With the Bark Off Wins Non-Fiction Book Prize

“SPELCE HAS WRITTEN AN UTTERLY SPLENDID BOOK”

- Philosophical Society of Texas

WITH THE BARK OFF, A Journalist’s Memories of LBJ and a Life in the News Media has received a literary prize in the category of “Best Book of Non-Fiction about Texas” for 2022 from the prestigious Philosophical Society of Texas, (organized in 1837 by Sam Houston, Mirabeau B. Lamar, and other early Texas founders).

For purposes of this literary award, Texas is defined as having the border of the Republic of Texas as set forth by the Congress of the Republic in 1836, extending into parts of what are now New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.

It is written by Neal Spelce, with Thomas Zigal.

The Society at its annual meeting in February 2023 praised the 311-page book as “a highly readable memoir that gives gripping firsthand accounts of many historic events of recent generations.” The 250-member organization specifically singled out two events: “the 1960 presidential campaign and the 1966 UT Tower shooting, where, under fire and in real time, the author showed the world the horrors of a mass shooting.”

“Spelce has written an utterly splendid book,” it concluded.

To receive this recognition from such a distinguished organization prompted Spelce to say “Frankly, I never thought of our book in such high-falutin’ terms. Sure, we were pleased with the memoir. We wrote it as if we were having a casual conversation with the reader. And we appreciated it when readers enjoyed the stories, maybe they were even entertained.”

“But now, there’s confirmation for what one book authority indicated to me earlier when she said it was also ‘an important’ historical work. Let me tell you, this is somewhat humbling to be placed into well-regarded company at such a high level,” he added.

The well-received WITH THE BARK OFF is now in its second printing and is published by the University of Texas Briscoe Center for American History and distributed by the University of Texas Press.

With the Bark Off is available in hard cover, ebook and audiobook at amazon.com, and at all major booksellers. Signed copies may be ordered through nealspelce.com

#philosophicalsocietyoftexas #nealspelce #withthebarkoff #lbj

Neal Spelce in Texas Coop Power Magazine

November 2022

November Issue Texas Coop Power

Excerpt of the article, A Mighty Bulwark: LBJ made more prosperity possible by bringing dams to his beloved Hill Country written by Neal Spelce, published in the November 2022 issue of Texas Coop Power. For many years, outsiders had no idea that Austin and the Hill Country were hidden gems deep in the heart of Texas. Wasn’t the Lone Star State all about cowboys, sagebrush, and rattlesnakes—the John Wayne Western movie image? People elsewhere couldn’t imagine bountiful lakes and rolling hills covered in green woodlands anywhere in Texas.

But Lyndon Johnson grew up surrounded by those woods and grassy farmland, and that’s where he felt at home. Soon after winning the seat in the sprawling 10th U.S. Congressional District of Texas in 1937, his first elected office, he made it a priority to support President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs and bring hydroelectricity and power lines to rural Central Texas.

I had met LBJ historian Doris Kearns Goodwin on several occasions, and in her book Leadership: In Turbulent Times, she nailed what I heard LBJ say many times about “how he had brought electric power to the Hill Country, and how electricity had changed the daily lives of thousands of farm families, letting them enjoy such modern conveniences as electric lights, refrigerators, and washing machines for the first time.”

Excerpt by Neal Spelce in Texas Coop Power Magazine

Read the article in its entirety here: https://texascooppower.com/a-mighty-bulwark/

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With the Bark Off is available in hard cover, ebook and audiobook at amazon.com, and at all major booksellers. Signed copies may be ordered through nealspelce.com

#texascooppower #nealspelce #withthebarkoff #lbj

LBJ Birthday Wreath Ceremony 2021

Reflections in a Cemetery – of a Different Sort

Most visitors to a cemetery reflect about those who are buried there. Personal, private thoughts. But my recent visit to the cemetery on the LBJ Ranch where President and Mrs. Lyndon Johnson are buried brought back memories about what happened at the burial events themselves. Memories that have been lying dormant, for the most part, dating as far back as 1973.

Stonewall, Texas - Burial place of President and Mrs. Johnson

Weather was an overriding factor when LBJ was buried and weather, of a different kind, 34 years later when Mrs. Johnson was laid to rest beside her husband, also was an important part of the proceedings. And, interestingly, after decades of reflection, the differing weather conditions were entirely appropriate for the lives of the former First Couple.

LBJ Library photo by Frank Wolfe

LBJ began his presidency at the moment of one of the most tragic times in American history – the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. His entire presidency seemed to surge forward with one controversy after another, with the US involvement in the war in Vietnam ever-present. Even after his presidency, his last public words were uttered in the LBJ Library in Austin during a sometimes-intense symposium spotlighting civil rights problems.

How fitting was the weather at the time of his burial in January 1973? It was bitterly cold, blustery, and wet in his beloved Hill Country at the LBJ Ranch. I shivered through three days of planning and supervising the burial. But the service came off without a hitch, in spite of the “appropriate” weather.

Mrs. Johnson outlived her husband by 34 years, continuing the work she began in the White House, focusing in large and small ways, on improving the environment. One of her most visible accomplishments can be seen as wildflowers emerge each spring along roadways and in the work at the University of Texas Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

The weather at the time of her burial in July 2007? A soft rain was prevalent, nourishing the Texas soil. A soft rain for a soft-spoken genteel lady who loved the outdoors her entire life. As a family spokesperson, I was asked by a reporter if the rain would spoil the services and I replied “No, Mrs. Johnson would love the rain.”

Memory is a wonderful thing. And it is very interesting how our brains recall certain details of significant developments in our lives.

Weather is such an important part of our daily lives, I guess it is not surprising that it colors our memories. But isn’t it fascinating how weather can sometimes be so appropriate?

It was an honor to deliver the keynote speech at the wreath laying ceremony honoring President Johnson's birthday.

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