An awesome time at an awesome museum

Day 13 was a quick drive from College Station to Austin, between towns engaged in a fierce rivalry for more than 100 years. So we were careful not to flaunt any A&M gear in this Longhorn town.

Our final Presidential Library, for Lyndon Baines Johnson, was today, and we definitely saved the best for last. It was incredible. The LBJ Library is the only one that has no admission charge, something that President Johnson insisted on, and he set aside part of his own family fortune as an endowment to ensure that it remains free of charge.

just a few campaign buttons there

The (obligatory) introductory film was very good, describing both the positives and negatives of Johnson's political career and presidency, and did a very good job relating his early life experiences to the huge issues that he worked to improve in American society - race relations, educational opportunities, and economic opportunity. It also described how the Vietnam War, and the strife it caused in the US, overshadowed many of his monumental achievements and caused him to (prematurely) end his political career.

Probably LBJ's most natural pose

The exhibits on Johnson's life and long (33 years, despite Lady Bird's entreaties that he not enter politics in the first place!) career in Congress very well done. There were also extensive displays on the Vietnam War, civil right legislation and its impacts, and the Great Society, of course. What really struck us was how the exhibits were structured - there was great use of location and color and design to show how the 1963, when LBJ became President after the JFK assassination, and 1968, when so many calamitous events took place in the US, were the bookends on the years when LBJ was at his greatest power but resulted in the end of his "can do" approach to politics.  

The museum had many source documents on display, such as this classified FBI report on the Student Peace Union, claiming that it was a Communist organization. Those sorts of documents help you to better understand how and why President's made the decisions that they made, right or wrong, which is the real purpose of these Presidential Libraries. The Reagan Library recently added information about Iran Contra, the Clinton Library includes an exhibit on Whitewater and the impeachment, and the Nixon Library even has many of the secret tapes available for public review. The Libraries don't have to show balance every positive with a negative, as they are meant tributes to their subjects, but they shouldn't gloss over the negatives, either.

This photo of the stairs captures the feeling of the place, grandiose but subtle, as you move out of the LBJ exhibits and into the archives.

Got enough papers there?

The temporary exhibition was "Left to Right: Radical Movements of the 1960s", and it was also excellent. It  started with background on Saul Alinsky and his Rules for Radicals (which we purchased in the gift shop!) and then described varied social movements including the SCLC,  Hippies and Yippies, Black Power, Womens' Liberation, Free Speech (at Berkeley, especially), The Silent Minority, Sexual Liberation, Environmentalism, John Birch, and more. There was a great combination of photo, video, and audio materials, and it would take many hours to view every last bit of it. Starting it with Alinsky and the principles of organizing communities and movements was the key, because all of them followed his rules, no matter if they were left or right-wing.

After the awesome library, we had a very nice picnic lunch, with some insistent squirrels, under some shady trees on the UT campus. We were also able to pick up a "Johnson-Humphrey" bumper sticker in the gift shop - just in time!

The view during lunch

We took in some more of the UT Campus, and picked up still more college gear (burnt orange for everyone!) at the University Co-op, a literally endless array of UT-licensed merchandise, and Allegra posed with a famous longhorn. We were surprised the paint didn't melt off in the heat, only 97 degrees today.

We also took a walk in and around the Texas State Capitol, maybe the most impressive of the capitol buildings we've seen so far.

Where's Rick Perry?

The dome is very cool, with portraits of all of the governors of Texas circling on four levels, and an elaborate floor design, best seen from the 4th floor. But it's tough to get a pic of it without anyone walking into your frame. You don't want to yell at them!

Hey, you're in my shot!

A lot to take in in one day. We are nearing 3,500 miles driven so far, and after Dallas and Oklahoma City in the next couple days, we have some long drives in store. Time to get some sleep - talk to you later!