Number 36

 

Lyndon Baines Johnson, or LBJ, was born in Stonewall, Texas, on August 27, 1908. Born to a political family, he was destined for politics, and began his career as a Congressional aide.  In 1937, he was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served for six terms.

In 1948, he was elected to the U.S. Senate.  Over the next twelve years, he'd serve in a variety of positions, including Majority Whip, Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus, Minority Leader, and eventually Majority Leader.

In 1960, LBJ made his first bid for the White House, but was ultimately bested by John F. Kenndy, Jr., who shocked pundits and the public alike when he asked his former rival to serve as Vice-President.

Following Kennedy's assassination in 1963, LBJ was sworn in as President. The following year, he'd win re-election in a landslide victory over Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater.

When he left the White House in 1969, he returned to his native Texas, where he'd later pen his memoirs (see Trivia below). A lifetime of smoking would eventually catch up with him however, and he'd suffer multiple heart attacks.  The last one took his life on January 22, 1973, just two days after Richard Nixon was sworn in for his second term as President.

Johnson was returned to his ranch in Stonewall and was buried in the family cemetery, just a few yards from the very shack in which he was born.  Today, its a national historical park overseen by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about LBJ, take a voyage to your public library.  It's all in books.
    * Lyndon Baines Johnson, Robert Dallek (2023)
    * Judgment Days: LBJ, MLK, and the Laws That Changed America,
       Nick Kotz (2005)
    * The Vantage Point: Perspectives on the Presidency,
       Lyndon Baines Johnson (1972)
  
  
• Additionally, there are a number of LBJ documentaries on YouTube, including:
    * How Lyndon B. Johnson Carried on JFK's Legacy
    * LBJ: The 36th President of the United States
  
  
• One day after his death, a ceasefire was reached in Vietnam.
  
  
• At the time of his death, LBJ was the only living former president.  Harry Truman died one month earlier, a funeral attended by LBJ.
  
  
• LBJ's favorite song was Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water.
  
  
• LBJ was the last democrat to win the state of Alaska in a Presidential election. 

Annie Get Your Gun...and Your Grave...and Your Museum....

 

Annie Oakley was born Phoebe Ann Moses in or near Greeneville, Ohio, on August 13, 1860, something the town doesn't want you to forget.  Of all the graves this blogger has visited, this was by far the most celebrated.  More on that later.

At an early age, Oakley developed hunting skills in order to provide for her family.  She became very adept with the use of a firearm, and by age 15, she was entering local marksmanship events.  The first man she ever beat was Francis Butler, a sharpshooter in a traveling variety show.  He obviously didn't hold it against her though, as the two were later married.

In 1885, the couple joined Buffalo Bill's traveling road show and took the world by storm, entertaining royalty and heads of state.  Oakley would become the show's star attraction, her salary second only to Buffalo Bill himself.

In her early 40s, Oakley was in a railroad accident.  It required her to begin scaling back her performances and settle into a more mellow routine.  She continued touring, although this time in a play about her own life and career.  Her stage acts were even filmed for one of Thomas Edison's earliest Kinetoscopes.  Yup, it's on YouTube. 

Well into her 60s, Oakley's health was in decline. She ultimately died of pernicious anemia on November 3, 1926.  She was 66 years old.

Annie Oakley was cremated and her ashes were buried in Greeneville's Brock Cemetery.  Signage throughout the town leads the way.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• An unconfirmed legend has it that Oakley's ashes were placed in one of her many shooting trophies.  
  
  
• Francis Butler died just 18 days after Oakley, most say of a broken heart.
  
  
• In her later years, Oakley was a philanthropist known for her support of women's rights and other causes.  She instructed women in marksmanship, a strong believer in female self-defense.
  
  
• Greeneville, Ohio, is also home to the Garst Museum and the National Annie Oakley Center, where many of her firearms and personal memorabilia are on permanent display.
  
  
• Oakley was inducted into several historical groups, including the Trapshooting Hall of Fame (Sparta, IL), the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame (Fort Worth, TX), the National Women's Hall of Fame (Seneca Falls, NY), and the New Jersey Hall of Fame (Newark, NJ).