As the LBJ Library Turns 50, the Man Who Planned Its Dedication Recalls a Few Surprises
PeterK
On May 22, 1971, the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library at the University of Texas opened its doors for the first time. The library now welcomes more than 100,000 visitors per year, including researchers who travel from across the country to use the facility’s extensive archive. In addition to 45 million pages of historical documents and nearly seven hundred hours of the president’s recorded phone conversations, the trove includes the pen Johnson used to sign the Voting Rights Act into law—and the pants he wore at his second inauguration. (History buffs will remember that LBJ was famously fastidious about his pants.)
The Johnsons hired Neal Spelce, a longtime Austin broadcast journalist and family friend, to plan the library’s dedication ceremony. It was a massive undertaking; for five months, Spelce and his staff worked around the clock to organize the event for three thousand guests. Security was tight, as protests raged over the Vietnam War and Johnson’s role in it.
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