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  • You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson's Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode with Her by Shannon McKenna Schmidt book cover
  • You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson's Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode with Her by Shannon McKenna Schmidt book cover
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You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson's Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode with Her

by Shannon McKenna Schmidt

A First Lady on the campaign trail

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A First Lady on the campaign trail

In October 1964, Lady Bird Johnson traveled through eight Southern states aboard the nineteen-car “Lady Bird Special,” making 47 stops in four days. The tour took place amid tensions following the signing of the Civil Rights Act and made the First Lady a leading presence in her husband’s reelection campaign. Shannon McKenna Schmidt’s account also centers the women who helped organize and carry out the journey, framing it as a women-led political operation as well as an episode in the changing role of women in public life.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in Lady Bird Johnson and the 1964 presidential campaign.
  • Readers exploring women’s history and women’s participation in politics.
  • Readers interested in civil rights-era political history and Southern campaigns.

Themes

Women in politicsPresidential campaignsCivil rights-era historyPolitical organizing

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

1,682 miles. The First Lady of the United States. One incredible journey.

At a time when political candidates' wives were expected to be seen and not heard, Lady Bird Johnson made history as the first presidential spouse to take a leading role on the campaign trail. Her mission: to aid her husband, Lyndon B. Johnson, in his reelection bid.

Proud of her southern heritage and of what her husband had done for civil rights, Lady Bird undertook an eight-state whistle-stop tour in October 1964, both to garner votes for Lyndon and to help ease the animosity that arose from the signing of the Civil Rights Act three months earlier.

The "Lady Bird Special," a custom, nineteen-car train, forged headlong into the powder keg of Southern politics, traveling from Washington DC to New Orleans and making forty-seven stops in only four days. Despite the potential dangers, the First Lady, aided by a team of pioneering women, pressed forward, making speeches, shaking hands, and breaking ground.

You Can't Catch Us isn't simply the story of an election campaign. It's the story of a women-led operation and an appeal for understanding and civility. Lady Bird Johnson's monumental journey expanded the role of women in politics and progressed the fight for women's rights--a fight we still continue today.

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