LBJ Ranch



Pedernales Falls

Today was LBJ day. We headed north from San Antonio to Pedernales Falls State Park, a few miles outside Johnson City. In the afternoon, we visited the Lyndon B Johnson National Historical Park. We started a LBJ’s boyhood home, where he lived from age 5 to 26. It appeared to be a rather large home for the time, with 3 large bedrooms: one for the 3 girls, one for the 2 boys, and one for the parents. Down the road is the LBJ ranch which he bought from his aunt in 1951 and expanded over the years. LBJ used the ranch to change his image from a Southern Senator to a Texas rancher who was also a Senator. Here he raised cattle for sale and for breeding. The funny part was that after he became Senate majority leader, he added a grass runway down the middle of the ranch. This was expanded to a  paved 6000’ runway when he became President to handle the Air Force 1/2 , a business jet that could land on the runway.



LBJ Ranch

The most interesting part of our tour was the Western Whitehouse on the LBJ ranch. When he bought the ranch there was one party line, while he was President there were 74 phone lines. He spent the majority of his day on the phone to Congressman, Senators, his cabinet, and foreign leaders. As we toured the house there was a phone in every room, on the left side of LBJ’s chair (except the dining room where it was on the right hand side) 
, even one in the bathroom. He only needed 4-5 hours of sleep a night, so he conducted business most of the day and night. What I found most interesting is that Johnson spent over 25% of his presidential term here. Often conducting cabinet meetings underneath the large Live Oak Tree in the front yard, or having a barbeque for world leaders at his ranch.