April 2, 1966. The whole town of Presidio, TX, turns out for Lady Bird’s arrival in their town today: in fact, people from all over this section of far west Texas are there to greet her and Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior. She describes their welcome: 

“The wind was blowing and the Sul Ross College Band was playing ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’: All the little children were grinning and waving homemade signs, 'WELCOME LADY BIRD, UDALL AND YOU ALL’….the presiding Mayor made his brief speech and said: 'Ordinarily on an occasion like this, the Mayor presents the guest with a key to the city. But we don’t have any key because we don’t have any locks on our doors. You’re mighty welcome.’ They gave us sombreros–the whole party, including the seventy-odd newspaper entourage!”

Lady Bird and Secretary Udall will be spending the next couple of days touring the breathtaking Big Bend National Park as part of an effort to highlight the nation’s natural beauty. Stay tuned for some of our favorite photos in the entire LBJ Library collection. 

Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary, New York: Dell Books, 1971, pg 413. Photo, from 2007, by salutaimée via Flickr Creative Commons.