Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / America's First Ladies From Shannon McKenna Schmidt Lady Bird Johnson

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America's First Ladies From Shannon McKenna Schmidt Lady Bird Johnson · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: think you have allergies? Oh my god, here in the Carolinas,
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  Speaker 1: we we have allergies down here. Holy cow.
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  Speaker 2: That's right. You're in So you're in Charlotte.
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  Speaker 1: I am in Charlotte.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, that was one of the stops on the
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  Speaker 3: Ladybird Special.
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  Speaker 1: Where did you stop at?
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  Speaker 3: Uh? Well, on Ladybirds Train to work that she did?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, I can understure that.
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  Speaker 1: I you know it. I'm not shocked. And the reason
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  Speaker 1: why is because so many of those that are reaching
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  Speaker 1: out to lead this nation will come through here. It's
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  Speaker 1: it's attraction. And I don't know if it's in the soil,
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  Speaker 1: if it's in the people. What is it about this area?
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  Speaker 1: Maybe it's just so centralized between Washington d C. And Atlanta,
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  Speaker 1: as they always say, so to hear that Ladybird was here.
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  Speaker 1: First of all, I'm jealous that I didn't get to
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  Speaker 1: be there because I just think that Ladybird is somebody
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  Speaker 1: that we all should know a lot more about.
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  Speaker 2: I agree, I agree.
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  Speaker 3: I wish I had a time machine because I would
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  Speaker 3: go back and ride that campaign train with her.
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  Speaker 1: Would how do you think Ladybird would do in today's
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  Speaker 1: social media driven world? Because I mean, though you know,
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  Speaker 1: when you're on a train and you travel around the
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  Speaker 1: way that she did, I mean that that was the
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  Speaker 1: social media and nowadays it's like you don't even have
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  Speaker 1: to leave your basement. So I mean, how do you
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  Speaker 1: think that she would have handled something like that?
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  Speaker 3: I think that she would have handled it great because
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  Speaker 3: I think that she was very good at adapting, and
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  Speaker 3: she also had a really amazing team working with her.
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  Speaker 3: And she was the first first lady to have a
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  Speaker 3: professional newsperson be her press secretary, and so that person,
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  Speaker 3: Liz Carpenter, was responsible for a.
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  Speaker 2: Lot of and you mentioned like today's form.
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  Speaker 3: Of social media, but also for like for something to
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  Speaker 3: go viral, it would be like a snippet, a quote
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  Speaker 3: in a newspaper that then went on. So I think
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  Speaker 3: she would have done well. I feel like we could
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  Speaker 3: use her well.
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  Speaker 1: See, and you give me the option to go in
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  Speaker 1: there and also do some research on Liz Carpenter, because
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  Speaker 1: we never get to hear about these people that are
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  Speaker 1: behind the scenes. We always see the rock star, the
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  Speaker 1: person at the front of the band, in the front
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  Speaker 1: of the stage, but we don't get to see who
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  Speaker 1: made that stage.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and Ladybird said Liz Carpenter said that doctor Jenet Trevelle,
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  Speaker 3: who was the White House physician.
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  Speaker 2: She was on board the train.
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  Speaker 3: Liz Carpenter joked that she was the second most important
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  Speaker 3: person on the train after Ladybird, but I think it
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  Speaker 3: was Liz. Liz was absolutely the after Ladybird, the most
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  Speaker 3: important person on the train and the driver behind a
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  Speaker 3: lot of what took place.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you even talk about doctor Janet inside this book,
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  Speaker 1: so when you bring it up, I'm going, oh my god,
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  Speaker 1: she's genuine. She wants me to talk about this.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 3: I think this story is amazing for the snapshot of
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  Speaker 3: the time period and the way it brought together so
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  Speaker 3: many extraordinary women.
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  Speaker 1: It's also a time period where she was creating paths.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody was doing that. And if you got cop breaking
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  Speaker 1: that kind of a path, oh, you stay away from her.
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  Speaker 1: She's a trouble maker. Don't go near her. But then
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  Speaker 1: on the opposite side, you Idosa said, follow her. She
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  Speaker 1: is making a.
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  Speaker 3: Difference, absolutely, And I think people don't realize that about
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  Speaker 3: Lady Bird Johnson is she was a trailblazer and she
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  Speaker 3: was a role model at the time. And I hope
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  Speaker 3: that's one thing that people take away from the story.
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  Speaker 3: She's very much known for her beautification project, which was
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  Speaker 3: very important, but there was a lot more to Ladybird.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, my heart just sunk when you said that, because
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  Speaker 1: right away, I'm thinking, we didn't lose any of that beautification,
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  Speaker 1: did we in the White House just recently?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we certainly lost the East wing, That's.
