DALLAS — Walking into the Dallas Arboretum, Luci Baines Johnson is excited to see Texas’ natural plants her mother Ladybird Johnson worked so hard to preserve.

“Nature was her friend and gave her great comfort and great joy and that’s why as First Lady she wanted to provide that same kind of comfort and joy,” said Johnson.

The youngest daughter of First Lady Ladybird and former President Lyndon B. Johnson was at the well-known arboretum this week to tour the grounds and be honored by leaders for continuing her mother’s work. Johnson has assisted the Ladybird Nature Preserve in Austin since its creation, and was excited to talk with Dallas Arboretum visitors about the exhibit on her mother’s contributions to Texas that just reopened at the LBJ Presidential Library.

Johnson said while most remember her mother for her love of nature, there was so much more to Ladybird Johnson and the Johnson family as a whole. 

The legacy of the late, 36th president, his storied wife and their family is evident throughout the Lone Star State along freeways, parks, and buildings named after them. Johnson said it’s a legacy she’s tries to put her best foot forward to keep up.

“I walk in a mighty shadow trying to do the best that I can,” said Johnson.

Johnson said living with politically famous parents has just been a fact of her life since as long as she can remember. She recalls her parents welcoming her and her sister, Lynda, into the family business back when her father was in the running for the White House. 

“He had me campaigning in 26 states all by myself, and I think about it now, giving that kind of responsibility to a 16-year-old, but Lyndon Johnson knew me well,” said Johnson with a smile.

LBJ would go on to take over the presidency after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in November 1963. From there he held the office for the rest of the 60s and would lead the nation through a number of challenges and history-making moments, from the Vietnam War to the moon landing. 

His youngest daughter now reflects on witnessing all of those highs and lows from the front row.

“He had a hand in so much: social justice work, environmental work, space work, education work, healthcare work,” she said. “They just felt so committed to this nation.”

In the years since, Johnson would make her name in the business world, as well as continue many of the efforts of her parents. This includes all of her mother’s efforts to preserve nature, and her father’s efforts to fight for social justice.

In the past year, Johnson has been especially vocal on the topic of voting rights after moves have been made to nullify some of the sections of the Voting Rights Act that her father championed in the 60s.

“When the Supreme Court essentially gutted the heart of the 1964 voting rights bill, it gutted my heart,” said Johnson.

That’s why she said she has no intentions of slowing down anytime soon. Johnson said she wants to leave behind a better world just like her parents did for her, and she plans to keep speaking up for many of the same causes they believed in so much.

“I hope when I leave this world, I make it to heaven, and I am brave, but I’m not so courageous as to want to meet Lyndon and Ladybird Johnson and not to say how hard I tried,” said Johnson.