You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson's Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode with Her

Shannon McKenna Schmidt

Book cover for You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson's Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode with Her
Image for variant 9781464244384
Book cover for You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson's Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode with Her
Image for variant 9781464244384

You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson's Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode with Her

You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson's Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode with Her

Shannon McKenna Schmidt

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Description

1,682 miles. The First Lady of the United States. One incredible journey.

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.

The "Lady Bird Special," a custom, nineteen-car train, forged headlong into the powder keg of Southern politics, traveling from Washington DC to New Orleans and making forty-seven stops in only four days. Despite the potential dangers, the First Lady, aided by a team of pioneering women, pressed forward, making speeches, shaking hands, and breaking ground.

You Can't Catch Us isn't simply the story of an election campaign. It's the story of a women-led operation and an appeal for understanding and civility. Lady Bird Johnson's monumental journey expanded the role of women in politics and progressed the fight for women's rights--a fight we still continue today.

Critical Reviews

"Shannon McKenna Schmidt's captivating storytelling brings this extraordinary chapter of presidential campaign history into vivid relief with rich detail and illuminating cultural and political context." -- Christy Carpenter, Liz Carpenter's daughter and co-director/co-producer, Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter

"Important, compelling, profoundly researched. Shannon McKenna Schmidt has gifted us with a reconsideration of our ongoing activist struggles for civil rights and feminism. A powerful book most needed now!" -- Blanche Wiesen Cook, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Eleanor Roosevelt: the definitive three-volume biography

"Surprising, gripping, and hilarious, this inspiring journey through the American South never derails. Shannon McKenna Schmidt has written a gem of American campaign history. All aboard!" -- Margaret McMullan, author of Where the Angels Lived: One Family's Story of Exile, Loss, and Return

"The story of Lady Bird Johnson's railroad journey through the South in the wake of her husband signing the 1964 Civil Rights Act is a largely unheralded slice of history. Thankfully, Shannon McKenna Schmidt's You Can't Catch Us changes that, bringing the remarkable story forward with vivid, compelling detail." -- Mark K. Updegrove, President & CEO of the LBJ Foundation and author of Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency

"In lively prose, Schmidt takes readers along on Lady Bird Johnson's historic whistle stop tour through the American South, a region reeling over civil rights and segregation. This action-packed account captures the Southern charm and steely courage of Lady Bird Johnson during the most dramatic days of her political life. It is the most panoramic attempt yet made to put the Lady Bird Special in perspective." -- Jill Abraham Hummer, author of Laura Bush: Texas Roots, Global Impact

"Shannon McKenna Schmidt's indisputable storytelling talents are on full display in her latest book, You Can't Catch Us. Schmidt's captivating narrative flow, impeccable research, and novelistic pacing bring readers along for Lady Bird Johnson's groundbreaking whistle-stop tour through the southern states in October 1964. In the wake of her husband's signing of the Civil Rights Act, Lady Bird Johnson took to the rails to support her husband's presidential campaign, shattering the First Lady mold in the process.

You Can't Catch Us is 1,682 miles, 47 stops, eight states, four days, and one powerful story masterfully captured in delectable detail and buoyed by Schmidt's fluid style.

An exhilarating and important read. All aboard the Lady Bird Special! This is one ride you won't want to miss." -- Denise Kiernan, New York Times bestselling author of The Girls of Atomic City and Obstinate Daughters

Publishing Information

Publisher: Sourcebooks
Pub date: 2026-03-03
Length: 352 pages

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