President Johnson Picks a Magnolia Blossom for Peggy Fleming

In this photograph, taken by Yoichi R. Okamoto on March 27, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson plucks a flower from a blossoming saucer magnolia tree in the Rose Garden as a gift for Olympic figure skater Peggy Fleming. The 19-year-old figure skater earned a gold medal in the ladies' singles competition at the 1968 Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France. President Johnson invited Fleming and her mother Doris to the Oval Office, where he presented the Olympic champion with a gold bangle and pinned the magnolia blossom to her lapel. Later in her career, Fleming headed a figure skating group that performed for President Jimmy Carter during a Christmas party for White House staff on December 22, 1980.