Christmas Tour of LBJ Ranch, 1963

A large crowd of people, both family and press were at the LBJ Ranch on Christmas Day, 1963. Members of the large Johnson family had come for dinner, and the press were there to take the family’s Christmas picture. This footage, made up of silent clips, not in any particular order and with some repetition, captures President Johnson treating members of the press to an extensive tour of the ranch grounds and house, including the dining room, his study, and the master suite, and handing out souvenir ashtrays. According to newspaper reports, the President’s tour caused Christmas dinner to be served very late, and an increasingly irritated First Lady made it clear that her gravy “was not getting better with age.”