Keep
America Beautiful, Inc. remembers Lady Bird
Johnson...Progressive First Lady
championed National efforts to beautify
communities
STAMFORD, Conn., July 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- Keep America Beautiful, Inc. was saddened
yesterday by news of the passing of former first
lady, Lady Bird Johnson.
While Keep America
Beautiful, Inc. was originally founded in 1953,
Lady Bird's tireless advocacy for the
organization throughout the 1960s brought
national attention to the organization's mission
to bring natural beauty to America's public
spaces. As first lady, she was instrumental in
convening the White House Conference on Natural
Beauty in 1965, and afterward championed the
findings through her public support of the Keep
America Beautiful organization.
"Lady Bird Johnson always
believed that natural beauty was much more than
cosmetics," said Keep America Beautiful
President G. Raymond Empson. "She understood,
and helped others to understand, that
beautification efforts have a larger ripple
effect throughout all of society."
Indeed, recent studies at
the University of Illinois and the Wharton
School of Business have proven that
beautification efforts -- planting trees and
flowers in public spaces and removing signs of
blight such as litter and graffiti -- increase
property values, decrease crime, improve public
health, and even improve student performance.
Lady Bird Johnson understood this important
dynamic of "greening" a community well before
her time.
In 1969, Keep America
Beautiful unveiled the Lady Bird Johnson Award,
the organization's highest honor bestowed
annually to a female individual for outstanding
contribution to the environment and community
improvement. Pennsylvania Environmental
Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty won the
award in 2006, and the 2007 winner will be
announced at the KAB National Conference in
Washington, D.C., this December.
For years, the Johnson
family has been actively involved in Keep Texas
Beautiful and the Keep Austin Beautiful
affiliate of the national organization.
"Our organization owes
much of our success to Lady Bird Johnson's
enthusiasm and visionary approach to
improving communities through the power of
natural beauty," added Empson. "We extend
our condolences to the entire family,
knowing that they too are celebrating this
blessed life of service to America and the
world."
About Keep America
Beautiful, Inc.
Keep America Beautiful,
Inc., established in 1953, is the nation's
largest volunteer-based community action and
education organization. With a Network of nearly
1,000 affiliate and participating organizations,
Keep America Beautiful forms public-private
partnerships and programs that engage
individuals to take greater responsibility for
improving their community environments. For
additional information, visit
http://www.kab.org/.
