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If Lyndon Baines Johnson was larger than life, the family
ranch with which he identified, which he and Lady Bird
fondly called "our heart's home," and which he made the
Texas White House during his five years as president, was
part of the reason. In this innovative history of the Johnson
Ranch and its ethos and operation, Hal K. Rothman has told a
story unlike any other in Western history. It is a story of
national and even international dimensions, yet truly grounded
in the Texas earth. It is a story of the relationship
between power and place in American culture.
The Johnson Ranch, to which LBJ took foreign dignitaries and
national political leaders and to which he himself returned
often while in office for renewal and perspective, represented
the "real" America to many of its visitors. For many Americans
(and perhaps for Johnson himself), the Texas White House evoked
the national ethos about rural America and family ties, yet it
also had rapid access by jet and boasted the most sophisticated
communications system in the world.
In this detailed account of how Johnson used the ranch
during his years in public office, readers will learn who
visited, how they were fed and entertained, and how LBJ
conducted the nation's business while there. Readers will
also get a fascinating interpretation of the role of the
ranch in forming Johnson's own self-image, in promoting
Johnson and his rags-to-riches story to the voting public,
and in offering Johnson in retirement the one thing he
truly craved: control.
After the president's death, and in accordance with Johnson's
wishes, parts of the ranch were incorporated into the Lyndon
B. Johnson National Historical Park, which now consists of
the Boyhood Home in Johnson City, the Birthplace, the Johnson
Settlement, and the Texas White House. Through the experiences
it represents, which are an integral part of Johnson's legacy,
it has become one more way in which this dynamic president has
influenced U.S. history.
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HAL K. ROTHMAN is a leading historian of the American West,
especially of the environment in the West. Holding a Ph.D.
in American studies from the University of Texas, he teaches
at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has served as
editor of Environmental History and has written many books
and articles on Western and environmental history. His book
Devil's Bargains: Tourism in the Twentieth Century American
West received the Western Writers of America's Spur Award for
Best Contemporary Non-Fiction in 1999.
