Welcome to the fourth installment of the Texas White House: Past, Present and Future. I'm park
Ranger Cynthia Dorminey. So far we've talked about the early history of the home and what it was like
while President and Mrs. Johnson were living, but what has it been like in the years that followed?
As you learned in the last episode, in December 1972 the Johnsons' gifted the Texas White House
and approximately 600 acres to the National Park Service.
Nearly 30 years later Mrs. Johnson reflected on this gift in an opening letter to the park's
management plan, it reads "As we reflected on the Presidential years, Lyndon and I felt strongly that
this place should be preserved for the American people. We also wanted the LBJ ranch to be our home
for the remaining years left to us, and then to be open to all who wish to visit."
President Johnson died just a month later on January 22, 1973,
after giving that gift to the American people and after her death on July 11,
2007, Mrs. Johnson was laid to rest next to him in the Family Cemetery on the LBJ Ranch.
Lady Bird Johnson's passing in 2007 ushered in a new era at the Park and for the Texas White House.
During the years that Mrs. Johnson was living, the U.S Secret Service maintained security at
the Ranch and in particular the immediate area surrounding the Texas White House.
The passing of Mrs. Johnson also meant the exit of the Secret Service from the LBJ Ranch.
The way that visitors experienced the Ranch began to change, the bus tours continued but Rangers
started allowing passengers to step off the bus in front of the Texas White House to enjoy
a better view and to get better photos of the historic home. Behind the scenes, preparations
were underway to honor the Johnson's wish to open their home to all who wished to visit.
For an approximately 8,500 square foot home with 28 rooms and 50 plus years of Johnson history
there was a lot to do. The goal was to restore the majority of the home to the look it had during
President Johnson's lifetime and particularly during the Presidential years of 1963 to1969,
known as the period of significance. Due to the size of the home and funding needed to accomplish
the work, the plan was to open the home one section at a time starting with the President's office
As the Park Museum Curator from 1998 to 2011, Virginia Kilby led the effort to restore the home
and ready it for public tours. "Well it was always decided that it would be during the Presidential
time period and that was because mainly the house had changed very little over the years.
We researched the interior of the house at the LBJ Library in their photo archives
and Mrs. Johnson changed very little from the 60s until she died, so it was very easy to put
the house back to the way it looked during the Presidential time period.
This house is one of the better documented Presidential homes
as far as what it looked like during the Presidential time period and the later years.
There are hundreds of photographs in the LBJ Library archives of the interior of the house
during the Presidency, the photographers were there for special events and when people were visiting
so we know what it looked like at that time." The much anticipated day arrived on August 27, 2008,
the 100th Anniversary of President Johnson's birth. For the first time in the Park's history
visitors were allowed to drive their own cars into the LBJ Ranch to attend the annual wreath
laying ceremony at the Johnson Family Cemetery. Afterwards, they continued through the Ranch
to the Texas White House. The Johnson's daughters, Lynda Johnson Robb and Luci Baines Johnson
along with Park staff and the Director of the National Park Service officiated the festivities.
That day more than 800 visitors got their first look at President Johnson's office in the Texas
White House, complete with original furnishings and personal belongings.
Over the course of the next three and a half years the remaining rooms of the first floor were opened
and visitors enjoyed learning about the Johnson's home life and political life on Ranger-led tours.
Through the next 10 years, until August 2018
thousands of visitors each year toured the Texas White House and just as their mother
had on occasion, Lynda and Luci would share their own love for their family home with
lucky visitors, but all the activity began to take its toll on the aging house. On August 2, 2018
the Texas White House was closed to public tours due to structural and environmental issues.
Join us next time for the fifth installment of the Texas White House:
Past, Present and Future to find out what the National Park Service is
doing to preserve the home for future generations of visitors.