Lady Bird Johnson

Born Claudia Alta Taylor in Karnack, Texas, on Dec. 22, 1912, "Lady Bird" Johnson got her nickname from a nursemaid who remarked that she was "pretty as a ladybird." Her father, Thomas Jefferson Taylor, owned two general stores and cotton fields that her grandfather had worked on as a sharecropper. From a one-room school, Johnson began her education. She graduated from high school at age 15 and took a summer course in journalism at the University of Alabama before returning to Texas and enrolling in an Episcopalian junior college.

She earned bachelor's degrees in arts and journalism from the University of Texas at Austin in 1933 and 1934, respectively. She had designs on becoming a newspaper reporter, but she unexpectedly and swiftly struck up a romance with future President Lyndon Johnson, then a congressional aide, that resulted in their marriage in November 1934. Johnson used a portion of her inheritance to finance her new husband's campaign for Congress, which was ultimately successful. She ran his congressional office for eight months when he was called to duty in World War II.

Johnson followed in her father's footsteps and proved herself as a skilled businesswoman. She purchased failing Austin radio station KTBC in 1943 and turned it into a profitable venture in less than a year. In 1944, she gave birth to her first child, Lynda. Her second, Luci, was born three years later. Her husband continued his climb in the nation's capital, becoming senator and then vice president under President John F. Kennedy. Johnson's political and business savvy, combined with her public outreach efforts, was instrumental in her husband's campaign victories. As second lady of the U.S., Johnson traveled the country representing the vice president and substituted for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy at more than 50 social events.

Upon President Kennedy's assassination in 1963, Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president and Lady Bird Johnson became first lady. She took to the role with gusto, expanding upon the role of the first lady's office by establishing a staff in the East Wing of the White House. She organized a trip to eight Southern states after the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 to speak of its importance and bolster her husband's re-election prospects. She oversaw a beautification project to improve Washington, D.C., and campaigned for national conservation efforts.

She emphasized the need for harmony between nature and human development. The Highway Beautification Act of 1965 became the first prominent legislation initiated by a first lady. After the presidency, she and her husband returned to their family ranch in Texas. She published a book, "White House Diary," containing writings from her time as first lady. Johnson continued her beautification efforts, co-founding what became known as the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center with actress Helen Hayes in 1982.

She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. She died on July 11, 2007, at the age of 94.