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President and Mrs. Johnson with the Blue Room Christmas Tree
Robert L. Knudsen
winter holidays
State Floor
Blue Room Christmas Tree
Blue Room
decorations
Christmas
This photograph of President Lyndon B. Johnson and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson posing by the Blue Room Christmas tree was taken by Robert L. Knudsen on December 13, 1966. For her third Christmas as first lady, Lady Bird Johnson decorated the tree with thousands of small traditional ornaments, including nuts, fruit, popcorn, dried seedpods, gingerbread cookies, and wood roses from Hawaii.
President Johnson with Children at Christmas Party
Unknown
event
holidays
Christmas
children
Blue Room
State Floor
This photograph of President Lyndon B. Johnson was taken on December 16, 1964 in the Blue Room. Johnson hangs an ornament on a large Christmas tree during the Children's Christmas party.
In this photograph, taken by Joseph J. Scherschel of the National Geographic Service on December 18, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson enjoys Christmas treats with a table of children in the State Dining Room. This Children's Christmas Party was hosted by Luci Johnson, the younger of Johnson's two daughters.
This photograph by Joseph J. Scherschel is of the employee Christmas party at the White House in December 1965, during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. In this photo, President Johnson greets guests at the party in the Red Room. Spread through much of the State Floor of the building, the party featured food, dancing, and live music.
This photograph by Joseph J. Scherschel is of the employee Christmas party at the White House in December 1965, during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. In this photo, President Johnson greets party guests in the State Dining Room. Spread through much of the State Floor of the building, including the State Dining Room, the party featured food, dancing and live music.
This photograph by Joseph J. Scherschel is of the employee Christmas party at the White House in December 1965, during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. In this photo, President Johnson partakes in the refreshments at the buffet in the State Dining Room. Spread through much of the State Floor of the building, the party featured food, dancing and live music. First Lady Lady Bird Johnson stands behind her husband.
This photograph by Joseph J. Scherschel is of the employee Christmas party at the White House in December 1965, during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. In this photo, President Johnson and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson partake of refreshments at the buffet in the State Dining Room. Spread through much of the State Floor of the building, the party featured food, dancing, and live music.
This photograph by Joseph J. Scherschel is of the employee Christmas party at the White House in December 1965, during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. In this photo, President Johnson greets party guests in the State Dining Room. Spread through much of the State Floor of the building, including the State Dining Room, the party featured food, dancing and live music.
East Garden With Guests During Festival of the Arts
Abbie Rowe
east view
sculptures
This photograph by Abbie Rowe, of the National Park Service, shows guests viewing sculptures in the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden during the White House Festival of the Arts hosted by Lady Bird Johnson.
Gemini 5 Astronauts Receive Exceptional Service Medal
Joseph J. Scherschel
astronauts
Oval Office
West Wing
White House Guests
This photograph by Joseph J. Scherschel shows President Lyndon B. Johnson awarding the Exceptional Service Medal to Col. Gordon Cooper, astronaut, in the Oval Office. Cooper was the command pilot for the Gemini 5 mission (August 21-29, 1965), which broke the Soviet record for spaceflight duration. Cooper was one of the seven original Project Mercury astronauts and flew the Mercury-Atlas 9, "Faith 7," craft in May 1963 during a roughly 34 hour mission that orbited the earth 22 times. The Gemini 5 mission would be Cooper's last before retirement. He was accompanied to the White House by his wife and two daughters.
In this photograph, Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois and representatives from the poultry industry and farm organizations present a turkey to President Lyndon B. Johnson on November 16, 1967 in the Oval Office. Presidents and their families have received turkeys for the holidays as far back as the 1870s. However, the origin of the turkey pardon is said to have started with President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, after he offered a clemency to a turkey purchased for Christmas dinner at his son's request. The pardoning of a Thanksgiving turkey became a formalized tradition during the Ronald Reagan administration.
President and Mrs. Johnson Greet Princess Margaret of England
Joseph J. Scherschel
White House Guests
Second Floor
Queens' Bedroom
event
In this photograph, taken November 17, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson greet Princess Margaret in the Queens' Bedroom. Princess Margaret was the sister of England's Queen Elizabeth II. In 1960, she married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, who was given the title Earl of Snowdon by the Queen. The Johnsons received the Earl and Countess of Snowdon in the Queens' suite, a Second Floor guest quarters often reserved for visiting royalty.
This photograph of President Lyndon B. Johnson was taken by James P. Blair on May 5, 1966. President Johnson welcomed representatives from the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the departments of justice and treasury, among others, for a meeting at the White House that day to discuss progress made toward stymying the power of La Cosa Nostra, or the American Mafia. In this photograph, President Johnson is seen addressing the press from the Cabinet Room in the West Wing. Standing from left to right are: Fred M. Vinson, Jr., the assistant attorney general; Attorney General Nicholas deB. Katzenbach; Johnson; J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI; Sheldon S. Cohen, commissioner of the IRS; and Donald W. Bacon, the assistant commissioner of the IRS.
President Johnson Presents Billy Graham with Award
James P. Blair
West Wing
Oval Office
White House Guests
This photograph of President Lyndon B. Johnson was taken by James P. Blair on May 10, 1966. In this photograph, President Johnson is seen presenting Rev. Billy Graham with the Big Brothers of America's "Man of the Year" award in the Oval Office. Graham was a Christian evangelist who had an audience with 12 consecutive presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Barack Obama. Joining the two was Charles G. Berwind, the president of Big Brothers of America. The organization combined with Big Sisters, Inc. to form Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America in 1977.
