Liz Carpenter, 89, an author and former press secretary to first lady Lady Bird Johnson, died Saturday at an Austin, Texas, hospital after contracting pneumonia earlier in the week, her daughter said.
On Nov. 22, 1963, Carpenter scribbled the 58 words that Lyndon Johnson delivered to the nation when he returned to Washington, D.C., from Dallas after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy:
“This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help and God’s.”
Carpenter was Lady Bird Johnson’s press secretary from 1963 to 1969. She served as assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Education under President Jimmy Carter, on the International Women’s Year Commission under President Gerald Ford and on the White House Conference on Aging under President Bill Clinton.
Girija Prasad Koirala, 86, Nepal’s former prime minister who led mass protests that ended the king’s authoritarian rule and helped deliver a peace deal to end 10 years of communist revolt, died Saturday.
The five-term prime minister was president of the Nepali Congress party and led the mass street demonstrations in 2006 that forced then-King Gyanendra to give up his authoritarian rule, reinstate parliament and appoint Koirala as caretaker prime minister. Soon after that, Koirala’s government stripped Gyanendra of all his powers. The Associated Press
