Early Life and Career 12 Chapter 1 yndon B Johnson a six-foot three-inch Texan had an air of the frontier even when he was not wearing his ten-gallon hat Visitors to his LBJ Ranch near Johnson City were shown two stone forts built by his grand father Samuel Ealy Johnson founder of Johnson City They were constructed to protect the first settlers from Indian raids His grandfather served in the Texas state legislature and became Texas secretary of state Legend has it that when he first saw the infant Lyndon he is said to have proph esied that his grandson would someday be a United States senator L
Early Life and Career A Son of Texas Pioneers Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27 1908 on a farm near Stonewall in the hills of south-central Texas He was the eldest of five children including three sis ters and a brother Sam Houston Johnson Johnson’s father Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr at his desk in the Texas state capitol 13
Lyndon B Johnson Johnson’s father Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr was a farmer and schoolteacher He too was a member of the state legislature where he was a colleague and close friend of Sam Rayburn a fellow Democrat who later became Speaker of the U S House of Representatives and served there for more than 48 years Samuel Johnson had earlier lost money in cotton speculation and despite his legislative career the family often struggled to make a living 14 Johnson and Sam Rayburn in 1954 when Johnson was a senator and Rayburn was Speaker of the House
Early Life and Career Johnson’s mother was Rebekah Baines Johnson Her family also had been pioneers of central Texas Her grandfather was the Reverend George W Baines the name was originally spelled Bains He was a Baptist leader in Texas during the American Civil War and was president of Baylor University for two years 1861 63 Rebekah’s father Joseph W Baines was a representative in the state legislature Her mother was a niece of a member of the first Congress of the Republic of Texas Her forebears for genera tions had represented their home district in the Scottish Parliament Rebekah Baines was a graduate of Baylor University and taught school before her marriage When Lyndon was five the family moved to Johnson City To help earn his way young Lyndon shined shoes in the city’s only bar ber shop and herded goats for the ranchers Education and Teaching Lyndon finished high school in 1924 at the age of only 15 and with a group of friends worked his way on freight trains to California Odd jobs provided scarcely enough food for 15
