DOC Life Experiences of a Fifteen-Year-Old Boyhood Soldier: True-life Stories by Thomas D. O'dell in History

Description

A fresh look at Lady Bird Johnson that upends her image as a plain Jane who was married for her money and mistreated by Lyndon. This Lady Bird worked quietly behind the scenes through every campaign; every illness; and a trying presidency as a key strategist; fundraiser; barnstormer; peacemaker; and indispensable therapist.Lady Bird grew up the daughter of a domineering father and a cultured but fragile mother. When a tall; pushy Texan named Lyndon showed up in her life; she knew what she wanted: to leave the rural Texas of her childhood and experience the world like her mother dreamed; while climbing the mountain of ambition she inherited from her father. She married Lyndon within weeks; and the bargain they struck was tacitly agreed upon in the courtship letters they exchanged: this highly gifted politician would take her away; and she would save him from his weaknesses. The conventional story goes that Lyndon married Lady Bird for her money; demeaned her by flaunting his many affairs; and that her legacy was protecting the nation’s wildflowers. But she was actually a full political partner throughout his ascent—the one who swooped in to make the key call to a donor; to keep the team united; to campaign in hostile territory; and to jumpstart him out of his paralyzing darkness. And while others were shocked that she put up with his womanizing; she always knew she had the upper hand. Lady Bird began the partnership by using part of her nest egg to help finance Lyndon’s first political campaign. Over and over; she kept him from quitting; including the 1948 election when he was so immobilized with self-pity that she had to pick up the phone to solicit donations on his behalf. She was also the one who got him out of bed; when he was in a deep funk; to go to the 1964 Democratic nominating convention. In Lady Bird and Lyndon; Betty Boyd Caroli restores Lady Bird to her rightful place in history; painting a vivid portrait of a marriage with complex; but familiar and identifiable overtones.