Expert Spotlight

Name: Liz Carpenter

Title: Author

Professional Resume: Liz Carpenter has spent her life in politics and is best known as Lady Bird Johnson's press secretary and chief of staff during the LBJ administration. She helped found the National Women's Political Caucus, chaired a national organization that fought for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, served as an assistant secretary in the Department of Education, was a consultant to the LBJ Library, and has distinguished lectureship at the University of Texas named after her. Carpenter was also a speech writer and the author of one of the most memorable speeches of the sixties--a 58-word, seven-sentence text that Lyndon Johnson delivered at Andrews Air Force Base after he stepped off the plane carrying the coffin of John F. Kennedy back to Washington. She is also a prolific author of magazine articles and books. Getting Better all the Time, Unplanned Parenthood, and Conversations of a Seventy-Something Surrogate Mother have made her an unofficial spokesperson for the aging American population. Currently, Liz Carpenter has several projects in the works: one is a compendium of political humor, another is a book about the many friendships she developed in more than fifty years of public life, and a third is a plan to bring writers together annually at an as-yet-unnamed site in Austin for the generation and exchange of ideas.

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How To Write A Speech (written for Texas Monthly)