Lady Bird’s beautification team

When Lady Bird Johnson launched her beautification campaign in 1965, people hadn’t yet realized the importance of conservation and protecting the environment.

To educate the country, Lady Bird sent out Senate and cabinet wives and other women friends to give speeches throughout the country.

“When Jane Freeman, wife of Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman, was introduced in Alaska as a member of Mrs. Johnson’s beautification team, a woman in the audience queried her about “the latest hair styles” in the rest of the country,” reports Betty Boyd Carroli, in her book Lady Bird and Lyndon—The Hidden Story of a Marriage that Made a President.

“At another event, one of the First Lady’s stand-ins was asked: ‘Do you just do Mrs. Johnson’s hair or do you do Lynda’s and Luci’s, too?’”