Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight
(Random House, 2021)

Please join us on Thursday, June 3, at 5 p.m. Eastern, for a 2021 History Book Festival virtual event with Julia Sweig, author of Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight (Random House, 2021). Susan Page will be in conversation with Sweig during the event. This event is free but registration is required.

About the book
Lady Bird Johnson’s complex role—as a political partner to her husband, President Lyndon Johnson, as a vital yet underappreciated presence in the White House, and as a critical advisor and strategist—is recast in this new biography. The story is told in Lady Bird’s own words through the largely unknown and overlooked audio diaries that she kept during her five-plus years in the White House: 123 hours of tape totaling 1,750,000 words. The tapes show her to be a formidable storyteller and historian and a conscious creator of legacy.

Lady Bird’s almost real-time, highly personal narration of key moments of American history showcases her narrative prowess and unique perspective as she brings to life both the tragedies that defined the ’60s—the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the Vietnam War—and the struggles and triumphs of the civil rights movement.

Author Julia Sweig’s exhaustive research unearths several revelations, including the part Lady Bird played in her husband’s decision not to run for reelection in 1968, as well as her crucial role in environmental policy-making as evidenced through her “beautification” project—a euphemism that actually brought civil rights, the environment, and social justice together—most crucially in American cities like Washington, D.C.

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 numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, and the Los Angeles Times. She served as senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations for 15 years and concurrently led the Aspen Institute’s congressional seminar on Latin America for 10 years. Sweig is a nonresident senior research fellow at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin. She hosts the podcast “In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson,” produced by ABC Audio and Best Case Studios and available on all major podcast platforms.

Susan Page will be in conversation with Sweig during the event. Page is the Washington bureau chief of USA Today, where she writes about the White House and national politics. She is the author of Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power, a biography of Pelosi published in April 2021, and The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty, published in 2019, which was a New York Times bestseller. Page has covered 11 presidential elections and is now covering her seventh White House administration. In 2020, she moderated the vice-presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris. She frequently appears as an analyst on TV and radio.

How to attend the online event
All registered attendees will receive a follow-up email from “LibCal” with Zoom log-in information. If you don’t receive this email after registering, please check your SPAM folder. If you still can’t locate the email, please contact info@historybookfestival.org.

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes. Each copy purchased comes with a signed archival bookplate.

About the Festival
With the help of our presenting sponsors—Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices I Gallo Realty—as well as our community partners and volunteers, the 2021 History Book Festival will, once again, be full of great discussions online with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction.

Our 2021 Festival will follow last year’s format: allowing you to bring history home—and stay safe! We are extremely grateful for the virtual venue and assistance in event promotion provided by the Lewes Public Library, in conjunction with the Delaware Division of Libraries and Sussex County Libraries.