March 3, 2026 ● Hardcover ● History ● 352 pages
978-1-4642-4438-4 ● Sourcebooks
YOU CAN'T CATCH US
Lady Bird Johnson's Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train
and the Women Who Rode with Her
"A remarkable display of courage, stamina and old-fashioned political savvy."
—Greensboro Daily News, October 13, 1964
In October 1964, a nineteen-car campaign train dubbed theLady Bird Special left Washington, D.C., bound for New Orleans,with an extra engine riding ahead in case the tracks were bombed. At a time when political candidates’ wives were expected to be seen and not heard, Lady Bird Johnson made history as the first presidential spouse to take a leading role on the campaign trail. Her mission: To aid her husband, Lyndon B. Johnson, in territory roiling with animosity after his signing of the Civil Rights Act three months earlier. Proud of her southern heritage and of what her husband had done for civil rights, Lady Bird undertook a whirlwind whistle-stop, making forty-seven stops through eight states in four days, not just to garner votes for Lyndon but to help bridge the divide.
You Can’t Catch Us follows the Lady Bird Special headlong into the powder keg of Southern politics, encountering danger and drama along the tracks. The story also features the pioneering women who rode with Lady Bird, including Liz Carpenter, dynamo press secretary and the first East Wing staff director; Dr. Janet Travell, the first woman to be a White House physician; and legendary correspondent Helen Thomas. Of the three decades Lady Bird spent on the political scene beside her husband, it was the whistle-stop that she deemed the “four mostdramatic days in my political life.”
You Can’t Catch Us isn’t simply the story of an election campaign. It’s the story of a women-led operation and an appeal for understanding and civility. Lady Bird Johnson’s monumental journey expanded the role of women in politics and progressed the fightfor women’s rights—a fight we still continue today.
“Lady Bird’s march into Dixie was sure no tea-pouring party.”
—Corpus Christie Caller, October 12, 1964
“Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson’s train sortie through the South will be incomparably the most important campaign effortundertaken by the wife of an American president.”—William E. White, syndicated columnist, September 25, 1964
Praise for You Can't Catch Us
“An exhilarating and important read. All aboard the Lady Bird Special! This is one ride you won’t want to miss.”
—Denise Kiernan, New York Times bestselling author of
The Girls of Atomic City and Obstinate Daughters
“Captivating storytelling brings this extraordinary chapter of presidential campaign history into vivid relief with
rich detail and illuminating cultural and political context.”
—Christy Carpenter, Liz Carpenter's daughter and co-director/co-producer,
Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter
“Important, compelling, profoundly researched. Shannon McKenna Schmidt has gifted us with a reconsideration of our ongoing activist struggles for civil rights and feminism. A powerful book most needed now!”
—Blanche Wiesen Cook, New York Times bestselling and
award-winning author of Eleanor Roosevelt: the definitive three-volume biography
“The story of Lady Bird Johnson’s railroad journey through the South in the wake of her husband signing the 1964 Civil Rights Act is a largely unheralded slice of history. Thankfully, Shannon McKenna Schmidt’s You Can’t Catch Us changes that, bringing the remarkable story forward with vivid, compelling detail.”
—Mark K. Updegrove, President & CEO of the LBJ Foundation
and author of Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency
“Surprising, gripping, and hilarious, this inspiring journey through the American South never derails. Shannon McKenna Schmidt has written a gem of American campaign history. All aboard!”
—Margaret McMullan, author of Where the Angels Lived:
One Family’s Story of Exile, Loss, and Return
“In lively prose, Schmidt takes readers along on Lady Bird Johnson’s historic whistle stop tour through the American South... This action-packed account captures the Southern charm and steely courage of Lady Bird Johnson during the most dramatic days of her political life. It is the most panoramic attempt yet made to put the Lady Bird Special in perspective.”
—Jill Abraham Hummer, author of Laura Bush: Texas Roots, Global Impact