Lady Bird Johnson

On March 14, 1967, Lady Bird Johnson, wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson, arrived in Jackson County, North Carolina. She had come to visit the Canada community elementary school. As a National Teacher Corps Demonstration Center, the Canada school was part of her husband’s Great Society vision for eradicating poverty in America. The Teacher Corps trained teachers to serve in underprivileged communities. In the Canada school, Ms. Johnson sat on a tiny chair among first-graders while interns, including a later Jackson County commissioner, conducted reading sessions with the children. Afterwards, she stopped at Western Carolina University to dedicate its library’s new wing and to praise Western for being the only university in North Carolina to serve as a Teacher Corps training center.

Audio Moment