JOHNSON, 36th, 1963-69

Lyndon Baines Johnson was 6 feet 3.5 inches tall and weighed about 216 pounds. "The Presidency has made every man who occupied it, no matter how small, bigger than he was," he said, "and no matter how big, not big enough for its demands."

He was taught by his mother to read by age four.

White House tapes recorded him asking a photographer to take his family portraits for free, saying he was a very poor man living on a weekly paycheck and had a very great deal of financial debt. LBJ was, in fact, a multimillionaire but he still received the photographic portraits gratis. He insisted that photographers shoot only his left side.

LBJ was a man possessed by inner demons. He was afraid of being alone. Within 10 weeks of their first date, LBJ appeared at Claudia Alta Taylor's house on November 16, 1934 and issued a marriage ultimatum. "We either do it now, or we never will," he told Lady Bird.

According to journalists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, LBJ had a "Treatment" he used on people who needed persuasion. It was, "supplication, accusation, cajolery, exuberance, scorn, tears, complaint, the hint of threat. ... He moved in close, his face a scant millimeter from his target, his eyes widening and narrowing, his eyebrows rising and falling. From his pockets poured clippings, memos, statistics. Mimicry, humor, and the genius of analogy ... rendered the target stunned and helpless."

Lady Bird Johnson used her inheritance money to purchase a faltering Austin radio station in 1942 for $17,500 and turned it into a multi-million dollar communications company. She was the first First Lady to build and maintain a fortune with her own money. In 1964 she organized the Lady Bird Special — a whistle-stop tour winding 1,628 miles through eight states in four days. This was the first time a President's wife had campaigned on her own for her husband.

LBJ had a small control box installed in the writing desk adjacent to the Oval Office. This control box contained two buttons, marked "Coffee" and "Fresca." Pushing one of these buttons would summon LBJ 's military aide with the appropriate drink.

LBJ's secretary revealed that he would wash and reuse Styrofoam cups.

LBJ, while using the White House bathroom, was known to insist that others accompany him and continue to discuss official matters or take dictation.

LBJ, on tape: "I do not believe I can physically and mentally, uh, carry the responsibilities of the bomb and the world and the negroes and the South, and I know my own limitation, but they think I want great power. All I want is great solace. A little love — that's all I want."

LBJ's health was ruined by years of heavy smoking and stress. He died five days before the conclusion of the treaty by which the United States withdrew from Vietnam. He was alone. He was found stretched out on his bed, reaching for the telephone.

President Nixon, who presided over the funeral, did not speak, but was lauded for his tributes.

d. January 22, 1973 (Stonewall, Texas) at 64 from a third heart attack.