Bush signs bill honoring LBJ

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.

"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.

This was in the news and you should be aware of the Reagan Building. Hopefully this will help you. My only question is why you did not believe me? Do you honestly think I would give President Clinton credit for something he did not do? Are you crazy (not a put down, just a little humor).

Remarks at the dedication of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. (Bill Clinton speech)(Transcript)
From: Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents |
Date: 5/11/1998
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The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center is a tribute to Pres Reagan, as it is an embodiment of his patriotism and immense faith in the American people. The building honors his love for freedom, his quest for opportunity for Americans and his belief in America's world leadership. It will house an international trade center, the Agency for International Development, the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars and various international cultural activities.

May 5, 1998

Thank you very much. Mrs. Reagan, Mr. Barram, Secretary Daley, Senator Moynihan, Delegate Norton, Senator Dole, Senator Lott, all the Members of Congress and the Diplomatic Corps who are here; Mr. Mayor, Secretary Shultz and General Powell, and all the former members of the Reagan administration who are here and enjoying this great day; to Maureen and to the friends of President and Mrs. Reagan who are here; I'd like to begin by thanking Jim Freed and his team for a magnificent building. I think we all feel elevated in this building today.

I also want to say on behalf of Hillary and myself a special word of appreciation to Mrs. Reagan for being here. From her own pioneering efforts to keep our children safe from drugs to the elegance and charm that were the hallmarks of the Reagan White House, through her public and brave support for every family facing Alzheimer's, she has served our Nation exceedingly well, and we thank her.

The only thing that could make this day more special is if President Reagan could be here himself. But if you look at this atrium, I think we feel the essence of his presence: his unflagging optimism, his proud patriotism, his unabashed faith in the American people. I think every American who walks through this incredible space and lifts his or her eyes to the sky will feel that.

As Senator Moynihan just described, this building is the completion of a challenge issued 37 years ago by President Kennedy; I ought to say, and doggedly pursued for 37 years by Senator Moynihan. [Laughter] I must say, Senator, there were days when I drove by here week after week after week and saw only that vast hole in the ground, when I wondered if the "Moynihan hole" would ever become the Reagan Building. [Laughter] But sure enough, it did, and we thank you.

As you have heard, this building will house everything from an international trade center to international cultural activities to the Agency for International Development to the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. It is fitting that the plaza on which we gather bears the name of President Wilson. And it is fitting that Presidents Wilson and Reagan are paired, for their work and, therefore, the activities which will be culminated in this building span much of what has become the American century.

Since President Reagan left office, the freedom and opportunity for which he stood have continued to spread. For a half century, American leaders of both parties waged a cold war against aggression and oppression. Today, freed from the yolk of totalitarianism, new democracies are emerging all around the world, enjoying newfound prosperity and long-awaited peace. More nations have claimed the fruits of this victory: free markets, free elections, plain freedom. And still more are struggling to do so.

Today, we joy in that, but we cannot - indeed, we dare not - grow complacent. Today we recall President Reagan's resolve to fight for freedom and his understanding that American leadership in the world remains indispensable. It is fitting that a piece of the Berlin Wall is in this building. America's resolve and American ideals so clearly articulated by Ronald Reagan helped to bring that wall down.

But as we have seen repeatedly in the years since, the end of the cold war did not bring the end of the struggle for freedom and democracy, for human rights and opportunity. If the history of this American century has taught us anything, it is that we will either work to shape events or we will be shaped by them. We cannot be partly in the world. We cannot lead in fits and starts or only when we believe it suits our short-term interests. We must lead boldly, consistently, without reservation, because, as President Reagan repeatedly said, freedom is always in America's interests.

Our security and prosperity depend upon our willingness to be involved in the world. Woodrow Wilson said that Americans were participants in the life of the world, like it or not. But his countrymen did not listen to him, and as a result, there came the Great Depression, the rise of fascism, the Second World War. Our Nation then learned we could not withdraw from the world.

Then a new generation of Americans reached outward in the years after World War II, building new alliances of peace and new engines of prosperity: NATO, the United Nations, the IMF, the international trading system. It is no accident that during this period of great American leadership abroad we experienced unparalleled economic prosperity here at home. And it is no accident that freedom's great triumph came on America's watch.

Today, on the edge of a new century, the challenges we face are more diverse. But the values that guide America must remain the same. The globalization of commerce and the explosion of communications technology do not resolve all conflicts between nations. Indeed, they create new challenges. They do not diminish our responsibility to lead, therefore; instead, they heighten it. Because today's possibilities are not tomorrow's guarantees, we must remain true to the commitment to lead, that every American leader of both parties, especially Ronald Reagan and Woodrow Wilson, so clearly articulated in this 20th century.

For 50 years we fought for a Europe undivided and free. Last week the United States Senate took a profoundly important step toward that goal by welcoming Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic into NATO, an achievement I believe that would make Ronald Reagan proud. The alliance that helped to keep the peace for a half century now brings us closer than ever to that dream of a Europe united, democratic, and at peace.

Now Congress has other opportunities to fulfill the spirit and honor the legacy of the man whose name we affix to this building today. Congress has the opportunity to maintain our leadership by paying for our support to the IMF and settling our dues to the United Nations. I hope they will do it.

President Reagan once said we had made what he called an unbreakable commitment to the IMF, one that was unbreakable because, in this age of economic interdependence, an investment in the IMF is simply an investment in American prosperity. And we fought for 50 years for peace and security as part of the United Nations.

In 1985, Ronald Reagan said the U.N. stands as the symbol of the hopes of all mankind for a more peaceful and productive world. "We must not," he said, "disappoint those hopes." We still must not disappoint those hopes. President Reagan understood so clearly that America could not stand passively in the face of great change. He understood we had to embrace the obligations of leadership to build a better future for all. The commerce that will be conducted in this great building will be a testament to the opportunities in a truly global economy America has done so much to create.

The academic and cultural activities that will be generated from people who work here will bring us closer together as well. Because the Agency for International Development will be here, we will never forget that the spark of enterprise and opportunity should be brought to the smallest, poorest villages in the world. For there, too, there are people of energy, intelligence, and hunger for freedom.

This is a great day for our country. This is a day of honoring the legacy of President Reagan, remembering the service of President Wilson, and rededicating ourselves to the often difficult but, ultimately, always rewarding work of America.

As I stand within the Reagan Building, I am confident that we will again make the right choices for America, that we will take up where President Reagan left off, to lead freedom's march boldly into the 21st century.

Thank you, and God bless you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 1:36 p.m. in the atrium of the Ronald Reagan Building. In his remarks, he referred to former First Lady Nancy Reagan; General Services Administrator David J. Barram; former Senator Bob Dole; Mayor Marion S. Barry, Jr., of Washington, DC; former Secretary of State George P. Shultz; former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Colin Powell, USA (Ret.), chairman, America's Promise - The Alliance For Youth; Maureen Reagan, daughter of former President Ronald Reagan; and architect James I. Freed.

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