Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb__ A Tour of Presidential Gravesites - Brian Lamb [65]
—RNS
Lyndon Baines Johnson
Buried: LBJ Ranch, near Johnson City, Texas
Thirty-sixth President - 1963-1969
Born: August 27, 1908, near Stonewall, Texas
Died: 4:33 p.m. on January 22, 1973, near Johnson City, Texas
Age at death: 64
Cause of death: Heart attack
Final words: Unknown
Admission to LBJ Ranch: Free
On November 22, 1963, Lyndon Baines Johnson became the thirty-sixth president of the United States. Vice President Johnson was riding two cars behind President John F. Kennedy in a Dallas motorcade when an assassin fired shots at JFK. Kennedy was pronounced dead at Parkland Memorial Hospital. A few hours later, as the plane carried the dead president’s body back to Washington, Johnson was sworn in by Judge Sarah Hughes aboard Air Force One. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and Johnson’s wife, Lady Bird, stood at his side. A stunned nation spent the weekend glued to television sets as news of John Kennedy’s assassination reached across the globe.
When he arrived in the capital, Lyndon Johnson made his first official statement as president: “This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help—and God’s.”
Johnson’s goal was a seamless transition. In a joint session of Congress five days after the assassination, he made an appeal for unity, invoking the memory of the slain president. The following year, he won reelection in his own right. Johnson went on to introduce a broad social program known as the Great Society which addressed poverty, Medicare and Medicaid, and civil rights. Overseas, Johnson agreed to escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Statue of LBJ on the grounds of his ranch
On March 31, 1968, public outcry over U.S. involvement in Vietnam led Lyndon Johnson to announce his decision not to run for reelection. Instead, he pledged to seek an end to the war in Asia. He would not live to see that goal accomplished. Visibly worn, LBJ returned to his beloved ranch in the Texas Hill Country, making occasional public appearances. In December 1972, Johnson traveled to Independence, Missouri for Harry Truman’s funeral.
On January 22, 1973, LBJ was in his bedroom for his regular afternoon nap when he was stricken with a heart attack. He called the switchboard and asked for the head of his Secret Service detail. Two agents arrived with a portable oxygen unit and found Johnson on the floor beside the bed. One of the agents performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and an external heart massage in an effort to save the former president.
Johnson was quickly flown in a family plane to San Antonio International Airport where he was to be taken by ambulance to Brooke Army Medical Center. But it was too late. Lyndon Johnson was pronounced dead at 4:33 p.m. Lady Bird Johnson arrived moments later by helicopter. She was driving home from the Johnson Library when she learned of her husband’s heart attack.
Plans for his funeral had been set five years earlier. Funeral services began in Texas with Johnson’s body lying in state at the library. Tens of thousands filed past, including many who had known Johnson since childhood. His gray coffin was then flown to Washington to lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda. Forty thousand people passed by the catafalque where President Nixon laid a wreath of carnations.
To the strains of Chopin’s funeral march, a military procession led mourners to National City Christian Church, where Johnson often worshipped as president. The service was broadcast over a public address