Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the thirty-sixth President of the United States (1963–1969). After serving a long career in the US Congress, Johnson became the Vice President under John F. Kennedy (1961–1963) and later ascended to the presidency following Kennedy's assassination.

Personal trivia

• Lyndon Johnson was 6 ft 3 1/2 in (192 cm) tall and weighed about 215 pounds, the second tallest president after Abraham Lincoln at 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) and 180 pounds (82 kg).
• Johnson was famously frugal. Even as President, White House tapes recorded him asking a photographer to take his family portraits for free, saying he was a very poor man living on a weekly paycheck and had a very great deal of financial debt. In fact Johnson was a multimillionaire, but he still received the photographic portraits without having to pay a cent. The White House press corps would make jokes at his expense regarding his habit of turning off all lights in the White House when the rooms were not in use. Johnson's secretary revealed years later that he would wash and reuse styrofoam cups.
• Johnson seemed to crave personal approval. After delivering a major speech on civil rights, he called 32 people, all of whom he knew would greatly approve of his speech, to ask what they thought. All of these people, recorded for posterity in White House tapes, were overwhelmingly complimentary.
• At his ranch in Texas, he was fond of taking visitors in the car while driving 90 miles an hour down country roads, drinking scotch from a paper cup.
• His favorite soft drink was Fresca, which he drank constantly. He had a soda tap installed in the Oval Office.
• Johnson, while using the White House bathroom, was known to call others in with him and use this forum for conversation.
• All other American presidents born in the 20th century were all born after LBJ (Reagan in 1911, Nixon and Ford in 1913, Kennedy in 1917, G.H.W. Bush and Carter in 1924, and G.W. Bush and Clinton in 1946).
• The only American president to have ever visited Malaysia.