Description
The first edition of The Lyndon Johnson Story by Booth Mooney, inscribed by Johnson to his longtime secretary and reported mistress, Mary Margaret Wiley Valenti.
Octavo, x, 178pp, [2]. Brown cloth, title stamped in gilt on spine. Stated “First Printing 1956” on the copyright page. Foxing along top edge of text block, internally clean. In the publisher’s dust jacket, price clipped, sunning to spine, two tape repairs to verso, bright cover illustrations, a very good example.
Inscribed on the front free endpaper by Senate Majority Leader, Lyndon Johnson: “To Mary Margaret, Whose fidelity, loyalty, and competence make every day easier – with love / Lyndon B. Johnson.” Dated September 26, 1956 in pencil in another hand. Includes a suggestive Valentine card from LBJ to Ms. Wiley as Vice President, with a hand-drawn self-portrait.
Mary Margaret Wiley Valenti (1932-2018) served as the personal secretary for Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson from 1954-1961, then as Vice President from 1961-1962. She married Jack Valenti in 1962, a Texas political consultant, Johnson confidant and President of the Motion Picture Association of America from 1966-2004. (Caro, Master of the Senate, 643).