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  Speaker 1: What I'm bringing up. And I was being very careful there,
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  Speaker 1: I guesse because because when you I knew that about her,
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  Speaker 1: but I just didn't want to admit to myself that, yeah, dude,
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  Speaker 1: it's in the book and that's and that's where we're
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  Speaker 1: gonna have to preserve it.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and it was a destruction of first Lady's history
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  Speaker 3: of women's history by destroying the east Wing, and Ladybird
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  Speaker 3: was the first first lady to professionalize the role. So
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  Speaker 3: the East Wing very much appears in this story as
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  Speaker 3: a hub for the campaign train for her other endeavors.
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  Speaker 3: It was also symbolic and yeah, we lost that.
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  Speaker 1: Well, did you know when you were releasing this book
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  Speaker 1: that was going on, because I mean, we talk about
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  Speaker 1: the perfect timing here.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I actually began researching this book about three years ago,
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  Speaker 3: several years ago, and we were not in the current
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  Speaker 3: climate that we are now, and so a lot of
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  Speaker 3: it of this story has certainly taken on some more
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  Speaker 3: immediate threads between the past and today, with certainly trying
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  Speaker 3: to roll back women's rights and civil rights and things
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  Speaker 3: like the destruction of the East Wing.
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  Speaker 2: But I also think that readers can take away.
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  Speaker 3: And I certainly am from this story, that they can
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  Speaker 3: be inspired by it and maybe look to this Ladybird
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  Speaker 3: and her team of women for inspiration. And one of
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  Speaker 3: the things I've been thinking about personally is that this
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  Speaker 3: idea that we can come together and the power that
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  Speaker 3: we have when we come together, the power and the
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  Speaker 3: collective to make change and to achieve historic undertakings.
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  Speaker 4: Please do not move. There's more with Shannon McKenna Schmidt.
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  Speaker 4: Coming up next, we're talking The Ladybirds Special with author
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  Speaker 4: Shannon McKenna Schmidt. Welcome back.
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  Speaker 1: I think one of the main reasons why we didn't
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  Speaker 1: just go gaga crazy and like in a huge Kennedy
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  Speaker 1: way over Ladybird because we were in turbulent times in
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  Speaker 1: this nation and we didn't have enough time to digest
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  Speaker 1: what was going on during those changes. Because all of
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  Speaker 1: a sudden, Ladybird was the first Lady.
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  Speaker 3: I think that's an excellent point because we can't forget,
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  Speaker 3: and it shadowed in the story how LBJ and Ladybird
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  Speaker 3: came into the.
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  Speaker 2: White House under the most.
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  Speaker 3: Extremely tragic circumstances, and they were in the motorcade when
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  Speaker 3: JFK was assassinated and it was in their home state
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  Speaker 3: of Texas, which I think made it even more searing
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  Speaker 3: to them. And one of the things I loved is
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  Speaker 3: that one of the newspaper accounts at the time said
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  Speaker 3: that Ladybird was very well prepared to be first Lady
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  Speaker 3: and that the nation could also look to her for
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  Speaker 3: guidance the way that they were looking to LBJ.
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  Speaker 1: And he gets so much credit for the civil rights
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  Speaker 1: But then when I'm learning through your pages, maybe he
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  Speaker 1: doesn't get all the credit, and maybe we need to
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  Speaker 1: put some sunshine on Ladybird.
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  Speaker 3: I absolutely think that's true, and I think it might
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  Speaker 3: surprise people that Ladybird was lbj's personal and political partner
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  Speaker 3: by the time of a Ladybird special in nineteen sixty four.
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  Speaker 3: They have twenty seven years of history behind them of
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  Speaker 3: working together on the political in the political realm.
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  Speaker 2: And I love also that.
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  Speaker 3: He gave her credit, like it was very covered at
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  Speaker 3: the time that they were personal and political partners, and
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  Speaker 3: he said during the nineteen or in nineteen sixty after
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  Speaker 3: he accepted the VP nomination that he said, Ladybird has
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  Speaker 3: made my career possible.
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  Speaker 2: So I love that he gave.
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  Speaker 3: Her public credit for her part in it, and reporters
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  Speaker 3: recognized this as well, and I thought that was really neat.
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  Speaker 1: Well, he with Johnson was so tall, so big, and
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  Speaker 1: so very Hollywood to every one of us, and then
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  Speaker 1: when we would see his wife, it was like, okay,
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  Speaker 1: but we didn't understand that she was bigger in that life,
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  Speaker 1: because I mean, and I don't know if that's just
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  Speaker 1: something where like my mother would say there are certain
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  Speaker 1: things we don't talk about, and one this is but
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  Speaker 1: now we're talking about him today, let's talk about how
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  Speaker 1: big she was with everything that she did.
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  Speaker 3: She was and I like that you brought that up
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  Speaker 3: because even in their campaigning styles, they were very different.
