36. Lyndon Johnson
The oldest of five siblings, Lyndon B. Johnson was born in his family's three-room farmhouse near Stonewall, Texas, on August 27, 1908. When Johnson was five years old, the family moved to nearby Johnson City. His father was a farmer who served multiple terms in the Texas House of Representatives. Johnson attended the local schools and learned debate and elocution from his mother. During his childhood and youth, he worked as a farm laborer, shoeshine, and printer’s assistant. Johnson developed his political interests early in life as he accompanied his father to campaign events and legislative sessions. Built by his grandfather in 1889, Johnson's birth home was destroyed in the 1940s, but Johnson had it reconstructed while he was president. The birthplace and boyhood home are now part of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park.
I was born in Houston. I went to graduate school in Austin. I know Texas. I know hot. But our family trip to Austin was HOT! Highs were 106 to 108 and lows weren't much below 100. The only respite was a visit to Barton Springs. With the heat so unbearable, I woke up early to drive from Austin to Stonewall to photograph while the girls slept in. I arrived just as the park opened and had the place pretty much to myself to enjoy the early morning light. While photographing some wide shots of the reconstructed birth home, a herd of longhorns came out of nowhere. It reminded me of my experience with the flock of birds at the Jefferson site, only much less graceful and a whole lot less photogenic. I did what I could as the cows lumbered by and managed to make a picture or two. The ruggedness of the cows was reflected in the landscape and the remnants of the farm. The live oaks on the ranch reached up to block the harshness of the Texas summer creating an inviting setting for the small farmhouse. With a stream meandering through the ranch, it was plain to see the idyllic world that shaped a young Lyndon and would beckon him back again and again throughout his life.