LBJ

I can hear you ask, even from this distance, ‘what are you doing in Johnson City, Texas?’ and if you’re not asking then you should be.

This trip started in 1982 when I read the first volume of what was then intended by the author Robert Caro to be a two volume biography of President Lyndon B. Johnson. This year the fourth of what is now five volumes has been published, following the second (1992) and the third (2002) volumes.

That first volume, The Path to Power, is probably the best book I’ve ever read; and that’s a big call from someone who reads as many books as I do; the best in terms of scholarship, research, detail, the ability to paint a vivid picture with words and to reveal the unvarnished life of someone who is predominately an unattractive person despite being a political genius.

Since 1975 Robert Caro has worked on nothing except this biography and before he started this task he written only one other book (a biography of another unattractive political person, Robert Moses).

So, when Jess announced a wedding in Las Vegas and a plane ticket to Dallas was easier to get than a plane ticket to Los Angeles the pieces started to fall into place for me to visit some of the places I have been reading about for the last 30 years.

This morning I visited the boyhood home of Lyndon Johnson and then drove 15kms outside Johnson City to see the LBJ Ranch; both are very capably administered by the US National Parks Service.

The boyhood home is a block away from the LBJ Visitors Centre; where there is a comprehensive display of details and memorabilia of the life and times of LBJ. The home has been restored and furnished in 1920s period style; I think plain and practical is how to describe the style.

Then I walked about 500m to where some buildings (house, barn, house that could have been a barn or vice versa) from the mid to late 1800s have been restored to show how the early settlers in this area lived; ‘very basic’ is a good summary of the living accommodation.

The LBJ Ranch was purchased in the 1950s by Lyndon Johnson; the original house was considerably expanded after he became president in 1963. It sits on the northern bank of the Perdenales River and the garden is shaded by large live oaks (so named because they are evergreen). I joined a tour given by a ranger who was knowledgeable enough to be interesting and pushy enough to get through the tour in the allotted time (and who wore a ranger hat just like the ranger in Yogi Bear; although I refrained from pointing out this striking resemblance).

We saw LBJ’s office; dining room, lounge room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom (including the bed he died in!); all restored to 1960s style; the kitchen was a riot of Formica and linoleum.

It was a quiet day at the LBJ Ranch; at this time of year they get about 100 visitors a day; in the peak holiday seasons it is up to 1500 visitors a day.

I was the only non-American on the tour; when I was asked where I was from and said “Australia” the majority of the other visitors looked blankly uncomprehending but the ranger dashed off and came back with an opal paperweight that had been given to LBJ by then Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt. The uncomprehending mass then looked even more uncomprehending.

Then I drove west about 25kms to Fredericksburg; a town of 10,640 settled by German immigrants in the 1800s.

It is also the unlikely site for the Museum of the Pacific War; an overwhelmingly comprehensive display of World War Two in the Pacific. This museum is here because one of the principal American commanders in that war, Admiral Chester Nimitz, was born and grew up in Fredericksburg.

It was a very quiet day at the museum and I almost had the vast place to myself. It has 27 separate exhibition rooms and I spent 3 hours there, and may go back tomorrow as my ticket is valid for 48 hours and I still have to see the outside displays.

Prior to the museum, I had lunch at one of the many German restaurants in Fredericksburg. The photos posted show that I may not have made the wisest choices for lunch immediately before spending 3 hours wandering around a museum.

To finish off the day I went to the Walmart Supercentre on the edge of town; this shop is about 200m square and sells everything from cannelloni to canoes. I bought a ‘manual’ toothbrush (as distinct from a powered version), coat hangers, orange juice (extra pulpy), a card reader for camera storage cards, socks and a flashlight. 

This is the American consumer experience in a single building; probably 80% of the goods are made in China and the choice and price of items is astonishing; there were 34 varieties of cranberry juice (I counted them) and a 60 inch flat screen TV for $689.

In the tooth care aisle there was a section for “Travel and Trial”; smaller sizes of toothpaste etc; I wondered if this is for people holidaying and for those on trial who may be soon in jail.