Here is why the LBJ Presidential Monument in downtown Houston makes sense:
- All great cities are characterized by great public art, including art that recognizes their history and ties to historic figures.
- The City of Houston is re-developing Bagby Street into a major North/South thoroughfare. The Lyndon B. Johnson Monument will be located on a block of land on Bagby Street bordered by Capital and Rusk, appropriately next to the Federal Courthouse. With the Monument’s entrance on Bagby, it will serendipitously link to the George Bush Monument located four blocks north on Bagby. Those two Presidents are forever tied together in history by Johnson being the first President born and raised in Texas and George Bush, as a young Congressman, taking his first hard vote for Johnson’s Fair Housing Act of 1968.
- The LBJ Monument will be the Centerpiece of the new $22 million redesigned Bagby Street project of the Downtown Re-Development Authority to be completed by June 2021, as the City’s premier multi-model corridor for all users, all part of a 20-year vision plan for downtown Houston. Bagby has been identified as a key pedestrian vehicular corridor, which is included in the City’s bike plan as the future bike-way location in the North South Corridor.
- Bagby Street will be enhanced as a signature street for gateway to downtown Houston – a Street of Parks connecting the Theatre District and key civic institutions such as City Hall, the Central Library, and the Heritage Society, with the Aquarium, Sam Houston Park, Tranquility Park, Sesquicentennial Park, and the new LBJ Park.
- Bagby, critically will also be the Street of Monuments to Houstonians who made a significant impact nationally, and even internationally, starting with what will be a Barbara Bush seated-sculpture in the Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza, north to the new Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Monument on Bagby street, the George Bush Presidential Monument on Bagby, the Robert Mosbacher Memorial Bridge that unites the James Baker Monument, and across Franklin at Bagby to the street to the Barbara Jordan Monument.
- Houston has significant ties to President Lyndon B. Johnson insomuch as he taught at Sam Houston High School in 1931 and 1932. He lived at 435 Hawthorne in the Montrose area where his family maintained a family home for 70 plus years, and some of his most significant personal and political relationships emanated from Houston, including George and Herman Brown, Eddie Scurlock, Jack Blanton, Bill & Oveta Hobby, Roy Hofheinz, Jack Valenti, Barbara Jordan, Welcome Wilson, Sr., and many more.
- Throughout his career, LBJ more than anyone led the U.S. space program. As Senate Majority Leader, Vice President and as President, LBJ played the major role in developing the U.S. manned space program and ultimately bringing the Manned Spacecraft Center to Houston. The Monument will also have Memorials to the Apollo 1 astronauts as well as the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle astronauts, who all tragically gave their life for their country, with each being represented by separate semi-circles of Magnolia trees.
- With the passage of time LBJ continues to move up the list of great Presidents and is now regularly ranked by presidential historians among the top ten Presidents in U.S. history.
- It is not an overstatement to say that President Lyndon Johnson, after 100 years, finally achieved Presidents Lincoln’s and Grant’s goal of full legal rights for African-Americans after Lincoln freed the enslaved population and Grant during Reconstruction attempted unsuccessfully to provide basic rights to those African-Americans. Full legal rights were not fully realized until LBJ through the force of his unsurpassed legislative skills and drive passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act ending segregation in public accommodations, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the 1968 Civil Rights Act outlawing discrimination in housing on the basis of race and national origin, with critical support of African-Americans led by remarkable leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lewis, Roy Wilkins and others, who will be recognized on the Monument’s Civil Rights pylon.
- The 1964 Civil Rights Act not only covered discrimination based on race, but for the first time also covered discrimination based on “sex”; that gave the nascent women’s movement a critical legislative victory as they too fought for gender equality.
- President Johnson’s domestic legislative achievements were without parallel even exceeding his mentor, FDR, in terms of major legislative achievements that provide the basic framework for our country today; not only achieving full legal rights for all of our citizens, but also Medicare, Medicaid, federal aid to education, Headstart, automobile and food safety legislation, PBS, NPR and so much more. In short, he passed more significant legislation than all of his nine successors collectively.
