known primarily to Texas collectors and tourists who visited San Antonio. In 1961, this changed rapidly with the election of his collector Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) to the Vice Presidency of the United States. With his ascension from the United States Senate to being Vice President, Johnson and his wife Lady Bird Johnson (1912–2007) purchased a large French-style chateau from the socialite and heiress Perle Mesta (1889–1975). They decorated the house with French antiques and tapestries that were already in the home, but the foyer was hung with Texas wildflower paintings by Salinas. Lady Bird Johnson was quoted as saying, "I want to see them when I open the door, to remind me of where I come from." At the time of the President Kennedy's assassination, Salinas had completed a scene of a horse drinking titled "Rocky Creek" that was meant to be presented to Kennedy during his ill-fated visit to Dallas. Lyndon Johnson told the Washington press that Porfirio Salinas was "his favorite artist." President Johnson also presented a Salinas painting to President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz of Mexico as an official gift from the United States. The patronage of the President was a tremendous boost to the artist's career and during the 1960s, his work sold briskly for ever higher prices. The Johnsons' Salinas paintings remain in the collection of the LBJ Ranch today. President and Lady Bird Johnson were both advocates and admirers of wildflowers. Lady Bird Johnson will always remain linked to the subject of wildflowers because of her "Beautify America" campaign and the Highway Beautification Act, which was passed by the United States Congress in 1965. As part of that effort, many miles of Texas roadsides were seeded with Texas bluebonnets, Lupinus texensis, the flowers that Salinas is known for painting. Death and posthumous reputation Salinas was recognized by the city of his birth, Bastrop, Texas in 1960, when he was fifty years old. He had a solo exhibition at the Witte Museum in San Antonio in 1962. His work was widely published by the New York Graphic Society, which added to his national reputation. In 1967 his work illustrated a book titled Bluebonnets and Cactus that was published in Austin. Salinas died on April 18, 1973, after a brief illness. He was memorialized in the City of Austin with Porfirio Salinas Day in 1973. Ruth Goddard wrote a book titled Porfirio Salinas that was published