Lady Bird Johnson

Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson, the wife of Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th President of the U.S., was one of the most prominent First Ladies in American history. Though Eleanor Roosevelt, Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clinton exercised more power, and Jacqueline Kennedy and Dolly Madison were more glamorous, Lady Bird made herself a force to be reckoned with. She was instrumental in her husband's rise to power, as she had beguiled Sam Rayburn, the powerful Speaker of the House, who was her husband's mentor. As First Lady, she was a major force in engendering an ecological consciousness in Americans, with her "Keep America Beautiful" campaign. A class act all around, she was warmly embraced by Americans.