Housing the World

World leaders, including the Canadian Prime Minister (far left), were welcome at the LBJ Ranch.

LBJ Library photo / Yoichi Okamoto

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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

The welcome mat at the Johnson home read, "All the World is Welcome Here", but as the house became an alternate White House, it soon became clear there was not enough room. Describing the steady stream of visitors in her home, Lady Bird Johnson exclaimed, "These old walls are bursting at the seams!" Other houses on the ranch, such as President Johnson's birthplace, were soon pressed into service.

Here visitors learned there was a world beyond the Potomac where cattle still roamed, and rivers flowed steadily into the future. These homes had more than a practical purpose. The Birthplace, Cedar Guest House, and others on the ranch were ideal places, away from the chaos of Washington, where leaders and staff could chart the course of the War on Poverty and the Great Society.