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Doris Kearns Goodwin

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Doris Kearns Goodwin
Goodwin in 2018
Born
Doris Helen Kearns

(1943-01-04)January 4, 1943(age 81)
New York City,U.S.
Education
Occupations
  • Historian
  • author
Years active1977–present
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
​
​
(m.1975; died 2018)​
Children3
AwardsNational Humanities Medal(1996)
Websitedoriskearnsgoodwin
Signature

Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin(born January 4, 1943)[1]is an American biographer, historian, formersports journalist,and political commentator. She has written biographies of numerous U.S. presidents. Goodwin's bookNo Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War IIwon thePulitzer Prize for Historyin 1995. Goodwin produced the American television miniseriesWashington.[2]She was also executive producer of "Abraham Lincoln", a 2022 docudrama on the History Channel.[3]This latter series was based on Goodwin'sLeadership in Turbulent Times.[4]

Early life and education[edit]

Doris Helen Kearns was born inBrooklyn,New York, the daughter of Helen Witt (néeMiller) and Michael Francis Aloysius Kearns. She has two sisters, Charlotte Kearns and Jeanne Kearns.[5][6]She was raisedCatholic.[7]Her paternal grandparents were Irish immigrants.[8]

She grew up inRockville Centre, New York,where she graduated fromSouth Side High School.[9]Her formative years in Rockville Centre are the subject of her 1997memoirWait Till Next Year.[10]She attendedColby CollegeinMaine,where she was a member ofDelta Delta Delta[11]andPhi Beta Kappa,[12]and graduatedmagna cum laudein 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[13]She was awarded aWoodrow Wilson Fellowshipin 1964[14]to pursue doctoral studies. In 1968, she earned a PhD in government fromHarvard University,with a thesis titled "Prayer and Reapportionment: An Analysis of the Relationship between the Congress and the Court."[15]

Career and awards[edit]

In 1967, Kearns went to Washington, D.C., as aWhite House Fellowduring theLyndon B. Johnsonadministration.[16]Johnson initially expressed interest in hiring the young intern as his Oval Office assistant, but after an article by Kearns appeared inThe New Republiclaying out a scenario for Johnson's removal from office over his conduct of thewar in Vietnam,she was instead assigned to the Department of Labor; Goodwin has written that she felt relieved to be able to remain in the internship program in any capacity at all. "The president discovered that I had been actively involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement and had written an article entitled, 'How to Dump Lyndon Johnson'. I thought for sure he would kick me out of the program, but instead, he said, 'Oh, bring her down here for a year and if I can't win her over, no one can'."[17]After Johnson decided not to run for reelection, he brought Kearns to the White House as a member of his staff, where she focused on domestic anti-poverty efforts.[18]

After Johnson left office in 1969, Kearns taught government atHarvardfor 10 years, including a course on the American presidency.[19]During this period, she also assisted Johnson in drafting his memoirs. Her first bookLyndon Johnson and the American Dream,which drew upon her conversations with the late president, was published in 1977, becoming aNew York Timesbestsellerand provided a launching pad for her literary career.

A sports journalist as well, Goodwin was the first woman to enter theBoston Red Soxlocker room in 1979.[20]She consulted on and appeared inKen Burns' 1994 documentaryBaseball.[21]

Goodwin won the 1995Pulitzer Prize for HistoryforNo Ordinary Time:Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front During World War II(1994).[22]

In 1996, Goodwin received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[23]

Goodwin received an honoraryL.H.D.fromBates Collegein 1998.[24][25][26][27][28][29]She was awarded an honorary doctorate fromWestfield State Collegein 2008.

Goodwin in 2001

Goodwin was on air talking toTom BrokawofNBC Newsduring their2000 Presidential Election NightCoveragewhen Brokaw announced NBC's projection that the state ofFloridahad voted forGeorge W. Bushthus making him president.[30]

Goodwin won the 2005Lincoln Prize(for the best book about theAmerican Civil War) forTeam of Rivals:The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln(2005), a book aboutAbraham Lincoln'spresidential cabinet.Part of the book was adapted byTony Kushnerinto the screenplay forSteven Spielberg's 2012 filmLincoln.She was a member of theAbraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commissionadvisory board.[31][32][33][34]The book also won the inauguralAmerican History Book Prizegiven by theNew-York Historical Society.

In 2006, Goodwin received The Lincoln Forum'sRichard Nelson CurrentAward of Achievement.[35]

Goodwin was a member of the board of directors ofNorthwest Airlines.

Goodwin is a frequent guest commentator onMeet the Press,having appeared many times during the tenures of hostsTim Russert,Tom Brokaw,David Gregory,andChuck Todd.She was also a regular guest onCharlie Rose,appearing a total of forty-eight times beginning in 1994.