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  Speaker 3: He was very gregarious and almost evangelical in the way
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  Speaker 3: that he would deliver a speech.
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  Speaker 2: He would throw his stetson hat into the crowd.
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  Speaker 3: Ladybird used a softer touch, but she still got across
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  Speaker 3: her political point. And during this nineteen sixty four campaign
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  Speaker 3: tour through the South, a reporter said that at times
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  Speaker 3: she traded lace mits for iron gloves, and I love
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  Speaker 3: that because she did wrap her political points in a softer.
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  Speaker 2: Cell, but she got in there and she delivered them
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  Speaker 2: that way.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, let's talk about Helen Thomas, because you mentioned her
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  Speaker 1: in the book. I want to make sure that people
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  Speaker 1: understand that she had made some marks in history as well.
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  Speaker 1: Helen has been very important, but we're not talking about her,
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  Speaker 1: and we need to be.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: So, I was fascinated by the women reporters who were
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  Speaker 3: on this campaign train, and Helen Thomas being one of them,
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  Speaker 3: because they all had to overcome gender barriers.
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  Speaker 2: To be in their position.
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  Speaker 3: If you could get a mail editor to hire you,
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  Speaker 3: well they certainly weren't going to keep you on if
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  Speaker 3: you got married or had.
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  Speaker 2: A baby or anything like that.
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  Speaker 3: So I Helen was one of the trailblazing reporters on
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  Speaker 3: this train, and I was absolutely rivetted by their stories.
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  Speaker 1: In this day and age of hiding history, how do
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  Speaker 1: we keep this one out there? I mean, we've got
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  Speaker 1: to keep pushing it because there's too much going on
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  Speaker 1: When they say, ah, we don't need it anymore, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we do. We need this kind and we need authors
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  Speaker 1: like yourself to keep pushing this history forward.
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  Speaker 3: Well, thank you for saying that, because I do think
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  Speaker 3: that it's quite startling the parallels between nineteen sixty four
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  Speaker 3: and today and the very things that this campaign train
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  Speaker 3: as it rode through the South was symbolic. You know,
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  Speaker 3: the title you Can't Catch Us reflects not only the
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  Speaker 3: forward momentum of the train, but the surrounding social progress
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  Speaker 3: and civil rights and women's rights that was taking place
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  Speaker 3: at the time. And at one of the stops, one
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  Speaker 3: of the Ladybird MC's hail Bogs, he said that the
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  Speaker 3: Southern strategy was supposing that it would push us back
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  Speaker 3: into the past. And that's exactly what's happening today. So
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  Speaker 3: I hope maybe readers can take some inspiration and some
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  Speaker 3: empowerment from this story.
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  Speaker 1: How do you know, Hail Bogs, all of a sudden
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  Speaker 1: you had my attention at Hello man, I mean I
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  Speaker 1: sat up straight the very second you said, Hal Bogs.
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  Speaker 2: So the fabulous lose carpenters.
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  Speaker 3: So she said that men were a very important part
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  Speaker 3: of this train campaign, but that women were calling the signals.
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  Speaker 3: And one of the key orchestrators of the Ladybird Special
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  Speaker 3: was Lindy Bogs, who was married to Congressman Hail Bogs
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  Speaker 3: from Louisiana. And so Hale also, like Lindy, rode the
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  Speaker 3: train the entire way from Washington, DC to New Orleans.
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  Speaker 2: And he was an MC and so he would he
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  Speaker 2: would deliver speeches and warm up the crowds at the stops.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, Where can people go to find out more about you?
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  Speaker 1: This needs to be not only in in elementary schools
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  Speaker 1: as well as high schools, but also universities. This needs
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  Speaker 1: to be a conversation starter.
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  Speaker 3: People can find out more on my website, which is
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  Speaker 3: Shannon McKenna Schmidt dot com and I would love if
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  Speaker 3: that would happen and we could get a broader conversation.
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  Speaker 3: I would be especially interested in hearing what young people
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  Speaker 3: had to.
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  Speaker 1: Say, Well, will you go the route of graphic novels,
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  Speaker 1: because it seems like that's that's the turning point right
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  Speaker 1: now for the YA readers.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I hadn't thought of that, but that is
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  Speaker 3: an excellent idea.
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  Speaker 1: Just open doors, man, that's what if people do? We
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  Speaker 1: open doors?
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  Speaker 2: Thank you. I love that idea. I'm gonna I'm gonna
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  Speaker 2: go think about that.
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  Speaker 1: So that means we're gonna have another conversation in a
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  Speaker 1: matter of months.
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  Speaker 2: Are good?
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  Speaker 3: I hope.
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  Speaker 2: So this has been so much fun. This has been great.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you so much for being here. You'd
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  Speaker 1: be brilliant today.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, thank you you too.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you