RIP Lady Bird Johnson

How old was she?

 

Count me among those who thought she was already sewing LBJ's trousers in the great beyond.

I wish there was some way to check what out-of-left field celebrity I thought was dead was still alive. For example, I can't imagine any well-known WWII personalities are still with us.

 

Spnited is still with us

 

Yeah, but I give him only another week. 10 days max.

 

Yikes...

 

www.deadoralive.com.

Used to check this site for just such a reason.

 

Highly doubted. I remember a note in one or more of the books that said Lady Bird cut off contact with Caro after a certain point when she realized his books wouldn't totally be flattering.
Lady Bird worshipped LBJ and wouldn't cooperate with an author who was pulling no punches.

 

I consider those books to be among the greatest works of journalism ever. And yes, she put up with a lot of cruelty from LBJ.

 

Absolutely agree.

I haven't read the first one, "Path to Power," but "Means to Ascent" and "Master of the Senate" are the definition of brilliant.

I'm guessing Caro is writing the final piece of the puzzle right now. Considering "Master of the Senate" is more than 1,100 pages (counting index and sources), it may be a while.

 

Caro's supposedly doing one more volume -- from the death of JFK thru the death of LBJ.
And Lady Bird, whom I met in DC once, was a very gracious and lovely lady. And that't not even to mention the fact that, when LBJ committed himself and the party to civil rights legislation, thereby losing the whote South and helping give birth to the modern "movement conservatism," it was Lady Bird who did a tour of state capitols in the Deep South, holding receptions, being ignored and insulted on billboards, to try and explain what was up. Brave lady, too.

 

Well played.

 

I don't say this often, but you really, really have to stop whatever you're reading and get "Path to Power." It's amazing, in a way the other books have never quite topped.

For the last one, Caro has always talked about going to live with a village family in Vietnam for six months or so. I don't know if he still plans to do it.