Stephen Kingmet with Goodwin while he was writing his novel11/22/63,since she had been an assistant to Johnson. King used some of her ideas in the novel on what a worst-case scenario would be like if history had changed.[36]

In 2014, Kearns won theAndrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in NonfictionforThe Bully Pulpit.[37]It was also aLos Angeles Times Book Prizefinalist (History, 2013)[38]and was named one of theChristian Science Monitor's15 best nonfiction books in 2013.[39]

In 2016, she appeared as herself in thefifth episodeofAmerican Horror Story: Roanoke,[40]and made a cameo appearance playing herself as a teacher in theSimpsonsepisode "The Town".[41]

In April 2024, Simon & Schuster published Kearns' book,An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s.[42]

Plagiarism controversies[edit]

In 2002,The Weekly Standarddetermined that Goodwin's bookThe Fitzgeralds and the Kennedysused without attribution numerous phrases and sentences from three other books:Times to RememberbyRose Kennedy;The Lost PrincebyHank Searls;andKathleen Kennedy:Her Life and TimesbyLynne McTaggart.[43]McTaggart remarked, "If somebody takes a third of somebody's book, which is what happened to me, they are lifting out the heart and guts of somebody else's individual expression."[44]Goodwin had previously reached a "private settlement" with McTaggart over the issue. In an article she wrote forTimemagazine, she said, "Though my footnotes repeatedly cited Ms. McTaggart's work, I failed to provide quotation marks for phrases that I had taken verbatim... The larger question for those of us who write history is to understand how citation mistakes can happen."[45]In its analysis of the controversy,Slatemagazinecriticized Goodwin for the aggrieved tone of her explanation, and suggested Goodwin's worst offense was allowing the plagiarism to remain in future editions of the book even after it was brought to her attention.[46]

The plagiarism controversy caused Goodwin to resign from thePulitzer PrizeBoard[47]and to relinquish her position as a regular guest on thePBS NewsHourprogram.[48]

TheLos Angeles Timesalso reported on a passage inNo Ordinary Timewhich appeared to use highly similar language and phrasing to one inJoseph P. Lash's 1971 bookEleanor & Franklin;Goodwin includes a citation for Lash in the bibliography, though the article questions if this is sufficient for the use of similar "framing language" between the two texts. In response, Goodwin said that she had met "the highest standards of historical scholarship" for the passage in question.[49]

Personal life[edit]

Growing up onLong Island,Goodwin was a fan of theBrooklyn Dodgers.She remembered that her father would have her document the events of a baseball game from the radio, and "replay" the events for him when he returned home. Goodwin stopped following baseball after the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, but later became aBoston Red Soxfan while attending Harvard, and is now aseason ticketholder.[50]

In 1975, Kearns marriedRichard N. Goodwin,[51]who had worked in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations as an adviser and speechwriter. The two met in mid-1972 atHarvard's Institute of Politics.[52]Richard Goodwin was a widower who had a son, also named Richard, from his first marriage. At the time he and Kearns married, his son was nine years old.[53][54]The couple, who lived inConcord, Massachusetts,had two sons together, Michael and Joseph.[55]Richard Goodwin died on May 20, 2018, after a brief battle with cancer.[54]

