Much has been said about LBJ in the days since her death. All of it seems to be positive, and I would hardly deny it of her. Certainly she made a difficult role her own, and following in Jackie Kennedy's shoes is not a position I think most of us would want.
Certainly Lady Bird Johnson did well in the role. The kind of controversy attracted by the actions of Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clinton did not attach to her. At the same time, I'm quite intrigued that not one of the blogs, articles or radio pieces I've stumbled across has mentioned LBJ's infidelities, or her patience in that area. Hillary Clinton could solve every problem in the Middle East and fix our national heath crisis, but her obituary will still mention Monica Lewinsky. Nancy Reagan's will mention astrology.
I'm not complaining or griping, just intrigued. Maybe it's the residual from the 1960s, pre-Watergate forgiveness factor, kicking in one last time.
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The coverage of the life and death of Lady Bird Johnson is an example of what happens to nice people: they get overlooked. Nice people are boring, so they don't get noticed. Lady Bird didn't attract attention to herself the way that First Ladies Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton did. That's neither a good nor bad thing; it's just an indication of what kind of person Lady Bird was.
Regarding LBJ's infidelities: I wish that we would have taken that tack in the 1990s. Maybe things would have turned out much differently.
Dunno about anyone else, but NPR did mention LBJ's infidelities when talking about Ladybird's death.
Oh boy! You lost me there for a sec. Since you used LBJ for both wife and husband, I thought you were referring to HER infidelities and wondered why she had to be patient with them.
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