LBJ; The White House Years

New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1990. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good/Good. Yoichi Okamoto. 271, [1] pages. Oversized book, measuring 13 inches by 10 inches. Bibliography. Index. LBJ [Library] Bookplate signed by the author on the front free endpaper. Small creases to dust jacket edges, sticker residue on front. Harry Joseph Middleton Jr. (October 24, 1921 - January 20, 2017) was an American journalist, author, and library director who served as Lyndon B. Johnson's Presidential speech writer and staff assistant from 1967 to 1969. Middleton was director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum from 1971 until 2002, and led the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation from 1993 until 2004. It was in 1966, that President Lyndon B. Johnson met Middleton and hired him as a speechwriter. From January 1967 until January 20, 1969, he served as Staff Assistant to the President, writing speeches for the President and drafting messages to Congress delineating need for new legislation. Following the inauguration ceremony of Richard Nixon on January 20, 1969, Middleton returned to the LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, Texas, with Lyndon Johnson in the role of Special Assistant to the former President. From 1969 until May 18, 1970, he worked with Johnson on two books: The Choices We Face, (March 1969) and The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency 1963-1969 (1971). In 1970, Johnson named him the director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum (LBJ Library) on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. The building and grounds for the LBJ Library, the first to be located on a university campus, were donated by the University of Texas and are operated by the National Archives of the General Services Administration. The Library opened on May 22, 1971 and Middleton was responsible for its direction for the next 31 years until his retirement in 2002. Middleton also served as Executive Director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation from 1993 until 2004. LBJ's aide Harry Middleton assembles great photos documenting Lyndon Johnson's years as the 36th President of the USA. These are the photos that show LBJ's highs and lows, triumphs and tragedies. From LBJ on the 1964 campaign trail, to his final few years in the White House. These photos are unflinching and show LBJ's many moods and expressions. This book presents in 345 photographs the tenure of Lyndon Johnson in the White House. Johnson was the first Chief Executive to give White House photographers virtually unlimited access to him and to his daily routine. Frank Wolfe, a member of that team, carried the assignment into the President's retirement, and his work is represented chiefly in the Epilogue. The text accompanying the photographs is an account of Johnson's White House years and his retirement, based largely on the historical record available to everyone.