On December 9, 1967, Lynda Bird Johnson, eldest daughter of President Lyndon Johnson and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, married Marine Captain Chuck Robb in a military ceremony in the East Room of the White House. In December of 2018, Mrs. Robb was interviewed by Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association, about the event and her memories of living in the White House. In January 2019, Stewart McLaurin conducted a separate interview with Chuck Robb, Marine officer and social aide at the White House when he met and married Lynda Johnson, and later governor and senator from Virginia. For the enjoyment of readers of White House History Quarterly, we have merged selected highlights of the interviews, retaining the question-and-answer format. Like any couple married for more than fifty years, they cherish memories of their wedding but tell different stories about how they met and courted.
dignitaries and guests of the White House during official functions. And is that how you got to know each other, with him in that role? LYNDA ROBB: Absolutely. Military officers can volunteer for extra duty as a social aide. When we got married, there were aides representing each of the services—the Marines, Air Force, Army, Navy, and Coast Guard. And were you part of that selection process . . . ?
Your husband, Charles Robb, was a Marine captain and social aide in the White House. Starting back in the Theodore Roosevelt administration military officers have been assigned as social aides to help with visiting
LYNDA ROBB: Not at all! But the Social Aides were a group I saw fairly frequently. Many became my friends and I also dated several so I would laugh and say that
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Lynda Bird Johnson enjoys a dance with her fiancé, Marine Captain Charles Robb, at the Marine Corps Ball in November 1967. The couple met while Captain Robb served as a social aide at the White House and more than fifty years later, Mrs. Robb recalled that the ability to dance was an important qualification for social aides at the time.
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STEWART MCLAURIN to LYNDA ROBB: The first White House wedding occurred back in 1812, when Dolley Madison’s sister, Lucy Payne Washington, married Supreme Court Justice Thomas Todd. The first child of a president to marry in the White House was Maria Hester Monroe in 1820. It was the social event of the year in Washington. One president of the United States married in the White House: Grover Cleveland to Frances Folsom in 1886. And then there’s the very special occasion that we’re talking about today with Lynda Johnson Robb.
7/24/19 6:18 AM