The Johnson White House: 1963-1969

Gallery

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President Lyndon B. Johnson takes the Oath of Office aboard Air Force One in Dallas, Texas, shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy stands to Johnson's left, while his wife, Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson, is to his right. Federal district judge Sarah T. Hughes administered the presidential oath, the only woman to ever perform this duty.
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
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President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with a group of civil rights leaders in the Oval Office on January 18, 1964. Among the group are the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (left), Whitney M. Young, Jr. of the National Urban League (right), and James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality (far right).
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
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President Lyndon B. Johnson holds his daughter Luci's cake as she blows out the candles on her seventeenth birthday on July 2, 1964. Later that evening, President Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act during a public ceremony in the East Room.
National Archives and Records Administration
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President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the 1964 Civil Rights Act in the East Room of the White House on July 2, 1964. President Johnson is flanked by members of Congress and civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rep. Peter Rodino of New Jersey. The bill prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, or national origin, outlawed segregation in public places, and the unequal application of voting requirements.
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
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Marjorie Tallchief and Nicholas Polajenko of the Harkness Ballet perform for President Lyndon B. Johnson and his guests during the State Dinner for President Diosdado Macapagal of the Philippines on October 5, 1964. First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson and Macapagal's wife and daughter, Eva and Gloria, also attended the performance.
White House Historical Association
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First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson admires artwork installed in the East Colonnade during the White House Festival of the Arts on June 14, 1965. Over 300 guests attended the festival, which honored contemporary American artistic achievement. The fourteen-hour event also featured performances by a variety of artists including Duke Ellington, the Robert Joffrey Ballet, and the Louisville Orchestra.
White House Historical Association
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Film and television star Danny Kaye, First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson, Lou Maginn (director of a Head Start project in Vermont), Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity Sargent Shriver, and Shriver’s sons Timothy and Robert hold a banner during the National Head Start Day celebrations in the East Room on June 30, 1965. Spearheaded by Shriver, Head Start is a child development program designed to meet the needs of disadvantaged preschool children. It was a key element of President Lyndon B. Johnson's legislative War on Poverty, and was championed by the first lady.
White House Historical Association
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President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with former president Harry S. Truman on July 30, 1965, prior to signing the Social Security Act Amendments, which established both Medicare and Medicaid. President Johnson involved Truman with the signing because President Truman had advocated for a national health insurance program during his administration.
White House Historical Association
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President Lyndon B. Johnson awards astronaut Charles "Pete" Conrad the Exceptional Service Medal in the Oval Office on September 14, 1965. Conrad was the pilot for the Gemini 5 mission, which broke the Soviet record for spaceflight duration. Along with other missions, Conrad would go on to command the Apollo 12 mission to the moon. In the photograph, he is accompanied by his wife and his children, who are seated at President Johnson’s desk. First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson stands at the far right of the frame.
White House Historical Association
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President Lyndon B. Johnson was known for his unconventional, even blunt, persuasive style. The president would unnerve political opponents, and even allies, by encroaching on their personal space with his formidable stature and personality, a technique that came to be known as “the Johnson treatment.” Here, President Johnson speaks with Bernard Boutin, newly-appointed deputy director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and Sargent Shriver, first director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, on October 5, 1965. Johnson’s body language is characteristically intrusive.
White House Historical Association
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President Lyndon B. Johnson enjoys Christmas treats with a table of children in the State Dining Room during a children’s Christmas party on December 18, 1965. This Children's Christmas Party was hosted by Luci Johnson, the younger of Johnson's two daughters.
White House Historical Association
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The Johnson family poses with their dogs in the Rose Garden on April 23, 1966. From the left, First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird Johnson,” President Lyndon B. Johnson, and daughter Luci Johnson hold three beagles, two of which are named Him and Her. The other is most likely one of the two puppies Luci kept from Him's litter, named Kim and Freckles. On the right, the Johnsons’ white collie, Blanco, poses with Luci's then-husband Patrick Nugent.
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
