Lyndon B. Johnson

Johnson was born on Aug. 27, 1908, near Johnson City, Tex., the eldest son of Sam Ealy Johnson, Jr., and Rebekah Baines Johnson. His father, a struggling farmer and cattle speculator in the hill country of Texas, provided only an uncertain income for his family. Politically active, Sam Johnson served five terms in the Texas legislature. His mother had varied cultural interests and placed high value on education; she was fiercely ambitious for her children. Johnson attended …

…close race with the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon. Retirement. After stepping down from the presidency in January 1969, Johnson returned to his ranch in Texas. There he and his aides prepared his memoirs, which were published in 1971 as The VantagePoint: Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963-1969. He also supervised construction of the Johnson presidential library in Austin. Johnson died on Jan. 22, 1973, 5 days before the conclusion of the treaty by which the United States withdrew from Vietnam.