- President Johnson also enacted the landmark Immigration Act of 1965 that literally changed the face of America, abolishing the highly racist National Origin System, which effectively allowed legal immigration only from northern European countries. Without the 1965 Immigration Act the U.S. would not have benefitted from the highly skilled immigrants we have received from other countries including all the bright engineers and scientists from China, India and other countries. Prior to passage of the ’65 Act, the annual visa quota for the U.K. was 65,000 per year and for all of China and India, it was 100 visas per year.
- The Holocaust Museum of Houston recognizes Johnson with its annual LBJ Moral Courage Award for the extraordinary work that Congressman Johnson did in helping Jewish refugees, before, during and after World War II and saving hundreds in an operation by which Jewish refugees reached the U.S. through Cuba, Mexico and South America.
- The LBJ Monument will include an eight-foot sculpture by world-renowned artist Chas Fagan. It will also be educational with five (5) posts or pylons highlighting his domestic legislation and with technology, visitors can hear LBJ’s voice on the designated topic.
- LBJ would have been recognized for the greatness of his presidency much sooner but for Vietnam. LBJ was reluctantly sucked into the Vietnam War not wanting to be accused of having “lost” Vietnam. But, in the end, LBJ showed great courage by giving up the Presidency in order to bring the Vietnam War to an end during his term and may have succeeded but for candidate Richard Nixon’s intervention.
Houston is a great city, but no city needs more public art for educational and tourism purposes than Houston, as Houston joins the ranks of great international cities.
Quotes:
“What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and state of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must be our cause too. Because it’s not just Negroes, but really, it’s all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.”
- Special Message to the Congress, March 15, 1965
Our mission is at once the oldest and the most basic of this country: to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man.
- Special address to Congress, March 15, 1965
Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men’s skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact.
- Civil Rights Symposium at the LBJ Library December 12, 1972
I say to the leaders in Hanoi: Let us lay aside our arms and sit down together at the table of reason. Let us renounce the works of death — and take up, instead, the tasks of the living.
- Remarks at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, October 29, 1966
We believe that all men are created equal. Yet many are denied equal treatment. We can understand — without rancor or hatred — how this all happened. But it cannot continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our Republic, forbids it. The principles of our freedom forbid it. Morality forbids it. And the law I will sign tonight forbids it.
- Signing of the Civil Rights Act, July 2, 1964
In a land of great wealth, families must not live in hopeless poverty. In a land rich in harvest, children just must not go hungry. In a land of healing miracles, neighbors must not suffer and die unattended. In a great land of learning and scholars, young people must be taught to read and write.
- Inaugural Address, January 20, 1965
“[I]t is not enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates.”
- Commencement Address at Howard University, June 4, 1965
“I want to be the president who educated young children to the wonders of their world. I want to be the President who helped to feed the hungry. I want to be the President who helped the poor to find their own way and who protected the right of every citizen to vote in every election. I want to be the President who helped to end hatred among his fellow men and who promoted love among the people of all races, all regions and all parties. I want to be the President who helped to end war among the brothers of this earth.”
- Special Message to the Congress, March 15, 1965
Lyndon Johnson and His Times:
1900’s:
August 27, 1908: Lyndon Baines Johnson is born near Stonewall, TX to Sam Ealy Johnson, Jr. and Rebekah Baines Johnson
1920s:
May 24, 1924: Graduates from Johnson City High School
September 1928: Begins serving as principal and teacher at the Welhausen School in Cotulla, Texas
1930s:
August 19,1930: Graduates from Southwest Texas State in San Marcos
1930-1931: Teaches at Sam Houston High School in Houston
November 17, 1934: Marries Claudia Taylor, nicknamed “Ladybird,” in San Antonio, Texas
April 10, 1937: Elected as US Representative for the 10th Congressional District of Texas
1940s:
March 19, 1944: First child, Lynda Bird Johnson, is born
July 2, 1947: Second child, Luci Baines Johnson, is born.
November 2, 1948: Wins his first election to the US Senate
1950s:
January 2, 1953: Elected Minority Leader of the Senate.
January 4, 1955: Elected Majority Leader of the Senate at age 46, the youngest in US history
1960s:
November 8, 1960: Presidential election results in narrow Democratic victory as John F. Kennedy is elected President and LBJ is elected Vice President.
April 28, 1961: Becomes Chairman of the Space Council and advises President Kennedy that a manned mission to the Moon is feasible.
