Alice Marsh

Alice Glass Kirkpatrick (October 11, 1911 – December 9, 1976), best known as Alice Marsh, was an American socialite and political hostess who was the long-time mistress of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Their affair began in 1938 and ended in the 1960s due to Marsh's disagreement with Johnson's policy regarding the Vietnam War. Throughout this period, they were both married to other people (Johnson to Lady Bird Johnson and Marsh, starting in 1940, to several successive men) but they continued to have an ongoing intimate relation, although their sexual relation may have ceased.

Early life She was born in Lott, Texas, the daughter of Judith and George Glass. She also had a sister Mary Louise Glass. She grew up and attended high school in Marlin, Texas and attended Texas Christian University and Columbia University.

First marriage and meeting LBJ After graduating from Columbia, Glass moved to Austin, Texas where she worked as a secretary to state senator William R. Poage. In 1931, at a party, she met Charles E. Marsh, the powerful publisher of the Austin American-Statesman newspaper in Texas. Marsh was married and twenty-four years her senior; despite this, Glass became his mistress. Marsh reportedly showered her with gifts. Glass's cousin said: "The first time she came back to Marlin and walked down the street in her New York clothes and her jewels, women came running out of the shops to stare at her."

Marsh was known for her beauty. Lady Bird Johnson called her a "Valkyrie". One friend of hers described her as: "Almost six foot in her bare feet, she was slim, graceful, and startlingly beautiful with delicate features, wide-set blue eyes, and strawberry-blond hair that cascaded past her shoulders."

Later life After her marriage with Marsh, Alice went on to marry four more times. Her second marriage to Palmer Weber was brief and ended in divorce. Her third husband, Zadel Skolovsky, was a concert pianist. Her fourth husband, Robert Lester, was a Korean War veteran. Her fifth and final marriage was to Colonel Richard J. Kirkpatrick in 1959 and lasted until his death in 1974.

A few months before her death, she moved back to Marlin, Texas, where she died of cancer on December 9, 1976.