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  • Around the World with LBJ

  • My Wild Ride as Air Force One Pilot, White House Aide, and Personal Confidant
  • By: James U. Cross
  • Narrated by: Vernon Kuehn
  • Length: 9 hrs and 1 min

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Around the World with LBJ

By: James U. Cross
Narrated by: Vernon Kuehn
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Publisher's Summary

When Lyndon Baines Johnson wanted to go somewhere, there was no stopping him. This dynamic president called for Air Force One as others summon a taxi - at a moment's notice, whatever the hour or the weather. And the man who made sure that LBJ got his ride was General James U. Cross, the president's hand-picked pilot, top military assistant, and personal confidante. The only Air Force One pilot to have a position, simultaneously, in the White House, General Cross is also the only member of LBJ's inner circle who has not publicly offered his recollections of the president. Until now.

In this book, he goes on the record, creating a fascinating, behind-the-scenes portrait of America's complex, often contradictory, always larger-than-life 36th president. General Cross tells an engrossing story. In addition to piloting Air Force One around the globe, he served President Johnson in multiple capacities, including directing the Military Office in the White House; managing a secret two-million-dollar presidential emergency fund; supervising the presidential retreat at Camp David, the president's entire transportation fleet, and the presidential bomb shelters; running the White House Mess; hiring White House social aides, including the president's future son-in-law, Charles Robb; and writing condolence letters to the families of soldiers killed in Vietnam. This wide-ranging, around-the-clock access to President Johnson allowed Cross to witness events and share moments that add color and depth to our understanding of America's arguably most demanding and unpredictable president.

©2008 University of Texas Press (P)2014 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic Reviews

"What a delightful, honest, and entertaining story Jim Cross tells... his account of that amazing journey -- some of it scarily bumpy, as I can testify -- is a bird's-eye view, from the cockpit of Air Force One, of why character counts." (Bill Moyers)

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