In her new book, Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight, author Julia Sweig uncovers Lady Bird Johnson’s complex and captivating role as a political partner to her husband, President Lyndon Johnson. The story is told in Lady Bird’s own words through the largely unknown audio diaries that she kept during her five-plus years in the White House. Lady Bird’s tapes show her to be a formidable storyteller and historian, a critical advisor and strategist to her husband, and a conscious creator of legacy.
Join Anthea Hartig, Director of the National Museum of American History, and Melissa Chiu, Director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, for a wide-ranging interview with Sweig on the life and legacy of Lady Bird Johnson, and for a closer look at the untold story of Lady Bird’s behind-the-scenes role in the founding of the Hirshhorn Museum.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julia Sweig is an award-winning author of books on Cuba, Latin America, and American foreign policy. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, Foreign Affairs, The Nation, and the National Interest, among other outlets. Her book Inside the Cuban Revolution won the American Historical Association’s 2003 Herbert Feis Award. She served as senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations for fifteen years and concurrently led the Aspen Institute’s congressional seminar on Latin America for ten years. She holds a doctorate and a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University. She is a nonresident senior research fellow at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas–Austin and lives with her family outside of Washington, DC.
