{"id":980,"date":"2019-01-25T13:50:47","date_gmt":"2019-01-25T17:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/?p=980"},"modified":"2019-03-23T07:15:59","modified_gmt":"2019-03-23T11:15:59","slug":"rest-at-the-lbj-ranch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/rest-at-the-lbj-ranch\/","title":{"rendered":"Rest at the LBJ Ranch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cRufus, I feel like sleeping with my head on my own pillow tonight. Tell \u2019em up front that we\u2019re going to the ranch.\u201d <\/em><\/p>(LBJ to Agent Youngblood)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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It was not uncommon for President Lyndon B. Johnson to change his plans midair\u2014especially when Air Force One was in the vicinity of the LBJ Ranch. This rural homestead with adjacent, ancestral property constituted the places of LBJ’S past, present, and future. According to my father, the LBJ Ranch<\/g> was a source of \u201cmental and physical rejuvenation\u201d for President Johnson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt was the place he went when he felt the mainspring beginning to wind too tight, and if there is one man in the country who needs a place to unwind, it is the president. Franklin Roosevelt had his Warm Springs and Hyde Park, Harry Truman had Key West and Independence, with Ike it was Augusta National and Gettysburg, and Jack Kennedy had the family compounds at Hyannis Port and Palm Beach.\u201d (1)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n


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Located in the Texas Hill Country along the Pedernales River, the ranch was, per my father, where LBJ could \u201cindulge in something we called \u2018ranching,\u2019 which came very close to being in perpetual motion.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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President Johnson and Vice President Humphrey on the LBJ Ranch, Stonewall, Texas, Nov. 1964, Cecil Stoughton\/WHPO\/LBJ Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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During LBJ\u2019s presidency, the ranch was called the Texas White House when LBJ was in residence. It was equipped with state-of-the-art telecommunications, security, and an airstrip. Dignitaries from across the world were entertained there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Texas White House, LBJ Ranch, near Stonewall Texas, May 1967, Mike Gessinger\/WHPO\/LBJ Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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My father spent many moons at the ranch, including holidays, during the ten years he protected Vice President then President then Former President Johnson. To express their appreciation to the agents who were constantly separated from their families, President and Mrs. Johnson, more fondly known as LBJ and Lady Bird, hosted a weekend at the ranch for some of the agents and their wives in December 1966. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Johnsons host Secret Service agents and wives, LBJ Ranch, Dec. 1966, WHPO, LBJ Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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After leaving the presidency, LBJ immersed himself into the management of the ranch. Also, with a team of advisors, he worked on writing his memoirs, creating the LBJ Library and the LBJ School of Public Affairs; and participating in seminars and speaking engagements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Former Secret Service Agent Mike Howard recalls how LBJ especially enjoyed horseback riding to the nearby First Head Start School\u2014the first in the program which LBJ and Lady Bird had successfully championed. Agent Howard on his trusty Appaloosa with the former president on his Tennessee Walker carried a saddlebag full of jellybeans on these rides. When LBJ greeted the children, Agent Howard would silently supply the candy to LBJ who would pass it out to the children. They affectionately called the former president \u201cMr. Jellybean.\u201d (2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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