Lady Bird Johnson and the Environment

Lady Bird Johnson and the Environment by Gould, Lewis L.. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780700603367.

Lewis Gould shows why Mrs. Johnson ranks with Eleanor Roosevelt as a significant innovator of the First Lady role. Building upon his much admired Lady Bird Johnson and the Environment, Gould has refocused and revised his thinking to create a fresh informative, and entertaining new portrait of LBJs First Lady. Using Lady Birds White House papers and interviews with her and her close associates, Gould captures both her spirit and considerable achievements during her tenure in the White House. He shows how Lady Birds efforts to advance the cause of beautifying highways and the city of Washington, D.C. - which included attending legislative strategy sessions and lobbying for the programs that she endorsed - represented a new departure for a First Lady. He also tells how she devised and developed the staff, procedures, and tactics that subsequent First Ladies have since employed in the public arena. The book sheds light on the personal side of Mrs. Johnsons activism as well, telling how her appearances on behalf of environmental issues were often marred by antiwar protests and how she agonized with her husband over his decision not to run for reelection. It also reveals details of her life after LBJs death, showing that the consistency with which she pursued her vision of the environment has added to her historical influence.