You Can't Catch Us by Shannon McKenna Schmidt -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

You Can't Catch Us by Shannon McKenna Schmidt

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

An unexpected sight stopped travelers in their tracks at Union Station in Washington, DC, on October 4, 1964: a brightly bedecked, ninety-foot-long train car.

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

Shannon McKenna Schmidt's new book is the nonfiction story of Lady Bird Johnson's historic whistle stop tour through eight souther states in support of her husband Lyndon B. Johnson's election campaign in 1964. Abourd the "Lady Bird Special," the First Lady and her team of women supporters traveled from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans, making 47 stops in four days. 

See the Publisher's Description below for more details. And read about McKenna Schmidt's earlier book, The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt's Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back on this Book Beginnings post from 2023. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from You Can't Catch Us:

City police and federal agents staged a tight security operation in the area around the train station. Spectators were kept behind closely supervised lines.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

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.