Liz Carpenter Oral History

Object number2003.001.0045

Date11/15/2003

ClassificationsOral Histories

Oral history interview subject Liz Carpenter

Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin

ObjectOral history

Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumDigital-8 videotape

Dimensions46 Minutes

Terms

Collections

DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Liz Carpenter. A journalist and press secretary for Lady Bird Johnson, Ms. Carpenter traveled with the presidential party throughout Texas and wrote the brief statement that President Johnson made to the nation at Andrews Air Force Base the evening of November 22, 1963. Interview conducted at Ms. Carpenter's home in Austin, Texas, on November 15, 2003 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is forty-six minutes long.

Curatorial Commentary

This particular interview was a wonderful experience for me. I visited at length with Ms. Carpenter before we began the recording at her beautiful home in Austin, and during our discussion she reached into a desk drawer and brought out her handwritten journal from November of 1963. At my request, she read several excerpts during the videotaped interview that followed.

Ms. Carpenter passed away on March 20, 2010. Over the years she wrote many books about her career and Texas politics. Her memories of the Kennedy assassination were included in her autobiography, Ruffles and Flourishes, in 1969. - Stephen Fagin, Curator