[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 116 (Thursday, July 19, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9607-S9608]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBERING LADY BIRD JOHNSON

  Mr. BIDEN. Madam President, so much has been said about the various 
parts of Lady Bird Johnson's life, as one of our most beloved First 
Ladies, as a loving mother and grandmother, as the mother of the 
conservation movement, and as a skilled businesswoman. But there is 
another aspect all of us in this body appreciate, and that is her mark 
on this Chamber.
  Before the Johnsons left Washington in January 1969, they came to the 
Capitol to say farewell. And the ever gracious Lady Bird Johnson, who 
had watched her husband serve as a Senator and a majority leader, said:

       When we say goodbye to Washington, the address of 1600 
     Pennsylvania Avenue was a small span of time for us in 
     comparison to the years that we spent closely affiliated with 
     this building.

  She knew how to use this building. She was the first First Lady to 
ever undertake a major legislative effort--the Highway Beautification 
Act of 1965. Four decades later, her efforts still bloom on our 
highways in every region of this country, and in this city.
  She did what each of us, and all of us combined, come here to do--
leave America better than we found it. Her achievement is all the more 
remarkable because it was a trying period in

[[Page S9608]]

our Nation's history. A President had been assassinated, we were 
divided by Vietnam, there were riots in our cities over desegregation.
  But she understood nature belongs to every single one of us, and we 
have an obligation to pay nature back. As President Johnson said, when 
he signed the law:

       There is a part of America which was here long before we 
     arrived, and will be here, if we preserve it, long after we 
     depart.

  As Mrs. Johnson departs, we thank her for her preservation. We thank 
her for lining every corner of the country with flowers that we all 
enjoy.
  And we thank her for teaching us that preservation and beauty go 
beyond the wildflowers, to the need to deal with pollution and urban 
decay and other problems that are too prevalent in our country and 
world today.
  Jill and I are thinking of her daughters, Lynda and Luci, their 
families--and, in particular, Senator Robb, who served this body so 
well.

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