Lady Bird Johnson 1912-2007

From her devotion to a man some found crude to her commitment to the cause of beautification, President Lyndon Johnson's widow had a civilizing effect on the nation. Christened Claudia Alta Taylor, she was dubbed Lady Bird as a baby by a family maid because she was "pretty as a ladybird." On their first date in Austin, Texas, Lyndon proposed to Lady Bird, and his 21-year-old bride, he said, went on to become "the brains and money of this family." She invested in a small Austin radio station that would grow into a media conglomerate and make the Johnsons millionaires. On the campaign trail, she softened her husband's hard edges, charming voters with her lilting East Texas accent. As First Lady, she pioneered the green movement, banishing billboards and junkyards and blanketing the capital in daffodils and tulips.