Fighting for Rights

"It hasn't cleared," said Andy, as we drove to the Johnson Boyhood Home, "but at least it's not raining, and it's warmed up."

Three mule deer, adults and a spotted fawn, grazed in the backyard of an adjoining house. For 15 minutes before the Visitor Center opened, we watched them trying to find an opening in the page fence.

Inside we learned that the major goal of LBJ as President was to build The Great Society, to raise the quality of life in the U.S. He saw government as an instrument to help people and give them a voice, and his commitment was to use government to eliminate poverty. Patterning his plan after FDR's, he sponsored and signed 200 major laws in 1965-1966 to address the shortcomings of our society.

By the time we had watched the movie and looked at the displays in the Visitor Center, the clouds disappeared. Strolling under a beautiful blue sky, we walked the mile-long crushed stone path around the farm that was LBJ's second cousin James' home from 1864 to 1872. "I could live here just as it is," said Andy. James Johnson founded Johnson City. A horse and two longhorn bulls grazed peacefully in the fenced fields nearby. The invention of barbed wire in 1874 helped to close the range. Driving cattle, as James Johnson had done, ceased, and raising cattle changed from an adventure to a business. But the spirit of the frontier was part of LBJ. One sign said, "He drew sustenance from the land and wanted that for all American children.
We were the only guests at 11:00 a.m.; Ranger Gavin walked us through LBJ's Boyhood Home, where LBJ, three younger sisters and a younger brother grew up. His rancher father was in politics, so it was almost natural for the oldest child to follow in his father's footsteps.
Ranger Gavin said, "He's still considered one of the most powerful Congressional leaders ever in the Senate. He was able to manipulate people with an in-your-face attitude."

Lady Bird refined him somewhat with her love of wildflowers and a national beautification agenda that stressed environmental values. One display said, "On the way to the moon, we discovered the earth." LBJ listened to Lady Bird, and she convinced him to conserve and protect our land.

Andy and I gained interesting perspectives from the visit. Our last frontiersman President, LBJ, a tough but gentle man whose favorite drink was Cutty Sark, said, "A President does not shape a new personal vision of America. He collects it from the cultured hopes of the American past."

Once we found parking in downtown San Antonio, we spent the afternoon at the Alamo and walking the River Walk.

Built in 1724, as Mission San Antonio de Valero, the Alamo served as home to Spanish Franciscan missionaries and their Indian converts. In the early 1800's the Spanish military stationed a cavalry unit there, and the post commander set up the first recorded hospital in Texas in the Long Barrack.
By 1820, in an attempt to settle the region, a new U.S. law sold 80-acre parcels of land at $1.25 an acre ($100), no credit, to anyone who could come up with the money and was willing to travel west. The Mexican government offered the land at 12.5 cents an acre with credit for those who couldn't pay the full amount. Two stipulations were attached: convert to or endorse Catholicism and become Mexican citizens. Not much question which was the better deal monetarily, but westward expansion lured Americans in droves.

The first to arrive was Stephen F. Austin in 1821. By 1828, those from the U.S. outnumbered the settlers from Mexico by ten to one. By 1830, 30,000 Americans had moved to Texas, alarming the Mexican government and closing Texas to American immigration. In addition, Mexico prohibited slaves and set up custom houses to collect taxes. The battle for our 28th state had begun.

We made our way between lines of people on each side of the narrow adobe rooms and read the displays. The Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday day off had attracted crowds of visitors.

In 1836, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna of Mexico and his army attacked a small contingent of about 200 defenders of Texas independence at the Alamo. The Americans held out for 13 days, but with no hope for reinforcements and the final series of assaults on the morning of March 6, Mexicans scaled the mission walls and rushed into the compound. Santa Anna's men captured cannons and turned them on the defenders. Among those killed in the siege were Jim Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee, two of 200 who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.
"What an appropriate place to be today," I told Andy. Outside on the plaza children sang How Great Thou Art and My Country Tis of Thee.

Clouds still kept San Antonio in the low 50's. Only a few tiny breaks of blue poked through. "Let's do some of the River Walk since we have a couple hours before dinner," suggested Andy. We walked both sides of the main loop for a couple miles, crossing over the bridges, watching mallards paddle along, waving at tourists in the canal boats and browsing in shop windows. Here and there a few people frequented outdoor cafes, but it was chilly to sit for very long.

At the far end of one canal we stumbled on the Institute de Mexico with its outdoor sculpture gardens. Here was opportunity for creative photography. We gave it a try.

As we headed back over the final stretch past San Antonio Bar, a young waitress offered the special for Happy Hour. "Our upstairs cafe serves two drinks and an appetizer for $6.00," she said. "Would you join us?"

That was too good to pass up. Outdoor heaters, serapes over the chairs for customers, La Cucaracha by a Mexican band down the river, romantic river scenery and delicious appetizers... all perfectly lovely except the chilly 50 degree temperatures of mid-January and lingering clouds.