Housing the World

The Johnson home welcomed a steady stream of visitors as it became an alternate White House, and soon there was not enough room. Lady Bird Johnson remarked that the old walls were bursting at the seams, so other houses on the ranch were pressed into service. There, visitors encountered a world beyond the Potomac where cattle still roamed and rivers flowed steadily into the future. These homes served more than a practical purpose: the Birthplace, Cedar Guest House, and others on the ranch offered places away from the chaos of Washington where leaders and staff could chart the course of the War on Poverty and the Great Society. Lyndon Johnson, practical but also sentimental, often remodeled existing homes such as the Sam E. Johnson, Sr. farmhouse, originally a dog-trot cabin that became an idyllic place for overnight visitors. When needed, new guest homes were built, and the Cedar Guest House lodged well-known figures such as Walter Cronkite.

Texas · United States