Over a span of 18 years, Lady Bird Johnson recorded 47 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.
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. We attend informal dinners at Sam
Rayburn's apartment and opulent social events at grand mansions from an
earlier age. Her 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.
An informal, candid narrative by one of America's most admired First
Ladies, this volume reveals how instrumental Lady Bird Johnson's support
and guidance were at each stage of her husband's political ascent and
how she herself emerged as a significant political force.
