Ruffles and Flourishes: The warm and tender story of a simple girl who found adventure in the White House

Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1970. First Edition. Hardcover. good/fair. 341 pages, illus., foxing to fore-edge, DJ foxed: small tears, small pieces missing. Presentation copy signed by the author. Mary Elizabeth "Liz" Sutherland Carpenter (September 1, 1920 - March 20, 2010) was a writer, feminist, former reporter, media advisor, speechwriter, political humorist, and public relations expert. Carpenter was born in historic Salado in southern Bell Country, Texas. In 1936, her 24-room residence there was declared a state historic monument. In 1967, a plaque was unveiled to indicate that Carpenter had once lived there. At the age of seven, she moved with her family to Austin. Carpenter stood in the forefront of the Women's Movement when it began and never wavered from her platform. Her projects and causes ranged from supporting high tech to fighting cancer. Often called the "funniest woman in politics", she was in demand as a public speaker until her death. Excerpt from a Kirkus review posted on-line: "Liz Carpenter was a reporter as well as a friend of the Johnsons for twenty years before she joined their staff which accounts for the effortless effervescence of this account. ...Mrs. Carpenter retains her undimmed admiration for both the Johnsons, even though some of Lyndon's impromptu decisions complicated their lives considerably in the generally hurried, flurried progression of campaign tours ..., meeting the press ..., dinners and entertainments, and of course the weddings. Mrs. Carpenter... became Mrs. Johnson's press secretary .... ""Miss Liz,"" known for her sense of humor, is funniest about herself (she's given to absent-mindedness and brought the wrong dog home from the vet, bought the wrong statue--a Jesus instead of St. Francis--as a present for her husband). Most of this does come down to incidentals along with a ""Hail to the Chief"" and a tribute to that First Lady Bird."