{"product_id":"desire-to-serve-the-autobiography-of-congresswoman-eddie-bernice-johnson-9781574419504","title":"Desire to Serve: The Autobiography of Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDesire to Serve \u003c\/i\u003eis the autobiography of Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (1934-2023), a thirty-year member of the United States House of Representatives, in her words as told to Cheryl Brown Wattley. It chronicles Johnson growing up in segregated Waco, Texas; attending St. Mary's nursing school in South Bend, Indiana; working at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Dallas, Texas, as a chief psychiatric nurse; serving in the Texas House; being appointed as the regional director for Health, Education, and Welfare; being elected as a Texas state senator; and serving thirty years as a congressional representative from North Texas. For each of these positions, she was either the first African American or first African American woman to hold the position. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Johnson's narrative of the duties and responsibilities of elected officials gives an insider's view of the way government works--or doesn't work. Highlights of Johnson's political career include her support of NAFTA and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act; the failure of the Health Security Act; her support of the Patient Recovery and Affordable Care Act, as well as the CHIPS-Science Act; her service as the chairwoman of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology; and her membership on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of North Texas Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50490669203730,"sku":"9781574419504","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_82264cdd-beaf-4aa9-a4b0-1c0d6502a54f.jpg?v=1730522033","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/desire-to-serve-the-autobiography-of-congresswoman-eddie-bernice-johnson-9781574419504","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}