I enjoy political history and books on 20th century Presidents like Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, JFK, LBJ and Eisenhower make for great subject matters for many writers to show us different perspectives of these historical giants of men. But what about the historical giants of women that also were their contemporaries and spouses? We do have some books on Eleanor Roosevelt, some better than others. And some great ones on Betty Ford have come out in the last few years. But sadly no one has shown Lady Bird Johnson and her expansive and impressive impact yet, and for that I remain hopeful one day a true historian will focus their efforts. Hiding in Plain Sight is so dry and without strong story telling writing, that trying to read that book sadly feels like a slog to get through each chapter..and often I simply put down that book in sadness. This book, by Lady Bird Johnson herself, is not a Caro-esque read either, but it is all straight from the horse’s mouth (and perspective) and I think a lot more “with the bark off” than LBJ’s book covering his presidential years (which according to interviews with Doris Kearns Goodwin was an active choice LBJ made in order to not look “presidential” in his memoir, which sadly meant we lost so much of the “Johnson treatment” skills which were no doubt a large part of his enormous successes with the Great Society legislation and the Civil Rights legislation).
All-in-all, this book is based on contemporaneous diaries Lady Bird kept, and as such this book does give a perspective on the tumultuous 1960s and the Great Society legislation as well as the tragedy of Vietnam from a viewpoint held by no one else in the world. And for that, I was grateful to read this book and learn many things I would not have known otherwise.
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