Wednesday, March 24, 2010

LBJ Presidential Library and Museum

During my recent trip to Austin,* I took an hour or so to check out the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum which is located on the University of Texas campus. As many people know, I was mildly obsessed with LBJ in college. I find him to be fascinating and a tragic hero. [I do admit he was also basically a jerk and that he bears some (but certainly not all) of the responsibility for the Vietnam War].

I had never been to a presidential library and was certainly impressed. The exhibits were interesting (including a 7/8 replica of the oval office as it was when he was there). On the elevator up to the 10th floor to check out said oval office replica, I overheard a man say to his companion: "I never knew that Johnson did so much for the country." His presidency was so completely entangled with the Vietnam War (and perhaps rightly so) that his impressive and lasting accomplishments (the civil rights act and voting rights act, medicare and medicaid, and head start to name a few).

Enough of my soap box, the most entertaining part of the museum was the Humor of LBJ exhibit, which consisted of an animotronic LBJ leaning on a fence telling stories. The youtube version is below or you can check out the official version here.



*If you haven't been to Austin, I definitely recommend a trip, particularly if you like music of any kind.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Would love to see the "new" Austin! Our memories of the city were of being shot at from the tower by Charles Whitman when we were training for the Peace Corps for Afghanistan in the summer of 1966.

Elizabeth said...

Dad told me you were there for that. Unbelievable! UT was on spring break while I was there, so it was very peaceful walking around the campus.