Part 2 Chapter 9 Summary

When LBJ called at the last moment to tell Lady Bird he was bringing Russell home for dinner, this was no usual occasion. Even before 1943, when they first employed a cook, Lady Bird was accustomed to having dinner on the table when her husband arrived, frequently accompanied by colleagues, staff members and anyone he happened to be working on for support. LBJ would countenance no delay in getting it on the table and his temper would flair if he was disappointed.

Lady Bird was the nickname that stuck to Claudia Alta Taylor after a nurse declared the two-year-old was "purty as a lady bird." She was still as painfully shy and lonely, dowdy, panicky in public situations and constantly humiliated by her crass husband. Throughout her life Lady Bird had, beneath the subservience, shown hints of ambition, determination and dignity, but...