Washington's Iron Butterfly: Bess Clements Abell, an Oral History

by Terry Birdwhistell, Donald Ritchie, Donald A. Ritchie

Had Elizabeth "Bess" Clements Abell (1933-2020) been a boy, she would likely have become a politician like her father, Earle Clements. Effectively barred from that career because of her gender, she forged her own path by helping family friends Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson. 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. Afterward, she maintained...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813182263
• ISBN13: 9780813182261
• Release Date: January 2022
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 9.1"