LBJ OCCUPIES OVAL OFFICE
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On November 26, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson officially occupied the Oval Office for the first time since being sworn in after the death of President John F. Kennedy on November 22nd. The new president had been working out of his suite in the Executive Office Building next door to the White House.
After more than 1000 days of Camelot, there was a noticeable change in the West Wing. One Kennedy aide said..."I just saw my first ten-gallon hat on a hat rack outside the President's office."
President Kennedy's personal secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, was gone replaced by LBJ's personal secretary, Juanita Roberts* and her staff. The door which led into the Oval Office had always stood open when JFK was president, but now it was shut tight.
JFK's famous rocker, his naval paintings, and the Resolute desk were in the Oval Office no more. A large painting of Lyndon B. Johnson now hung prominently in the West Wing.
*Juanita Duggan Roberts (1913-1983) was born in Port Arthur, TX & graduated from Texas Women's University in 1933. She was one of the 1st WAC officers to be promoted to Colonel during WWII. JDR signed on with LBJ's congressional staff in 1953, served as LBJ's personal secretary & confidant, & was a key organizer of the LBJ Library.
SOURCES
"Juanita Roberts, LBJ Aide, Dies," The Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com
"Thanksgiving, 1963, The long weekend that defined LBJ's presidency," by Josh Zeitz, November 26, 2015, Politico Magazine, www.politico.com
SOURCES
"Juanita Roberts, LBJ Aide, Dies," The Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com
"Thanksgiving, 1963, The long weekend that defined LBJ's presidency," by Josh Zeitz, November 26, 2015, Politico Magazine, www.politico.com
LBJ in Oval Office
August 3 1967
Photo by Yoichi Okamoto
LBJ Museum & Library Image
