Had Elizabeth ‘Bess’ Clements Abell (1933–2020) been a boy, she would likely have become a politician like her father, Earle C. Clements. Effectively barred from office because of her gender, she forged her own path by helping family friends Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson. Abell’s Secret Service code name, ‘Iron Butterfly, ‘ exemplified her graceful but firm management of social life in the Johnson White House. After Johnson’s administration ended, she maintained her importance in Washington, DC, serving as chief of staff to Joan Mondale and cofounding a public relations company.
Donald A. Ritchie and Terry L. Birdwhistell draw on Abell’s own words and those of others known to her to tell her remarkable story. Focusing on her years working for the Johnson campaign and her time in the White House, this engaging oral history provides a window into Abell’s life as well as an insider’s view of the nation’s capital during the tumultuous 1960s.
Tabla de materias
Introduction
The Governor’s Daughter
The Johnson Orbit
A Part-Time Job
White House Social Secretary
White House Impresario
The Lady Bird Special
White House Weddings
In Time of War and Protest
Part of the Family
Joan of Art
Life After the White House
Epilogue
The Interviewees
Acknowledgements
Contributor Biographies
Index
Sobre el autor
Terry L. Birdwhistell is founding director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History and served as Dean of University of Kentucky Libraries. He is a former president of the Oral History Association and is coauthor of Our Rightful Place: Women at the University of Kentucky, 1880-1945.
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