Apr. 25, 1964 - Lynda Bird Johnson, the President’s 20-year-old daughter, has broken her one-year engagement to Navy Lieutenant Bernard Rosenbach because she simply didn’t see him enough.
Lynda Bird returned her diamond ring to Rosenbach when he was in Washington to visit her last weekend. It was a completely friendly breakup with no hard feelings on either side.
Rosenbach said the breakup was mostly Lynda’s idea.
Mrs. Elizabeth Carpenter, press secretary to Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson, said the young couple had ended their engagement “by mutual agreement” and that religion was not involved.
The 23-year-old Rosenbach, of Comfort, Tex., is a Catholic. Lynda is an Episcopalian.
Friends revealed that the engagement had been on the brink of a breakup since last fall. The problem simply has been that Rosenbach has been away in the Navy, has two more years to serve, and Lynda has two more years of college.
They said that young Lynda, who has been very conscientious about not dating other boys, has felt rather circumscribed in the White House social whirl and at school. She is a sophomore history major at George Washington University.
Rosenbach, an Annapolis graduate, has been away to sea much of the time since the engagement was disclosed last June. The couple, however, did get together at the Johnson ranch in Texas at Christmas and Easter.
“There is no emotional upset,” a close friend of the family said. “She just hasn’t seen much of him. That’s all there is to it.”
Neither the President nor Mrs. Johnson made any attempt to influence their daughter. They felt that she is old enough now to make her own decisions. In fact, Lynda’s engagement last year came as a complete surprise.
The Johnsons had scheduled a party for Lynda at their Washington home, The Elms, in lieu of a debutante’s coming out.
They had no inkling that the affair would turn into an engagement party until Rosenbach gave Lynda her diamond the night before and the party guests saw the ring on her finger. The news promptly leaked out.
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