State Dinner for British Prime Minister Harold Wilson
Joseph J. Scherschel
military
State Floor
State Dinner
Head of State
Cross Hall
State Visit
This photograph was taken by Joseph J. Scherschel on June 2, 1967. It shows President Lyndon B. Johnson, First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson (Baron Wilson of Rievaulx), and his wife Mary Wilson (Baroness Wilson of Rievaulx) proceeding down the Cross Hall to make their formal entrance into the East Room as part of a State Dinner held in honor of Wilson's official visit.
This photograph was taken by Joseph J. Scherschel on June 15, 1965. It shows President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Rose Garden, presenting a certificate to one of the 14 graduates of the Capitol Page School. The graduates were: Ben L. Barnes, Ronald Stone, Mark J. Rubin, Paul L. Peterson, Harry Herget, Robert W. Graves, Randall P. Abbott, William Perry Brown III, Wilmer L. Carbo Jr., Robert A. Bourne, Mike Sullivan, Tommy Denton, Ed Bibb III, and Dan DeHart.
The Capitol Page School was established in 1931 as a privately operated school designed to educate the young boys who served as both House and Senate Pages. In 1947 the District of Columbia Board of Education assumed control of the Capitol Page School and it functioned like a typical, public high school until 1995 when the Capitol Page School became an independent, private school again. Today, high school juniors who are at least 16 years of age can be sponsored by a Senator to become a Senate Page and in the Capitol Page School if selected. The House Page Program ended in 2011.
This photograph of President Lyndon B. Johnson with Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall and Attorney General Nicholas deB. Katzenbach was taken just outside the Oval Office on August 24, 1965. Johnson invited several guests to meet Marshall and his family in the Oval Office following Marshall's swearing-in ceremony.
President and Mrs. Johnson Greet the Diplomatic Corps
James P. Blair
State Floor
Blue Room
event
This photograph of President Lyndon B. Johnson and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson was taken by James P. Blair on May 4, 1966. In this photograph, the Johnsons are seen receiving members of the Diplomatic Corps in the Blue Room at the White House diplomatic reception. The annual reception is held at the White House and offers the president and first lady the opportunity to meet with diplomats living in the United States and representing their native countries. Around 500 guests from 113 diplomatic missions attended the reception that year.
President Johnson Speaks at Voting Rights Act Ceremony
Joseph J. Scherschel
U.S. Capitol
Bill Signing
civil rights
This photograph is of President Lyndon B. Johnson delivering remarks in the Capitol Rotunda prior to the signing ceremony for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which took place on August 6, 1965. The bill was signed in the President's Room. The Voting Rights Act was designed to the "enforce the 15th amendment" and remove the barriers that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote. The statue's provisions included: banning literacy tests, empowering the attorney general to investigate the unlawful use of poll taxes, and made the act of harassing, intimidating, threatening to prevent a lawfully registered voter from voting punishable by a fine of up $10,000, a five-year prison sentence or both. The legislation also allowed for the appointment of federal examiners with the ability to register qualified citizens to vote in jurisdictions where less than 50 percent of the voting age population was registered to vote. This legislation had a tremendous and immediate impact with over a quarter-million African Americans registered to vote by the end of 1965.
This photograph is of President Lyndon B. Johnson seated beside his daughter Luci during the signing ceremony for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which took place on August 6, 1965, in the Capitol Rotunda. Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey sits on the other side of Luci. The Voting Rights Act was designed to the "enforce the 15th amendment" and remove the barriers that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote. The statue's provisions included: banning literacy tests, empowering the attorney general to investigate the unlawful use of poll taxes, and made the act of harassing, intimidating, threatening to prevent a lawfully registered voter from voting punishable by a fine of up $10,000, a five-year prison sentence or both. The legislation also allowed for the appointment of federal examiners with the ability to register qualified citizens to vote in jurisdictions where less than 50 percent of the voting age population was registered to vote. This legislation had a tremendous and immediate impact with over a quarter-million African Americans registered to vote by the end of 1965.
This photograph by Joseph J. Scherschel shows scenes from President Lyndon B. Johnson’s visit to NASA’s Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, Texas. The purpose of the visit was a speech to honor the crew of the Gemini 4 mission and the nomination of astronauts James McDivitt and Edward White for promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel. The Gemini 4 mission spanned four days and 62 Earth orbits, and included the first American spacewalk. Here, Johnson is delivering his remarks.
The Manned Spaceflight Center was established in 1961 where it served the Mission Control Center for NASA’s spaceflight program and led the Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab missions. In 1973, it was renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in honor of the former president whose home state is Texas. Today, the center continues to serve as Mission Control and leads NASA’s International Space Station operations.
This photograph by Joseph J. Scherschel shows a scene from President Lyndon B. Johnson’s visit to NASA’s Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, Texas. The purpose of the visit was a speech to honor the crew of the Gemini 4 mission and the nomination of astronauts James McDivitt and Edward White for promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel. The Gemini 4 mission spanned four days and 62 Earth orbits, and included the first American spacewalk.
The Manned Spaceflight Center was established in 1961 where it served the Mission Control Center for NASA’s spaceflight program and led the Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab missions. In 1973, it was renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in honor of the former president whose home state is Texas. Today, the center continues to serve as Mission Control and leads NASA’s International Space Station operations.
This photograph by Joseph J. Scherschel shows scenes from President Lyndon B. Johnson’s visit to NASA’s Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, Texas. The purpose of the visit was a speech to honor the crew of the Gemini 4 mission and the nomination of astronauts James McDivitt and Edward White for promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel. The Gemini 4 mission spanned four days and 62 Earth orbits, and included the first American spacewalk. Here, the president and first lady are greeting the astronauts and their families.
The Manned Spaceflight Center was established in 1961 where it served the Mission Control Center for NASA’s spaceflight program and led the Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab missions. In 1973, it was renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in honor of the former president whose home state is Texas. Today, the center continues to serve as Mission Control and leads NASA’s International Space Station operations.