A White House Diary

New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970. Second printing [stated]. Hardcover. very good, fair to good. Paul Bacon (Jacket Illustration). ix, [1], 806 pages. Illustrations. Index. Bookplate inscribed by the author. DJ is price-clipped. Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson (née Taylor; December 22, 1912 - July 11, 2007) was an American socialite and the First Lady of the United States (1963-1969) as the wife of the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson. She also served as the Second Lady of the United States. Notably well-educated for a woman of her era, she proved a capable manager and a successful investor. After marrying Lyndon B. Johnson in 1934 when he was a political hopeful in Austin, Texas, she used a modest inheritance to bankroll his congressional campaign and then ran his office while he served in the Navy. She bought a radio station, and, later, a television station which generated revenues that made the Johnsons into millionaires. As First Lady, she broke new ground by interacting directly with Congress, employing her own press secretary, and making a solo electioneering tour. Provides the behind-the-scenes account of Lyndon Johnson's presidency from November 22, 1963, to January 20, 1969. Beginning with the tragic assassination of John F Kennedy, this book records various events of her times, including the Great Society's War on Poverty, the national civil rights and social protest movements, and the Vietnam War. Derived form a Kirkus review: There is such a wealth of history and meaning in this great house. This 800 page diary, covering her years there, says most of the things she wanted publicly said and enables her "to show people my way of life" as it was. Essentially this is a portrait of a woman who worked very hard for her husband, her children and her country during the time that she was in residence, certainly more so than her predecessor. This is the kind of woman she is--devoted, sentimental and grateful for the pleasures of this experience while never unmindful of its obligations.