Title
Lady Bird Johnson : an oral history / Michael L. Gillette.
ISBN
9780199908080 (alk. paper)
0199908087 (alk. paper)
Published
New York : Oxford University Press, [2012]
Language
English
Description
x, 400 pages, 8 pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm
Call Number
E848.J64 G55 2012
Dewey Decimal Classification
973.923092 B
Summary
"Over a span of eighteen years, Lady Bird Johnson recorded forty-seven oral history interviews with Michael Gillette and his colleagues. These conversations, just released in 2011, form the heart of "Lady Bird Johnson: an oral history", an intimate story of a shy young country girl's transformation into one of America's most effective and admired First Ladies"--Jacket.
Lady Bird Johnson's odyssey is one of personal and intellectual growth, political and financial ambition and a shared life with Lyndon Baines Johnson, one of the most complicated, volatile and powerful presidents of the 20th century. The former First Lady recounts how a cautious, conservative young woman succumbed to an ultimatum to marry a man she had known for less than three months, how she ran his congressional office during World War II, and how she transformed a struggling Austin radio station into the foundation of a communications empire. As a keen observer of the Washington scene during the eventful decades from the 1930s through the 1960s, Lady Bird Johnson shares dramatic accounts of pivotal moments in American history. The reader attends informal dinners at Sam Rayburn's apartment and opulent social events at grand mansions from an earlier age. Johnson's rich verbal portraits bring to life scores of personalities, including First Ladies Edith Bolling Wilson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Jacqueline Kennedy and Pat Nixon.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 377-379) and index.
Childhood memories
Education, 1924-1934
A whirlwind courtship
Washington to Texas and back, 1934-1937
In Congress, 1937-1940
1941, "a watershed year"
1942, gravity, anger, and determination
Nesting and investing, 1942-1943
War years, 1943-1945
"A grinding occupation," 1946-1947
"The hardest year of our lives," 1948
LBJ in the Senate
A Senate wife
The LBJ ranch
The loyal opposition, 1953-1955
"Toward the liberal side," 1956-1959
1960, the point of no return
Vice presidency: growth, travel, and tragedy
The White House years.