Friends of the LBJ Library | Oct, 8 2025 6:30PM - 8:30PM
This event is open to members of the Friends of the LBJ Library at the Legacy level and above & invited guests only.
Learn more about membership levels and benefits
Join us to hear from journalist and LBJ administration alum Tom Johnson, in conversation with Mark K. Updegrove in celebration of Tom’s new book Driven: A Life in Public Service and Journalism from LBJ to CNN.
Following the program, please join us for a reception and book signing.
About the speaker
Tom Johnson served as chief executive officer of two of America’s most respected news organizations, the Los Angeles Times and CNN. Part of the first White House Fellows class, he eventually became assistant press secretary under Bill Moyers, then assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson, following LBJ back to Texas after he left office.
He is a recipient of several awards, including the Horatio Alger Award, Ten Outstanding Young Americans, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the Paul White Award, to name a few. In 2006, he also received the John Gardner Legacy of Leadership Award by the White House Fellows for lifetime achievement in public service. A native of Macon, Georgia, and graduate of the University of Georgia and Harvard Business School, Johnson lives in Atlanta with his wife Edwina.
About the Book
Driven brings a seasoned perspective to today’s conversations about government, media, and the future of truth in the form of a long-awaited autobiography by Tom Johnson, an award-winning journalist who helped shape the twenty-four-hour news media as we know it. Johnson’s storied career in politics and journalism spans the Lyndon B. Johnson administration, where he was privy to painful negotiations on Vietnam and notified the president that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated, through the executive leadership of the LA Times and, finally, Ted Turner’s upstart CNN in Atlanta.
From his perspective “inside the room,” Johnson provides eyewitness accounts of Lyndon B. Johnson’s triumphs and disasters and his on-the-ground view of the magnificent achievements and significant shortfalls of late twentieth-century American journalism. Johnson is also candid about his lifelong struggle with depression and mental health and recovery advocacy. With more than eight decades behind him, Driven is not just Johnson’s look at the past but a chance for his story to offer guidance about finding balance in an uncertain future.
Book sales and signing
The Store at LBJ will be selling copies of Driven onsite from 6:00-6:30 p.m. and again following the program. Tom Johnson will be signing copies of the book following the program.
By purchasing through the Store at LBJ, you support a local cultural institution. All proceeds from sales support our programming, exhibits, and educational initiatives at the LBJ Presidential Library.
Location and Parking
The program will be hosted in the 10th floor Atrium of the LBJ Presidential Library, located at 2313 Red River Street. Parking information will be shared with registered attendees.
To RSVP:
This event is open to our Friends members at the Legacy, Cabinet, Executive and President's Circle levels and invited guests only; it is not open to the public. Space is limited and a reservation is required. Please register using the form below.
