a tree or a shrub" slogan could be identified by anyone who wasn't living in a cave. It turns out that Johnson was both a naturalist and an environmentalist, and her ideas changed America for the better.

As First Lady, Johnson was involved as a goodwill ambassador, a beautification advocate, and an avid promoter of the Head Start program. Her interests ranged from business to classical literature to fighting poverty, and like Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, her involvement in her husband's presidency was a crucial one.

Though Johnson was passionate about the war on poverty, and about the rights of women and children, as she traveled through America, the cause that became her career was that of the country's fading natural beauty. She planted trees and bulbs by the roadside, and called attention to the country's waning natural habitat and subsequent loss of species. In 1965, the Highway Beautification Act was passed because of the First Lady's efforts.

Lady Bird Johnson founded the National Wildflower Research Center in 1982, and in 1998, it was renamed the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The center is dedicated to honoring the country's natural beauty and restoring wildflowers, native plants, and their habitats. Johnson's book, Wildflowers Across America, which she co-wrote with Carlton B. Lees, is a stunning tribute to one of America's greatest assets.