Lyndon B Johnson National Historical Park
The Lyndon B Johnson National Historical Park is a National Historical Park in Johnson City, TX. This area is protected by the federal government for its historical significance.
Presidential Ear Tugs
There's something about a beagle's ears that makes even the most tactile-shy person want to touch them. So floppy, so big, so soft. When Fairfax eats dinner, they fall into his bowl; when he drinks, they come up dripping. People stop me on the street and say, "look at those ears." I assume they don't mean mine.
Not sure what prompted me to type "beagle ear tugs" into Google other than the fact that I fried my brain playing 47 hours of online Boggle (thanks to Cafe Two Door and her evil plot to put me in a Web coma so she can steal Fairfax).
Turns out LBJ loved Beagles. Or so he said. Lots of people beg to differ. His first two beagles as President were Him and Her. Him was eventually killed in an accident on the White House property, after which he acquired Edgar the beagle from J. Edgar Hoover. After that came Beagle and then, of course, Little Beagle Johnson, named so everyone in the White House shared the same initials:
Parents
Lyndon Baines Johnson
Lady Bird Johnson
Daughters
Lynda Bird Johnson
Luci Baines Johnson
Beagle
Little Beagle Johnson
Comments were made intimating LBJ was trying to scrimp on monogram expenses. I doubt that's true since Lady Bird inherited $64,000 from her dad not long after she married LBJ. According to David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace, writing in the People's Almanac, she decided to invest it in a ramshackle Austin radio station. Using her own remarkable business skills plus Lyndon's government connections, Lady Bird went on to build a multimillion-dollar communications empire. As Sam Rayburn aptly observed, "Marrying her was the smartest thing Lyndon ever did." Her dad, after meeting LBJ for the first time, was reported to have said:
"You've been bringing home a lot of boys. This time you brought a man."
So the young LBJ married Lady Bird and became the LBJ we remember and there he was one lovely day in May of 1964 in the Rose Garden, flanked as always by Him and Her. The President gave the [Him and Her] some candy-coated vitamin pills, then lifted the dogs up onto their haunches by pulling their ears and noted their yapping with apparent pleasure. "It's good for them," he said. "It does them good to let them bark." Assembled in the garden was a 13-man task force organized to promote increased foreign investment in the U.S. Neither they nor the President thought much about the incident.
This photograph, printed in Life Magazine, caused a storm of protest. In his defense, Johnson claimed that the dog enjoyed it, and added: "My mother used to pull my ears, and it never got that much attention."
According to a May 8, 1964 Time magazine article:
The late, great newspaperman Jeremiah O'Leary once observed: " President Lyndon B. Johnson had a pair of beagles called Him and Her (or He and She). These animals grew to look more and more like LBJ the more he pulled on their ears."
Lyndon B. Johnson had to apologize to animal rights organizations . . . [he] was astonished at the sensation that this caused, telling reporters that he had been pulling Him's ears since he was a pup and "he seemed to like it."
My favorite reference to this photograph comes from the National Review in July of 1991, when Ralph De Toledano, writing about Samuel Johnson and how language evolves, stated:
The final word:
Him and Her
Not sure what prompted me to type "beagle ear tugs" into Google other than the fact that I fried my brain playing 47 hours of online Boggle (thanks to Cafe Two Door and her evil plot to put me in a Web coma so she can steal Fairfax).
Turns out LBJ loved Beagles. Or so he said. Lots of people beg to differ. His first two beagles as President were Him and Her. Him was eventually killed in an accident on the White House property, after which he acquired Edgar the beagle from J. Edgar Hoover. After that came Beagle and then, of course, Little Beagle Johnson, named so everyone in the White House shared the same initials:
Parents
Lyndon Baines Johnson
Lady Bird Johnson
Daughters
Lynda Bird Johnson
Luci Baines Johnson
Beagle
Little Beagle Johnson
Comments were made intimating LBJ was trying to scrimp on monogram expenses. I doubt that's true since Lady Bird inherited $64,000 from her dad not long after she married LBJ. According to David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace, writing in the People's Almanac, she decided to invest it in a ramshackle Austin radio station. Using her own remarkable business skills plus Lyndon's government connections, Lady Bird went on to build a multimillion-dollar communications empire. As Sam Rayburn aptly observed, "Marrying her was the smartest thing Lyndon ever did." Her dad, after meeting LBJ for the first time, was reported to have said:
"You've been bringing home a lot of boys. This time you brought a man."
So the young LBJ married Lady Bird and became the LBJ we remember and there he was one lovely day in May of 1964 in the Rose Garden, flanked as always by Him and Her. The President gave the [Him and Her] some candy-coated vitamin pills, then lifted the dogs up onto their haunches by pulling their ears and noted their yapping with apparent pleasure. "It's good for them," he said. "It does them good to let them bark." Assembled in the garden was a 13-man task force organized to promote increased foreign investment in the U.S. Neither they nor the President thought much about the incident.
This photograph, printed in Life Magazine, caused a storm of protest. In his defense, Johnson claimed that the dog enjoyed it, and added: "My mother used to pull my ears, and it never got that much attention."
According to a May 8, 1964 Time magazine article:
. . . dog lovers howled in disagreement, flooded the White House with angry telegrams, letters and phone calls. In New York, an official of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said knowledgeably, "If somebody picked you up by the ears, you'd yelp too." In London, the chairman of the League Against Cruel Sports snapped, "This is a most extraordinary way to treat a dog."
. . . beagle experts came to Johnson's rescue, said that it was indeed common practice in hunt country to tug the dogs' ears to be sure they are in good voice.Victor Borge, the Copenhagen-born pianist . . said he went to the White House once; Johnson picked him up by the ears and said: “ You, sir, are truly a great Dane.”
The late, great newspaperman Jeremiah O'Leary once observed: " President Lyndon B. Johnson had a pair of beagles called Him and Her (or He and She). These animals grew to look more and more like LBJ the more he pulled on their ears."
Lyndon B. Johnson had to apologize to animal rights organizations . . . [he] was astonished at the sensation that this caused, telling reporters that he had been pulling Him's ears since he was a pup and "he seemed to like it."
My favorite reference to this photograph comes from the National Review in July of 1991, when Ralph De Toledano, writing about Samuel Johnson and how language evolves, stated:
Of the words which have not survived, to sowl (to pull up by the ears) would have been of value to Lyndon Johnson and his beagles.
The final word:
Johnson is buried in Stonewall in the family cemetery, a few yards from where he was born and the ranch where he died. The ashes of Him and Her are scattered there as well.
Him and Her
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