November 22,1963: Becomes the 36th President after John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas
July 2, 1964: Signs the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in public places, integrates schools and other public facilities, and makes employment discrimination illegal
August 7, 1964: The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is approved by Congress, giving the President nearly unlimited power to oppose “communist aggression” in Southeast Asia
August 20, 1964: Signs the Economic Opportunity Act as a step toward the “War on Poverty”
September 3, 1964: Signs the Wilderness Act, which created the National Wilderness Preservation System and recognized wilderness as “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man”
November 3, 1964: Presidential election results in a landslide victory for Democratic ticket as LBJ is elected President and Hubert Humphry is elected Vice President
January 20, 1965: LBJ’s Presidential Inauguration
April 11, 1965: Signs the Elementary and Secondary Education Act introducing abundant federal aid to education for the first time
May 18, 1965: Announces the creation of Head Start—a program to help meet the emotional social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs of preschool-aged children from low-income families
July 28, 1965: Announces the decision to commit 50,000 more troops to the Vietnam conflict escalating the number from 75,000 to 125,000
July 30, 1965: Signs the Social Security Act of 1965, which creates Medicare and Medicaid
August 6, 1965: Signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965, lifting discriminatory restrictions to the ballot box, which LBJ views as his most important legislative achievement
September 9, 1965: Signs the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 creating HUD as Cabinet-level agency
September 29, 1965: Signs the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965 establishing the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities to promote progress and scholarship in the humanities and the arts
October 2, 1965: Signs the Water Quality Act requiring states to issue water quality standards for interstate waters, and authorized the newly created Federal Water Pollution Control Administration
October 3, 1965: Signs the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, opening up immigration by lifting long- standing quotas on non-European citizens
October 6, 1965: Signs the Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke Amendments providing funds to create centers of medical excellence
October 22,1965: Signs the Highway Beautification Act, which limited billboards and other forms of outdoor advertising, as well as junkyards and other unsightly roadside blights
November 8, 1965: Signs the Higher Education Act, which increases federal money given to universities, creates scholarships, gives low-interest loans to students, and establishes a National Teacher Corps
July 4, 1966: Signs the Freedom of Information Act providing the public with access to federal agency records
September 9, 1966: Signs the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act and the Highway Safety Act
January 27, 1967: Sanctions the Treaty on Outer Space forming the basis of international space law
June 23, 1967: Appoints Thurgood Marshall to the US Supreme Court resulting in Marshall becoming the first African American Supreme Court Justice
November 7, 1967: Signs the Public Broadcasting Act, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports PBS and NPR
March 31, 1968: Announces the curtailment of bombing of North Vietnam along with his decision not to seek another term to devote more time to a peaceful resolution to the war
April 11, 1968: Signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which includes provisions for fair housing
October 2, 1968: Signs the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and three other bills protections the environment and promoting outdoor recreation
October 22, 1968: Signs the Gun Control Act, regulating the firearm industry and gun owners
October 31, 1968: Orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam
November 5, 1968: Presidential election results in a narrow victory for the Republican ticket as Richard Nixon is elected President and Spiro Agnew is elected Vice President
January 20, 1969: Leaves office as Richard Nixon is inaugurated as the 37th President
1970s:
May 22, 1971: The Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin admits its first class of students
May 22, 1971: Presides over the dedication of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum in Austin, Texas
November 1,1971: The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963-1969, LBJ’s memoir is published
January 22, 1973: Dies of a heart attack at the LBJ Ranch, at age 64. He is buried in the family grave site at the LBJ Ranch near his birthplace
2010s:
April 8-10, 2014: The LBJ Presidential Library and Museum hosts the Civil Rights Summit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, attended by President Barack Obama and former Presidents, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. President Obama proclaimed, “Because of the Civil Rights Movement, because of the laws President Johnson signed, new doors of opportunity swung open, that’s why I’m standing here today.”
LBJ Presidential Monument Advisory Board
Honorary Chairs
Mayor Sylvester Turner
The Honorable Hushang Ansary
Co-Chairs
Charles C. Foster
David B. Jones
Honorary Members
The Honorable William P. Hobby
The Honorable Rodney Ellis
Members
Dick DeGuerin
Earl Hesterberg
Andy Icken
David Redford
Arthur Schechter
Barry Silverman
John B. Williams
Welcome Wilson, Sr.
Bill Wright
LBJ Monument 