AUSTIN (AP) – Lady Bird Johnson’s personal insight into the pre-presidential years is revealed in a large collection of oral histories the LBJ Library has released as part of its 40th anniversary celebration this week.

The transcripts total more than 1,400 pages and cover Johnson’s memories of her childhood in East Texas through the 1960 presidential campaign, when Lyndon B. Johnson became vice president under John F. Kennedy.

The Austin American-Statesman reports that the former first lady touches on politics and personal, social and cultural matters in her own words.

She expresses some wedding day jitters as she dressed for her nuptials wondering “whether it would be wisest to jump out the window or go on and get married.”

But she was calm and LBJ was nervous when the ceremony began.

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