Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb__ A Tour of Presidential Gravesites - Brian Lamb [66]
Lyndon Johnson made a final journey home to his Texas ranch. A cold rain fell on the morning he was laid to rest alongside his parents. Reverend Billy Graham conducted the service under the oak trees on the northern bank of the Pedernales River. An army band played and Anita Bryant sang the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The Texas National Guard fired a twenty-one-gun salute. Dignitaries and local citizens alike watched as Lady Bird Johnson was given the flag that covered her husband’s coffin. Later that afternoon Hubert Humphrey, who had served as Johnson’s vice president, and actor Gregory Peck joined the family and other invited guests for coffee and sandwiches at the ranch house.
Lady Bird Johnson remained active in public life after her husband’s death, working with several organizations devoted to preserving the Texas landscape. She died in 2007 at the age of ninety-four and was buried at her husband’s side on their Texas ranch.
Touring Lyndon Johnson’s Tomb at the LBJ Ranch
The LBJ Ranch is located near Johnson City, Texas. The park headquarters and visitor center which give information about Lyndon Johnson’s life and presidency, are located in Johnson City. Both facilities are open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. The visitor center is open from 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Bus tours of the LBJ Ranch are available from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission to the LBJ Ranch is free. Go to the state park visitor center to receive a free permit to drive through the park. Admission to the Texas White House Office tour is $1.00 for adults and free for children seventeen and younger.
From Austin: Take Highway 290 West. At the traffic light in Johnson City, turn left (still on Highway 290) towards Fredericksburg. Drive three blocks and turn left on Avenue F, then go two blocks and turn right onto Lady Bird Lane. The parking lot and Visitor Center are located on the left.
From San Antonio: Take Highway 281 North until it joins Highway 290. At the traffic light in Johnson City, turn left towards Fredericksburg, drive three blocks and turn left on Avenue F. Go two blocks and turn right onto Lady Bird Lane. The parking lot and Visitor Center are located on the left.
From Fredericksburg: Take Highway 290 East to Johnson City. After passing the blinking traffic light, drive two blocks and turn right onto Avenue F. Go two blocks and turn right onto Lady Bird Lane. The parking lot and Visitor Center are located on the left.
To the LBJ Ranch: From park headquarters, take Highway 290 West fourteen miles to the LBJ State Historical Park. Tickets for the LBJ Ranch bus tour are purchased at the State Park Visitor Center.
Lyndon Johnson’s gravesite is beside the ranch house in the Johnson family cemetery along the banks of the Pedernales River.
For additional information
Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park
P.O. Box 329
Johnson City, Texas 78636
Phone: (830) 868-7128
Fax: (830) 868-7863
www.nps.gov/lyjo/
“If ever there were a Lion in Winter, it was Lyndon Johnson.”
—Richard Norton Smith
The Johnson family cemetery on the grounds of the LBJ ranch
If ever there were a Lion in Winter, it was Lyndon Johnson. His post-presidential kingdom shrank to the dimensions of the LBJ Ranch, his white hair grew to near-shoulder length, and memoir writing held little appeal. As he once informed Harry Middleton, the director of his presidential library, in a different context, “Good men have been trying to save my reputation for forty years, and not a damn one succeeded. What makes you think you can?” Haunted by Vietnam, Johnson feared that Richard Nixon’s conservative counterrevolution would scuttle his Great Society. “And when she dies,” he observed, “I, too, will die.”
Death was much on his thoughts. He took the Reverend Billy Graham out to the Johnson family cemetery on the banks of the Pedernales. “One day you’re going to be asked to preach