Today in American History…Lyndon Johnson and Claudia “Lady Bird” Taylor were married on November 17, 1934 in San Antonio, Texas.

Lyndon and Lady Bird were introduced by a friend in 1934. She had aspirations of leaving Texas to become a teacher in Alaska or Hawaii when they first met. But upon meeting him she said she was drawn to him “like a moth to a flame.”

He was a Congressional Aide at the time with political aspirations. His personality was abrupt and forward unlike the more reserved and pragmatic Lady Bird. On their first date, he proposed marriage to her which took her by surprise and she wanted to wait a year to possibly get to know one another more.

Lyndon Johnson was persistent and relentless in marrying Lady Bird and after ten weeks of writing letters and phone calls she relented and accepted his marriage proposal.

They were married within a day of her accepting his proposal and the ceremony took place at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in San Antonio, Texas.

“He was the most outspoken, straightforward, determined person I’d ever encountered. I knew I’d met something remarkable – – but I didn’t know quite what” – Lady Bird Johnson