1965 | Environment
Environment
Congress appropriates funds to remove U.S. highway billboards at the urging of Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson (née Taylor), 53, wife of the president. All billboards on sections of interstate and primary highways not zoned "commercial or industrial" are to be razed by July 1, 1970, and states are to pass conforming laws and prepare laws. The "Lady Bird Bill" will not begin to take effect until 1970, when the Senate will vote unanimously to apply $100 million of the $5.5 billion per year highway trust fund to compensate billboard companies for removal of their signs.
Hurricane Betsy roars across Florida September 8 with winds of up to 145 miles per hour and moves into Louisiana and Mississippi, killing 23 people in 15 days.
A major drought in the northeastern United States forces New York City to turn off air-conditioning in sealed skyscrapers in order to conserve water. City fountains are turned off, lawn watering is forbidden, and signs appear reading, "Save water: shower with a friend."