LBJ celebrating his last Christmas, with family, LBJ Ranch, yesterday 1972. With ranch now open to public, this dining room looks much the same, except for that Lady Bird had linoleum floor yanked out and replaced by wood parquet after her husband’s death:
For those eager to search for replicas of Presidential furniture, at left is the hide-covered chair with little stirrups that LBJ often sat in while presiding at head of his ranch dining room table:
Note the desk in LBJ’s ranch office during his Presidency—he was using Nixon’s old Vice Presidential desk—after his 1968 election, Nixon went looking for it—learned that LBJ had flown it to Texas—Nixon had it flown back to DC, where he used it for all of his time in Oval Office:
Decades later, the old desk used by Nixon and LBJ turned up in the office of Vice President Cheney:
JFK and Jackie were supposed to be sitting at the Johnsons’ dining table had they flown, as scheduled, to the LBJ Ranch from Austin to stay the night of November 22, 1963.
This is how Lady Bird Johnson transformed her husband’s ranch office after his death (as photographed by Architectural Digest):
LBJ’s private bathroom on his Texas ranch, now restored:
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My TV show “Fireside History with Michael Beschloss” (today, 5 PM Eastern on @MSNBC) shows the 1963 Christmas card JFK never lived to send:
@MSNBC “Fireside History with Michael Beschloss” (today, 5 PM Eastern on @MSNBC) includes behind-the-scenes movies and images of First Families (including dogs) as they observe the holidays and open gifts:
@MSNBC “Fireside History with Michael Beschloss” (today, 5 PM Eastern on @MSNBC) shows how FDR had Christmas dinner with his houseguest Winston Churchill at White House eighteen days after Pearl Harbor:
Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley died forty-five years ago today:
One of last photos of elder Mayor Daley, taken today 1976 as he dedicated a Chicago fieldhouse, not long before he died of a sudden, massive heart attack:
Mayor Daley did not enjoy hearing “Gestapo tactics” of Chicago authorities denounced by Senator Abe Ribicoff from podium at 1968 Democratic convention. Note facial expression of Daley aide at right: #AP
Here is President Franklin Roosevelt's hasty sketch that led to design of Bethesda Naval Hospital (now Walter Reed) in late 1930s—he liked the Nebraska State Capitol tower and mimicked it: @thereidout. @joyannreid
@thereidout@JoyAnnReid FDR also got personally involved in infrastructure project of National Airport DC (now Reagan), opened eighty years ago this year—he also watched the first plan (DC-3) officially landing on its runway:
@thereidout@JoyAnnReid FDR encouraged the idea of basing the design of main National Airport terminal (1941) on nearby Mount Vernon as a tribute to George Washington: