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| 45,000,000 documents fill the LBJ Library |
Tuesday it was cloudy and about 70 as we caught a cab up the hill from our hotel to the LBJ Museum and the University of Texas Campus. We have visited the presidential libraries of Roosevelt - Nixon - Reagan - Carter - and now Johnson. This was probably the most interesting because Johnson reigned from 1963 to 1968 - one of our favorite periods in history.
Johnson passed so much legislation - it is a shame that he will be remembered as the president that could not stop Vietnam. Johnson was first a school teacher. He really cared for the poor Americans. He passed Medicare - National Defense Education Act - Voting Rights - Civil Rights - and many more laws. Unfortunately - college age kids that were required to serve in the military protested that Vietnam War - that caused Johnson to not run for a second term.
The only difference between Vietnam and Afghanistan/Iraq was that Vietnam required all young men to register to serve. Bush's War was fought by an all volunteer army. Thus - Bush's War drug on longer - because the public did not rise up against it - because they did not have and skin in the game - just trillions of tax dollars.
The LBJ library is fantastic - great displays - lots of personal stuff about Johnson and his family. His wife had an office in the building for 30 years and she set the tone. There was a touring Beatles display that really colored the 1960s motif.
After the library - we walked to the Texas Capitol - one of the most well-maintained state buildings we ever entered. It is a little disconcerting to have to pass over a dozen police holding machines guns across their chest - never putting them down - always ready to fire. It is a shame that we have come to this.
They have Christmas trees right in the center of the House and Senate. Of course it is surprising to see all the pictures of Gov Rick Perry in the chambers. He is really well-liked in Texas.
In the evening we went to the Moonshine Restaurant and had steak dinners. There is a picture of my chicken fried steak below. We are staying on Sixth Street - the hub of the Austin night life. It looks really cool - but with the congress home for the holiday and students gone - Austin night life is really empty. We had dinner in front of an open mike with singers playing just to us.
We are surprised with the big German influence of this area. Many towns have German names - and it is something we really would like to study. In the UT Stadium - there was a big display of the 1936 Nazi Olympics. It is stunning what Hitler got away with.
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| LBJ pushed through ESEA which gave federal funding to school libraries for the first time. |
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| The Beatles display took half our time there. |
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| A replica of the Oval Office |
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Lady Bird Johnson had this view of the UT Stadium from
her office |
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| This is as pretty as Lyndon Johnson got |
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| Lulu loved her Barbie Dolls - a 1960s thing |
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| 45,000,000 documents grace the library |
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Lyndon used to sweet talk/bully people into voting for his laws. He used to say -
"We got their peckers in our pockets." I do not know what that meant. |
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| Christmas tree in the middle of the House |
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| Texas state seal in the rotunda |
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| What a pretty well-maintained capitol |
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| From the Alamo Monument in front of th eCapitol |
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| State Capitol |
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| Giant Chicken Fried Steak - $17 |
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| Sixth Street Austin City Limits without folks |
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| Playing to empty seats |
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| Sixth Street from our hotel - the trees |
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