Lady Bird Johnson : hiding in plain sight / Julia Sweig.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : Random House, [2021]Edition: First editionDescription: xxiv, 533 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780812995909
- 0812995902
- Hiding in plain sight
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | Biography | JOHNSON, L. S974 | Available | 33111010492771 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A magisterial portrait of Lady Bird Johnson, and a major reevaluation of the profound yet underappreciated impact the First Lady's political instincts had on LBJ's presidency.
WINNER OF THE TEXAS BOOK AWARD * LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD * "[An] extensive, engaging new biography . . . in the Caro mold . . . To those who do not know [Lady Bird's] story, Sweig's book will come as a revelation."-- The New York Times
"This riveting portrait gives us an important revision of a long-neglected First Lady."--Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of Eleanor Roosevelt, Vols. 1-3
In the spring of 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson had a decision to make. Just months after moving into the White House under the worst of circumstances--following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy--he had to decide whether to run to win the presidency in his own right. He turned to his most reliable, trusted political strategist: his wife, Lady Bird Johnson. The strategy memo she produced for him, emblematic of her own political acumen and largely overlooked by biographers, is just one revealing example of how their marriage was truly a decades-long political partnership.
Perhaps the most underestimated First Lady of the twentieth century, Lady Bird Johnson was also one of the most accomplished and often her husband's secret weapon. Managing the White House in years of national upheaval, through the civil rights movement and the escalation of the Vietnam War, Lady Bird projected a sense of calm and, following the glamorous and modern Jackie Kennedy, an old-fashioned image of a First Lady. In truth, she was anything but. As the first First Lady to run the East Wing like a professional office, she took on her own policy initiatives, including the most ambitious national environmental effort since Teddy Roosevelt. Occupying the White House during the beginning of the women's liberation movement, she hosted professional women from all walks of life in the White House, including urban planning and environmental pioneers like Jane Jacobs and Barbara Ward, encouraging women everywhere to pursue their own careers, even if her own style of leadership and official role was to lead by supporting others.
Where no presidential biographer has understood the full impact of Lady Bird Johnson's work in the White House, Julia Sweig is the first to draw substantially on Lady Bird's own voice in her White House diaries to place Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson center stage and to reveal a woman ahead of her time--and an accomplished politician in her own right.
Includes bibliographical references (pages [493]-506) and index.
Lady Bird Johnson's White House diary -- Prologue : the Huntland strategy memo -- Act I : August 1960-January 1965 -- Act II : February 1965-December 1967 -- Act III : January 1968-August 1968 -- Epilogue : to survive all assaults, January 1969-July 2007.
"In the spring of 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson had a decision to make. Just months after moving into the White House under the worst of circumstances--following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy--he had decide whether to run to win the presidency in his own right. He turned to his most reliable, trusted political strategist: his wife, Lady Bird Johnson. The memo she produced for him, long overlooked by biographers, is just one revealing example of how their marriage was truly a decades long political partnership and emblematic of her own political acumen. Perhaps the most underestimated First Lady of the twentieth century, Lady Bird Johnson was also one of the most accomplished. Managing the White House in years of national upheaval, through the civil rights movement, and the escalation of the Vietnam War, Lady Bird projected a sense of calm and, following the glamorous and modern Jackie Kennedy, an old-fashioned image of a First Lady. In truth, she was anything but. As the first First Lady to run the East Wing like a professional office--and one with a significant budget--she took on her own policy initiatives, including the most ambitious national environmental effort since Teddy Roosevelt. Occupying the White House during the beginning of the women's liberation movement, she hosted professional women from all walks of life, encouraging women everywhere to pursue their own careers, even if her own style and official role was to lead by supporting others. Where no presidential biographer has understood the full impact of Lady Bird Johnson's work in the White House, Julia Sweig draws on Lady Bird's own voice in her White House diaries to place her at center stage and to reveal a woman ahead of her time--and an accomplished politician in her own right"-- Provided by publisher.