In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson

"In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson" presents a surprising and original portrait of Lady Bird Johnson, told in the former first lady's own words -- from over 123 hours of her White House audio diaries, heard here largely for the first time ever. It recasts Lady Bird's role in the Johnson White House as her husband's closest advisor and most trusted political partner and provides history-making revelations about LBJ's time in office. It's the story of how one vastly underestimated woman navigated the power, politics and polarization of her era to become one of the most influential members of the Johnson administration... even if we never knew it. An eight-part series from ABC Audio & Best Case Studios. Hosted by New York Times bestselling author Julia Sweig.

Episodes

Trailer: Introducing 'In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson'

February 22, 2021 • 3 mins

"In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson" uncovers Lady Bird’s surprisingly powerful role in the Johnson presidency and provides history-making revelations about Lyndon B. Johnson's time in office. Told in the former first lady's own words from over 123 hours of her audio diaries -- most of it never-before-heard -- "In Plain Sight" reveals how one vastly underestimated woman navigated the politics and polarization of her era. Related sh...

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Ep. 1: Fourteen Days

March 1, 2021 • 41 mins

In her first-ever diary entry, recorded eight days after President John F. Kennedy is assassinated, Lady Bird presents a dramatic, cinematically detailed moment-by-moment account of those terrible hours in Dallas, and the days that follow. The episode tracks the 14 days from the murder of the president to when the Johnsons move into the White House, days filled with tragic ceremony and heartfelt moments of solidarity between Jackie...

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Ep. 2: Thank You, Mrs. Vice President

March 1, 2021 • 40 mins

There are moments in Lady Bird’s audio diaries that truly re-write the known history of LBJ's presidency. This episode includes one of the most consequential. In a memo to Lyndon just five months into his presidency, Lady Bird predicts how the Vietnam war will derail his administration, and proposes a clear end-date for his time in office -- fully four years before he shocked the nation with his announcement in March of 1968 that h...

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Ep. 3: Renewal

March 8, 2021 • 40 mins

Fresh from landslide victory in the 1964 election, Lyndon and Lady Bird shuttle back and forth between Washington, DC and Texas as they make plans for their first full term in office. But despite all that public support, it’s clear there’s trouble ahead. The civil rights movement is confronting a violent backlash, especially in the South, and despite LBJ’s public stance, Lady Bird knows they have “a small war on our hands” in Vietn...

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Ep. 4: Entangled

March 15, 2021 • 32 mins

Network television comes calling for Lady Bird, as the president of ABC News convinces a reluctant first lady to host a documentary about her beautification work in DC. Lady Bird decides to use the opportunity to launch a full PR blitz to take her message to America. She’s on her way to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to talk to a group of privileged conservationists about the need to bring access to nature to the inner city, when Lyndon has...

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Ep. 5: California

March 22, 2021 • 35 mins

Riots, uprisings and protests rock the country in the summer of 1966, and despite their progress with civil rights legislation, the Johnsons can’t seem to move fast enough. And an increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam begins to overshadow just about everything else. Luci Johnson’s wedding in Washington, DC becomes the setting of dramatic anti-war protests, and Lady Bird herself is the target of a bomb threat. Feeling the urgency, L...

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Ep. 6: Blindsided

March 29, 2021 • 40 mins

By the mid-60s, you can hear a growing distance between Lady Bird and the protest movement that’s sweeping the country. Bird’s a true believer in progressive causes -- civil rights, environmentalism -- but she’s also the product of her own generation and background. On a trip to two New England colleges to give speeches supporting their new environmental studies programs, Lady Bird is confronted by outspoken dissent from both stude...

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Ep. 7: No Exit

April 5, 2021 • 39 mins

Lyndon Johnson has been talking about escaping the presidency almost since the day he took office. But finally, on March 31, 1968, he stuns the nation with an announcement that he won’t seek reelection that fall. This episode presents a beat-by-beat account of the day, through Lady Bird’s perspective -- it’s a moment she’s been planning with Lyndon for four years. But there’s just a brief bit of relief following Lyndon’s speech. Ju...

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Ep. 8: Claudia All My Life

April 12, 2021 • 43 mins

It’s four in the morning when Lyndon wakes up Lady Bird to the news that Senator Robert Kennedy has been shot. This episode takes us through the tragic hours of vigil as the nation grapples with his death -- the third political assassination in five years, and just two months since the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. We’re led by Lady Bird’s experience of these days -- the nonstop TV coverage, the hushed atmosphere in the White Ho...

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Introducing 'Reclaimed: The Story of Mamie Till-Mobley'

June 8, 2022 • 2 mins

You may know the story of Emmett Till. But you might’ve never heard his story if it weren't for one woman: Mamie Till-Mobley. In a new three-part season of ABC News' "Reclaimed" podcast, host Leah Wright Rigueur explores who Mamie Till-Mobley was before she lost her son: a young girl growing up in Illinois. Rigueur traces Mamie's journey after Emmett’s death, and how she turned her grief into a movement that changed the course of A...

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In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson

Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Trailer: Introducing 'In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson'

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 1: Fourteen Days

Ep. 2: Thank You, Mrs. Vice President

Ep. 3: Renewal

Ep. 4: Entangled

Ep. 5: California

Ep. 6: Blindsided

Ep. 7: No Exit

Ep. 8: Claudia All My Life

Introducing 'Reclaimed: The Story of Mamie Till-Mobley'

Popular Podcasts

Trailer: Introducing 'In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson'

Ep. 1: Fourteen Days