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President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with civil rights leaders in the Cabinet Room on April 28, 1966. Johnson met with civil rights leaders, members of Congress, and his Cabinet to discuss and sign his Special Message to the Congress Proposing Further Legislation To Strengthen Civil Rights. Johnson's Special Message called for the enactment of federal law prohibiting housing discrimination. Johnson went on to send a Special Message to Congress every year until the April 11, 1968 signing of the Civil Rights Act, which afforded equal housing opportunities regardless of race, religion, or national origin. From left to right are: Floyd B. McKissick, national director of the Congress of Racial Equality; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Rep. Emanuel Celler of New York; President Johnson; Roy Wilkins, executive director of the NAACP; Civil Rights and union leader A. Philip Randolph; and Dorothy Height, president of the National Council of Negro Women.
White House Historical Association
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Supreme Court Associate Justice Hugo L. Black congratulates Thurgood Marshall after swearing him in as Solicitor General in the Cabinet Room of the West Wing on August 24, 1965. President Johnson later nominated Marshall to the United States Supreme Court, and he was confirmed in 1967. Marshall was the first African-American to serve as Solicitor General and on the nation’s highest court.. Photographed alongside Black and Marshall are President Lyndon B. Johnson and Marshall's family: wife Cecilia Marshall and sons Thurgood Marshall, Jr. and John W. Marshall.
White House Historical Association
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Lynda Bird Johnson, eldest daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson and First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson, and Capt. Charles S. Robb cut their wedding cake in the East Room of the White House on December 9, 1967. Per Marine Corps tradition, the couple used a saber to cut through the five-layer cake, as they became the 15th couple to be married in the White House.
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
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President Lyndon B. Johnson takes a telephone call in the Oval Office on January 17, 1968. Instead of using the Resolute Desk, Johnson sat behind this pedestal partner's desk built by the U.S. Senate cabinet shop. Johnson had previously used the desk during his vice presidency and while serving in the Senate.
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
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American singer and actress Eartha Kitt questions President Lyndon B. Johnson during a "Women Doers" luncheon hosted by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson on January 18, 1968. Kitt, who was invited to speak at the luncheon due to her work with at-risk youth, defended anti-Vietnam War protestors and spoke critically on President Johnson's policies regarding taxes, social welfare, and childcare.
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
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President Lyndon B. Johnson "sings” with his dog Yuki in the Oval Office on January 30, 1968, as Ambassador David K. E. Bruce enjoys the performance. Yuki, a mixed breed, was found by Luci, Johnson's daughter, on Thanksgiving Day in 1966. His name means "snow" in Japanese.
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
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First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson walks with Nash Castro along the Potomac River on March 30, 1968, with views of the Arlington Memorial Bridge, Georgetown University, and the Francis J. Heyden Observatory beyond. Castro was the National Park Service's Assistant Director of the National Capital Region and a prominent figure in the creation of the White House Historical Association. Johnson and Castro worked together closely on the beautification of Washington, D.C.
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
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President Lyndon B. Johnson sits in the Cabinet Room on July 31, 1968, listening to a recording sent by his son-in-law Capt. Charles S. Robb, who was deployed on active duty to Vietnam. The president hunches forward with his face down, his forehead resting against his hand.
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
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Lynda Bird Johnson Robb cradles her newborn daughter, Lucinda Desha Robb, on the day the infant left Bethesda Naval Hospital to come home to the White House. Born on October 25, 1968, Lucinda was the first child of Lynda and her husband, Capt. Charles S. Robb. When Lucinda was born, Robb was serving in Vietnam. Lucinda was the second grandchild and first granddaughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson and First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson.
Courtesy of Henry & Carole Haller and Family
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President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with President-elect Richard M. Nixon in the Oval Office on December 12, 1968. The Johnson family met with the Nixons on the South Lawn, in the Oval Office, and upstairs in the Residence.
Library of Congress

About this Gallery

On November 22, 1963, about two hours after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Vice President Lyndon Banes Johnson took the Oath of Office, becoming the thirty-sixth president of the United States. As president, LBJ immediately set out to heal a mourning nation while advancing legislation to bolster Kennedy’s legacy. On July 2, 1964, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the East Room, ending segregation in public places and outlawing employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin. The following year, he signed the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibited racial discrimination practices in voting. In 1964, President Johnson was elected in a landslide, defeating Republican candidate Barry Goldwater. He continued to promote policies that enhanced Kennedy’s legacy while advancing his own vision for the country. One of his most significant initiatives was the Great Society, comprised of different programs and policies designed to address inequalities in education, health care, employment, transportation, and housing. In addition to his policy initiatives, Johnson continued President and Mrs. Kennedy's support of the arts and humanities. His administration helped establish the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts in 1965, and in 1968 he signed the Public Broadcasting Act that established the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and later led to the creation of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR).