Postponed: Evening With Julia Sweig

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED INDEFINITELY. ALL REGISTRANTS RECEIVED MORE INFO VIA EMAIL. 

Friends members are invited to join us on Wednesday, May 11, for a special evening exploring the life and legacy of Lady Bird Johnson with author Julia Sweig. Mrs. Johnson’s pivotal role - as her husband’s closest, most trusted advisor and a force in her own right as First Lady- has been largely underappreciated until Sweig's bestselling biography Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight and podcast In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson. Award-winning filmmaker Lynn Novick will moderate the conversation.

Sweig uses Mrs. Johnson’s own words to tell her story, through the extensive and largely overlooked audio diaries that Mrs. Johnson kept during her five-plus years in the White House: 123 hours of tape totaling 1,750,000 words. Mrs. Johnson’s tapes show her to be a formidable storyteller and historian, bringing to life both the triumphs and tragedies that defined the ’60s—the transformative laws of the Great Society, including Civil Rights, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy, the quagmire of Vietnam, and social divisions not dissimilar to those we see in today’s America.

This program will be held in-person in the Lady Bird Johnson Auditorium located at the LBJ Presidential Library at 2313 Red River Street. Friends members at the Individual level and above are invited to attend in person and must register in advance. We will also livestream the program on the LBJ Library’s YouTube page.
 

About the speakers:

Julia Sweig is the author of the award-winning 2021 New York Times bestseller, Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight. She is also the author of books on Cuba, Latin America, and American foreign policy. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, and Foreign Affairs, among other outlets. Her book Inside the Cuban Revolution won the American Historical Association’s award for best book by an independent scholar. She served as senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations for fifteen years and concurrently led the Aspen Institute’s congressional seminar on Latin America for ten years. She holds a doctorate and master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University. She is a non-resident senior research fellow at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin and the creator, host and executive producer of the podcast In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson, a co-production of Best Case Studios and ABC Audio.

Lynn Novick has been directing and producing landmark documentary films about American life and culture, history, politics, sports, art, architecture, literature, and music for more than 30 years. Her four-part series, College Behind Bars, aired on PBS in 2019. The 80 hours of acclaimed PBS programming she has created in collaboration with Ken Burns include The Vietnam War, Baseball, Jazz, Frank Lloyd Wright, The War, and Prohibition – these landmark series have garnered 19 Emmy nominations. One of the most respected documentary filmmakers and story tellers in America, Novick herself has received Emmy, Peabody and Alfred I. duPont Columbia Awards. She is currently collaborating with Burns, Sarah Botstein and Geoffrey C. Ward on several upcoming Florentine Films productions including a series on the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.

Book signing:

The Store at LBJ will host Julia Sweig for a book signing of Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight from 5:30-6:15 p.m. in the upper auditorium lobby. Book sales will continue after the program. Proceeds benefit the LBJ Presidential Library.
 

Health protocol:

Masks are strongly encouraged and will be available onsite. Please stay home if you are sick or experiencing signs of COVID-19.

We will continue to offer Friends members the option to enjoy the program live from home. We will be livestreaming the program; please choose the virtual option on the registration form below to receive an email with a link to watch the day of the event.

Please note: our COVID protocols may change as local health conditions warrant.
 

Location and Parking

The LBJ Auditorium is located on the lower level of the LBJ complex at 2313 Red River. Access to the Auditorium will be through the lobby of the LBJ School of Public Affairs. The doors will open at 5:30 p.m.

Free parking will be available in the LBJ Library visitors' lot (#38), and lots #37 and #39 after 5:30 p.m. There is a concert at the new Moody Center this evening, so please expect traffic. Please note that Red River Street is closed between Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Clyde Littlefield Drive. Red River Street is open and accessible from E. Dean Keeton Street; please plan your route accordingly.

To RSVP:

Please register using the form below. Please note there are several options including both in-person attendance or virtual attendance.