Lady Bird Johnson's odyssey is one of personal and intellectual growth, political and financial ambition and a shared life with Lyndon Baines Johnson, one of the most complicated, volatile and powerful presidents of the 20th century. The former First Lady recounts how a cautious, conservative young woman succumbed to an ultimatum to marry a man she had known for less than three months, how she ran his congressional office during World War II, and how she transformed a struggling Austin radio station into the foundation of a communications empire. As a keen observer of the Washington scene during the eventful decades from the 1930s through the 1960s, Lady Bird Johnson shares dramatic accounts of pivotal moments in American history. The reader attends informal dinners at Sam Rayburn's apartment and opulent social events at grand mansions from an earlier age. Johnson's rich verbal portraits bring to life scores of personalities, including First Ladies Edith Bolling Wilson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Jacqueline Kennedy and Pat Nixon.