Lady Bird Johnson’s Whistle-Stop Tour (1964)

Duration: 10:52

Year Published: 1964

Format: 16mm

Sound: silent

Description: In October 1964, First Lady Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson, better known as Lady Bird, launched a whistle-stop tour across several states to promote her husband Lyndon Baines Johnson’s bid in the upcoming presidential election. The First Lady first made a four-day, 1,628-mile train ride across eight Southern states, hoping to salvage support in the wake of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She continued her campaign by plane, dubbed the Lady Bird Special, visiting Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Indiana, and Kentucky. This film captures Lady Bird’s tour of the Lone Star State, with stops in Austin and Stonewall on October 25, and then Beaumont, Tyler, and San Angelo on October 26. It likely represents one of the few visual records of the campaign appearances of October 26. In the footage, presented out of chronological sequence, the First Lady meets with crowds of supporters, attending lunches and delivering speeches. Broadcast personality Richard “Cactus” Pryor makes an appearance during a barbecue at the LBJ Ranch.