White House History with Susan Page: Personal Reflections on President Lyndon B. Johnson

About Susan Page

Susan Page

Susan Page is the Washington Bureau chief of USA Today, where she writes about the White House and national politics. She is the author of The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty, a New York Times best-seller published in 2019. Her new book, a biography of Nancy Pelosi titled Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power, is being published by Twelve/Hachette in April 2021.

Susan has covered eleven presidential elections and is now covering her seventh White House administration. She has interviewed the past ten presidents and reported from six continents and dozens of foreign countries. She has won every journalism award given specifically for coverage of the presidency. She also has served as president of the White House Correspondents Association and of the Gridiron Club, the oldest association of journalists in Washington. In 2020, she moderated the vice-presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris. She frequently appears as an analyst on TV and radio.

A native of Wichita, Kansas, she received a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern and a master’s degree from Columbia. She and her husband, Carl Leubsdorf, have two sons, Ben and Will.

About the Speakers

Lynda Johnson Robb

Robb’s passionate interest in children’s literature led her more than 50 years ago to volunteer to read to children in hospitals, where she discovered that many children wanted and needed books so badly that hospital staff let them take home the books she brought to read. This experience prompted her involvement in 1968 to become a founding member of the Board Reading is Fundamental and worked on the board until 2013.

From 1996 until 2001, she served as the Chairman of the RIF Board of Directors. She has traveled nationwide to rally community and business support for RIF programs and to meet with the local volunteers who operate RIF programs. “My fellow RIF volunteers tell me that they are motivated today by the same reward I’ve been fortunate enough to experience since RIF’s early days—the look on children’s faces when they’re selecting RIF books or when someone is reading to them and the deep satisfaction of helping children develop a love for reading that will serve them throughout their lives,” she said.

Robb fondly lists her current profession as “professional volunteer,” .She has served many organizations, focusing on the condition of children and women especially on health and education. In addition to her work on behalf of RIF, she is president of the National Home Library Foundation. She also is a member of the board of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation which supports the LBJ Library and School.

She has served as a member of the Selection Board of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. Among of her past affiliations include a presidential appointment by Jimmy Carter to serve as chair of the President’s Advisory Committee for Women (1979-1981), chair of the Virginia’s Women Cultural History Project (1982-1985),Vice Chair of Americans Promise and chair of the Virginia Task Force on Infant Mortality. She also received a congressional appointment to serve as commissioner of the National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality (1989-1996). She is currently serving on the Library of Congress Literacy Rubenstein Awards board.

She attended George Washington University and is an honors graduate of the University of Texas, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. In 1992, she was inducted in the Phi Beta Kappa Society, Alpha Chapter of the District of Columbia. She received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Washington and Lee University and an honorary Doctor of Public Service from Norwich University. She is the recipient of numerous civic awards and honors.

Robb is the daughter of President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Claudia Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson. She is married to former Virginia Governor and U.S. Senator Charles S. Robb, is the mother of three daughters, and has five grandchildren.

Luci Baines Johnson

Luci Baines Johnson's career incorporates a wide range of business and philanthropic commitments.

Previously she served as Chairman of the Board of the LBJ Holding Company, which included radio, real estate, timber and ranch assets. Following the 2003 sale of the radio properties, she and her husband Ian Turpin founded LBJ Family Wealth Advisors, Ltd., a multi-family office which manages and helps transition family wealth from one generation to another. Ms. Johnson was also a co-founder of BusinesSuites, LP, one of the nation's top 10 executive suite operators until its sale in 2015.

Ms. Johnson has had a lifetime commitment to social justice, health care and the environment. A former nursing student at Georgetown and a graduate of St. Edward's University with numerous honors, Ms. Johnson currently serves on the boards of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation, The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the Board of Visitors of MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is a Trustee Emeritus of Boston University and a lifetime board member of the Seton Fund, Dell Children's Hospital and the SAFE Alliance, dedicated to ending sexual exploitation and domestic violence.

In 2018 Luci experienced the “dream of a lifetime” when she was asked by Georgetown to give the graduation speech for the School of Nursing and Health Studies and receive an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University.

Ms. Johnson's most precious career is her family. She is married to Ian Turpin and has four grown children: Lyndon, Nicole, Rebekah and Claudia; one stepson, Stuart; and 16 treasured grandchildren.

Lloyd Hand

Lloyd Hand is a senior counsel in King & Spalding’s Government Advocacy practice. Lloyd provides counsel to U.S. Fortune 500 companies, foreign governments and institutional clients regarding legislative, administrative, regulatory and international trade issues, as well as contract negotiations relating to defense and aerospace matters.

Lloyd began his government career in 1957 as assistant to Senate Majority Leader LyndonB. Johnson. When Mr. Johnson became president, Lloyd served as his U.S. chief of protocol, bearing the rank of ambassador.

For approximately 12 years, Lloyd served as senior vice president and assistant to the chairman of the board of TRW, a multinational aerospace and defense company. Among other duties, he was responsible for the company’s external relations worldwide, including the company’s government affairs office in Washington,D.C. Prior to be coming an officer of the company, Lloyd served as outside counsel, advising and assisting TRW to enter foreign markets to achieve investment and operating objectives.

In 1984, Lloyd became a senior partner at Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand. The firm later merged into DLA Piper LLP, where he remained until joining King & Spalding.

Lloyd served as a member of the SeniorAdvisoryGroup(SAG)to theU.S. European Command, and formerly served on the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel; Executive Council on Diplomacy; Council on Foreign Relations; Council of American Ambassadors; and Vice Chairman, The Washington Roundtable, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He is a treasurer and member of the Board of Directors at Blair House. He also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Alliance of Business (pro bono) and as a member of the NAB Board of Directors. He isa former member of the Board of Directors of Jorgensen Steel and Continental Air Lines and the Board of Visitors of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He holds a T.S./S.C.I. security clearance and is currently a member of the Alfalfa Club.