With the Bark Off: Conversations on the American Presidency

“She understood that power is the ability to get other people to believe that what they're doing for you is actually in their interests.” A Conversation with Julia Sweig on Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight

Episode Summary

Author Julia Sweig discusses her new book “Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight,” and ABC News podcast, “In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson,” in which she sheds new light on Mrs. Johnson through rarely heard audio diaries kept by the former First Lady. Her portrait shows Mrs. Johnson to be a vital and largely underappreciated force in LBJ’s presidency and in American life.

Episode Notes

In her new book “Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight,” and her complementary ABC News podcast, “In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson,” author Julia Sweig takes a very different look at the former first lady. Relying heavily on rarely heard oral diaries that Mrs. Johnson made throughout her time in the White House, she depicts a Lady Bird Johnson who is far more substantive and consequential—having a profound influence on Lyndon Johnson’s presidency—than previous biographers imagined. In this episode, Sweig talks about the woman she has come to know through her six years of research—the remarkable Lady Bird Johnson.