Washington's Iron Butterfly: Bess Clements Abell, an Oral History Ritchie Donald A.
Washington's Iron Butterfly: Bess Clements Abell, an Oral History Ritchie Donald A. Had Elizabeth "Bess" Clements (1933-2020) been a boy, she would likely have become a politician like her father,…
Specifikacia Washington's Iron Butterfly: Bess Clements Abell, an Oral History Ritchie Donald A.
Washington's Iron Butterfly: Bess Clements Abell, an Oral History Ritchie Donald A.
Had Elizabeth "Bess" Clements (1933-2020) been a boy, she would likely have become a politician like her father, Earle Clements. As President Johnson's Social Secretary, Abell earned the nickname "Iron Butterfly" for her graceful but firm leadership of social life in the White House. Effectively barred from that career because of her gender, she forged her own path by helping family friends Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson.
Ritchie and Terry L. Afterward, she maintained her importance in Washington D.C., serving as chief of staff to Joan Mondale and co-founding a public relations company. Donald A. Birdwhistell draw on Abell's own words and those of others close to her to tell her remarkable story.
Focusing on her years working for the Johnson campaign and her time in the White House, this engaging oral history provides a window into Abell's life as well as an insider's view of social