The Lady Bird Diaries

From award-winning filmmaker Dawn Porter, Trilogy Films, and Industrial Media, in collaboration with ABC News Studios comes The Lady Bird Diaries, a groundbreaking documentary film about one of the most influential and least understood First Ladies in history. Based on the biography written by New York Times bestselling author Julia Sweig, the groundbreaking feature film looks at the 123 hours of personal and revealing audio diaries that Lady Bird recorded during her husband’s administration; revealing her crucial role in LBJ’s presidency and bringing viewers behind the scenes of one of the most tumultuous and consequential periods in modern American history.
Finding a rare moment of quiet and calm in the days after President Kennedy was killed in November of 1963, Lady Bird Johnson pressed record for the first time on a reel-to-reel tape recorder and recited her first-hand account of the assassination that shocked the world and thrust her and her husband into the White House. Through Lady Bird’s lens, the captivating prose that flowed onto reels of audio tape gives the audience a rare front-row seat to one of the most effective, but turbulent administrations this country has seen. From that tragic day in Dallas to the advancement of the Great Society social welfare programs, civil rights, and voting rights, to the deep plunge into the morass of Vietnam, cities erupting in protest and riots to the assassinations of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy months apart in 1968; Lady Bird documented it all.
The Lady Bird Diaries is an all-archival documentary film, using the first-person narration of Lady Bird Johnson. The footage which includes Johnson family home videos, news footage, and never before seen notes and handwritten letters combined with recordings so unique and intimate, it feels as if this was a verité film, transporting viewers back to the 1960s. Animations and illustrations are used to bring important moments to life.