Lady Bird Johnson

Is there anything then sort of last big picture sort of takeaways that you're hoping that readers get from the book, obviously those in the U.S. and those beyond?

Yeah, I think I want to just quickly shine a light on Lady Bird Johnson because had she not taken up Jackie Kennedy's lead, it could have been a lovely collection that – sort of static, right? And Mr.

and Mrs. Johnson, President and Mrs. Johnson were not art collectors.

It had to be terrifying for Lady Bird Johnson to think about stepping into that role.

She hadn't studied in Paris for a year.

She had her own project she wanted, which was beautifying America.

She and her husband, were the chief influencers and persuaders for Joseph Hirshhorn to give his collection to the Smithsonian and create the Hirshhorn Museum.

And one of the wonderful portraits in the collection is a portrait by Thomas Eakins, one of our greats, a realist, And it's of a young girl named Ruth Carter, but that was Hirshhorn's, I think, acknowledgement to the Johnsons that he understood how much they had done to advance American art, and he wanted one of his great works to be in the White House.

So of the several stories about the ghost of former presidents of the United States revisiting the White House, Lincoln's ghost is perhaps the most common and popular story.

First Lady Grace Coolidge, that would be like Calvin Coolidge's wife, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, that was an interesting one, and President Theodore Roosevelt are among those claimed to have stated they saw Lincoln's ghost in the White House.

So as for the reported apparitions and such... where's the list or i guess this is the list just looks different from what i was looking at yesterday so here we go uh the white house most famous apparition is that of abraham lincoln of course uh the first person reported to have actually seen lincoln's spirit was first lady grace coolidge who said she saw the ghost of lincoln standing at a window in the yellow oval room staring out at the uh potomac in 1927 so interesting that it would be that long but i'm sure there were others it's just that was a famous one i guess Um, Perhaps the most famous...

Everything's the most famous, I guess.

Perhaps the most famous incident was in 1942 when Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands allegedly heard footsteps outside her White House bedroom and answered a knock at the door only to see Lincoln in frock coat and top hat standing in front of her.

Eleanor Roosevelt never admitted to have seen Lincoln's ghost, but did say that she felt his presence repeatedly throughout the White House.

She also said that the family, the Roosevelt family dog fella would sometimes bark for no reason at what she felt was Lincoln's ghost.

President Dwight Eisenhower's press secretary, James Hagerty and Liz Carpenter, press secretary to First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, both said they felt Lincoln's presence many times.

Yeah, yeah.

Lady Bird in particular seems pleased with the moment.

Yeah, it's a sick world we live in, man.

Sick.

So it really was a partnership, if you will, between these two very strong-willed women, Eliza and Mrs. Taft, who then took this project up and saw it to reality.

Yeah, and I'm just thinking about Lady Bird Johnson and how much she did for environmental and beautification

purposes.

Yes, yes.