LBJ

Enjoyed the optional holiday in observance of Lyndon B. Johnson's birthday - light traffic and quiet hallways. Here is some information I gathered on LBJ. Incidentally, his wife's name is also LBJ.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the thirty-sixth President of the United States (1963–1969). After serving a long career in the U.S. Congress, Johnson became the thirty-seventh Vice President, and in 1963, he succeeded to the presidency following President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

After leaving the presidency in 1969, Johnson went home to his ranch in Johnson City, Texas. In 1971, he published his memoirs, The Vantage Point. That year, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum opened near the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. It is the most-visited presidential library in the nation, with over a quarter million visitors per year. He donated his Texas ranch in his will to the public to form the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, with the provision that the ranch "remain a working ranch and not become a sterile relic of the past".

- Lyndon Johnson was 6 feet 3 inches (190 cm) tall and weighed about 216 pounds (98 kg), the second tallest President, behind Abraham Lincoln at 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm) tall.

- Johnson was famously frugal. Even as President, White House tapes recorded him asking a photographer to take his family portraits for free, saying he was a very poor man living on a weekly paycheck and had a very great deal of financial debt. In fact Johnson was a multimillionaire, but he still wasn't charged for the photographic portraits. The White House press corps made jokes at his expense regarding his habit of turning off all lights in the White House when the rooms were not in use. Johnson's secretary revealed years later that he would wash and reuse Styrofoam cups.

- His favorite soft drink was Fresca, which he drank constantly. Johnson had a small control box installed in the writing desk in the small personal office adjacent to the Oval Office. This control box contained two buttons, marked "Coffee" and "Fresca". Pushing one of these buttons would summon Johnson's military aide bringing the appropriate drink.

- His Secret Service codename was Volunteer.

- Johnson, while using the White House bathroom, was known to insist that others accompany him and continue to discuss official matters or take dictation. Among those who received this "privilege" was Katherine Graham, publisher of the Washington Post.