White House, conservationists, note Lady Bird's work

Washington - The death of Lady Bird Johnson, the one-time US first lady who was an ardent Democrat, champion of social justice and conservationist, brought reaction from the Republican White House as well as fellow environmentalists. Johnson, who shared the White House with the late US president Lyndon Johnson during the stormy Vietnam war years, died at age 94 on Wednesday.

"She was one of the greatest voices for American conservation of her generation, and her commitment to protecting our natural resources inspired our nation to strengthen its conservation ethic. Her touch remains visible today," said Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Foundation.

Lady Bird, whose birth name was Claudia Alta Taylor, is best known for her efforts to ban billboard advertisements from the federally- funded national road system. Through her efforts, Congress passed a law banning the eyesores.

But she also fought for preservation of native flowers and plant life, and a special centre at the University of Texas in Austin that she founded continues the scientific work.

President George W Bush, a fellow Texan, saluted Lady Bird's "good life of kindness and service" and even noted her efforts for programmes most associated with the Democratic Party - the struggle for civil rights, and early childhoold education programmes put through Congress by her husband, Lyndon, as part of his Great Society plan.

Lady Bird is credited with pushing her husband especially on Head Start, a programme of early schooling for children from poor families.

"She was much loved in our home state of Texas, and the Bush family is fortunate to have known her," Bush said.

Bush's mother, Barbara Bush, also a former first lady, called Lady Bird a "wonderful, precious lady."

The most famous and haunting image of Lady Bird was standing by then vice president Johnson as he was sworn in as president minutes after the assassination of US President John F Kennedy in 1963 in Dallas, in her home state of Texas.

Kennedy's widow, Jackie, stood on the other side of Lyndon Johnson during the swearing-in on Air Force One, her pink suit still stained with the blood of her dead husband.

Lady Bird was also a role model for the early women's movement as a businesswoman who brokered a small inheritance into a giant media company in Texas. Her wealth and media savvy were springboards for her husband's political success.

Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to be elected Speaker of the US House of Representatives, said her support for civil rights "helped ensure that the 1960s were a time of great progress toward the ideal of equality on which our country was founded."