Posted on 03/23/2007 4:55:08 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
WASHINGTON — Its front entrance now touts President Bush's education policy, but the Education Department headquarters will one day honor Lyndon Baines Johnson and his work to improve U.S. schools.
Bush signed legislation Friday naming the agency's offices after the follow Texan, with 17 members of the Johnson family looking on.
Johnson's children, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Bird Johnson Robb and their spouses, their children and grandchildren gathered at the Oval Office for the signing that was not open to reporters. First lady Laura Bush also attended.
Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady, was unable to attend but listened from Texas through a conference call, said Rep. Gene Green, a Houston Democrat who sponsored the bill.
"This will be a fitting tribute to Lyndon who worked so hard to make life better for so many, and — were he alive — I can think of nothing that would please him more," she said in a statement.
She said her husband would want to be remembered as the "Education President."
"Education was at the heart of my father's career in public service. He felt that it was mankind's passport out of poverty and our greatest hope for tomorrow," said Luci Baines Johnson, the 36th president's daughter.
Johnson, a Democrat, served as president from 1963-69 and died in 1973. He signed dozens of education-related bills, including a 1964 law that established Head Start, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which provided assistance to underfunded school districts and the Higher Education Act of 1965.
"If every building in D.C. had no name and we could choose one to bear my father's, we couldn't have hoped for one that would reflect more who he was and what he tried to do," Luci Baines Johnson said.
Johnson attended the former Texas State Teachers College, now Texas State University in San Marcos, and taught for a year in Cotulla in South Texas. His experience teaching poor Mexican-American children in the town was considered a great influence on his policies.
Throughout the Bush administration, a red school house facade with "No Child Left Behind" — the name of Bush's education legislation — has stood at the education department's front entrance.
Green said he was uncertain when Johnson's name would be on the building and whether it would share billing with the red schoolhouse.
Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Austin, helped garner backing for the bill among Republicans.
"Any time you name a federal building after somebody you are enshrining a memory. Hopefully, when people walk by the building, future generations, and see the name Lyndon Baines Johnson, they will pick up the history books and read about him," said McCaul. Several Johnson family members, including Lady Bird, live in his district.
Lyndon Kyle Boozer, who said his mother Yolanda Garza Boozer was a secretary to Johnson, approached Green with the idea to honor Johnson two years ago. The bill was first introduced in 2003 but stalled in the then Republican-controlled Congress.
Despite his Texas ties, some in the state's delegation chose not to co-sponsors the bill. Twenty-five of the 32 House members from Texas, all 13 Democrats and 12 of the 19 Republicans, added their names to the bill.
Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, both Texas Republicans, backed the bill in the Senate.
The bill is H.R. 584.
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On the Net: To find legislation: http://thomas.loc.gov
For as long as I live, I will NEVER understand politicians' penchant for sucking up to one another, whether living or dead. LBJ ranks barely above Clinton on the worst presidents of our time list. Carter, Clinton, LBJ . . . . .
Not worse than Carter or Clinton, but a VERY close 3rd in my book. Still (asbestos undies on!) he was behind he assasination of JFK and, when that fact is finally revealed, Bush will end up looking like a complete and total fool!!
What are we being screwn out of this time?
: )
LBJ wanted to be known as the education president? Of course the irony is lost on these fools that there should never be such thing as an "education president" since it is not the role of the fed. govt. to have anything to do with education....
LBJ & "Box 13" ...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=LBJ+Box+13&btnG=Google+Search
"Good Bill. LBJ was a nice guy."
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA! :^D
http://www.mackwhite.com/LBJ.gif
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/0/09/250px-FDR-LBJ.png
http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/special/photo/dem60/lbj.jpg
Hell, Clinton was positively anti-social compared to how much Bush "wants to be liked by everyone". And sorry to say, too oblivious to know that whatever he does, they WILL NOT LIKE HIM.
Lyndon Johnson destroyed the public schools.
"I wish the President would stop referring to himself as a Texan. He absolutely is not. He's a d#mn Yankee!"
What you said! You go Girl!!
I have voted for Bush eight times.
(Voted in the Pub primaries;^)
similar, war-losing, presidencies.
You are so right!
How about the oath he took to protect this nation from invasion?
In fact, it looks to me like Bush has modeled his whole life after LBJ.
Thanks LBJ...for a 70% out -of-wedlock bithrate for blacks! Hooray!!!
The law that muzzles the political speech of non-profit organizations (read churches) was the handiwork of LBJ. When Johnson ran for office (not sure if it was the House or Senate) there was some Baptist preachers in Texas who warned their congregations about the man's lack of character. LBJ was so incensed that when he did win, he sought to silence preachers.
If you're going to start Bush-bashing, kindly do it for something that actually matters.
Some people slam the guy every chance they get.
Even so, the man served this country for over 30 years.
Far greater honors have been bestowed on former Presidents. Let that be a testament to LBJ's place in history.
The same is true in the other direction as well. Former Presidents have rarely criticized their successors.
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