Bibliography[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"UPI Almanac for Friday, Jan. 4, 2019".UPI.January 4, 2019.Archivedfrom the original on January 5, 2019.RetrievedSeptember 4,2019.American historian/writer Doris Kearns Goodwin in 1943 (age 76)
  2. ^Cunningham, Lillian (February 16, 2020)."Renowned presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin finally takes on George Washington".The Washington Post.Archivedfrom the original on February 17, 2020.RetrievedApril 12,2020.
  3. ^Abraham Lincoln,History Channel, 2022https:// history /shows/abraham-lincoln
  4. ^Rosy Cordero, 'Deadline,' January 21, 2022 "History Channel Sets Abraham Lincoln Documentary To Air Presidents Day Weekend"https://deadline /2022/01/history-channel-abraham-lincoln-documentary-presidents-day-1234917679/
  5. ^Brennan, Elizabeth A.; Clarage, Elizabeth C. (1999).Who's who of Pulitzer Prize winners.Greenwood Publishing. p. 323.ISBN9781573561112.RetrievedMay 27,2013.
  6. ^Drew, Bernard Alger (2008).100 Most Popular Nonfiction Authors: Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies – Bernard Alger Drew.Libraries Unlimited. p. 131.ISBN9781591584872.RetrievedMay 27,2013.
  7. ^Baldwin, Lou (March 26, 2013)."Kearns Goodwin recalls growing up Catholic in Brooklyn, with a peculiar penance: praying for the Dodgers".catholicphilly.
  8. ^"STLtoday – Archive – News".Nl.newsbank. January 5, 1998. Archived fromthe originalon October 6, 2018.RetrievedMay 27,2013.
  9. ^D'Onfrio, Matthew (April 5, 2018)."From Rockville Centre to the White House, Presidential historian returns to Long Island".LI Herald.RetrievedFebruary 20,2019.
  10. ^D'Onofrio, Matthew. "From Rockville Centre to the White House, Presidential historian returns to Long Island," LIHerald, Thursday, April 5, 2018.Retrieved January 11, 2023.
  11. ^Becque, Fran (July 30, 2014)."Sorority Women Who Have Won Pulitzer Prizes".Fraternity History & More.RetrievedSeptember 1,2022.
  12. ^"Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin Discusses 'The Moral Authority of the Presidency' in Ubben Lecture".DePauw University.February 12, 1999.RetrievedSeptember 1,2022.
  13. ^"Team of Rivals (Goodwin)".LitLovers.RetrievedSeptember 1,2022.
  14. ^"About Our Fellows".Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. Archived fromthe originalon July 5, 2010.
  15. ^Kearns, Doris Helen (May 21, 1968)."Prayer and reapportionment; an analysis of the relationship between the Congress and the Court"– via Open WorldCat.
  16. ^"Doris Kearns Goodwin Biography and Interview".achievement.org.American Academy of Achievement.
  17. ^"Dartmouth 1998 commencement address"ArchivedFebruary 6, 2006, at theWayback Machine.Dartmouth College.Retrieved July 27, 2007.
  18. ^Lyndon B. Johnson and the American Dream, "Prologue"
  19. ^"Doris Kearns Goodwin".PBS.RetrievedSeptember 1,2022.
  20. ^"Doris Kearns Goodwin".Portland'5 Center for the Arts.Archivedfrom the original on September 1, 2022.RetrievedSeptember 1,2022.
  21. ^Given, Karen (August 28, 2022)."Why Doris Kearns Goodwin Says Baseball Made Her A Better Historian".WBUR.RetrievedSeptember 1,2022.
  22. ^Goodwin, Doris Kearns (October 1995).Amazon: No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II (9780684804484): Doris Kearns Goodwin: Books.Simon & Schuster.ISBN0684804484.
  23. ^"Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement".achievement.org.American Academy of Achievement.
  24. ^"About the Author".Doris Kearns Goodwin. Archived fromthe originalon October 15, 2008.
  25. ^"Doris Kearns Goodwin (January 4, 1943 – ) – Biographer; Assistant to President Lyndon Johnson".Women's History.about. Archived fromthe originalon January 15, 2006.RetrievedFebruary 2,2006.
  26. ^ "Doris Kearns Goodwin: History, Baseball, and the Art of the Narrative".Smithsonian Associates. October 20, 1997. Archived fromthe originalon April 11, 2006.
  27. ^Goodwin, Doris Kearns (April 22, 1997)."109th Landon Lecture".Landon Lecture Series at Kansas State University. Archived fromthe originalon June 28, 2017.RetrievedFebruary 2,2006.
  28. ^Goodwin, Doris Kearns (June 14, 1998)."Commencement address at Dartmouth College".Dartmouth News.Archived fromthe originalon February 6, 2006.
  29. ^ Goodwin, Doris Kearns (Summer 1998)."Lessons of Presidential Leadership".Leader to Leader.Archived fromthe originalon March 2, 2006.
  30. ^Jim Heath (November 12, 2011)."Election 2000 Florida, Florida, Florida".Archivedfrom the original on December 13, 2021 – via YouTube.
  31. ^National Constitution Center talkatGoogle VideosNovember 2, 2005 (skip to 30 minute mark)ArchivedFebruary 25, 2007, at theWayback Machine
  32. ^AddressArchivedMarch 6, 2006, at theWayback Machineto the Los AngelesWorld Affairs CouncilNovember 15, 2005
  33. ^City Arts and Lectures appearanceArchivedFebruary 3, 2006, at theWayback MachineNovember 16, 2005
  34. ^"Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln".Books of Our Time.RetrievedFebruary 10,2012.
  35. ^The Lincoln Forum
  36. ^Alter, Alexandra (October 28, 2011)."Stephen King's New Monster".The Wall Street Journal.
  37. ^Hillel Italie (June 30, 2014)."Tartt, Goodwin awarded Carnegie medals".Seattle Times.Associated Press.RetrievedJuly 1,2014.
  38. ^Carolyn Kellogg (February 19, 2014)."Announcing the L. A. Times Book Prize finalists for 2013".Los Angeles Times.RetrievedApril 14,2014.
  39. ^"15 best nonfiction books of 2013".The Christian Science Monitor.November 25, 2013.ISSN0882-7729.RetrievedJanuary 23,2020.
  40. ^Stephens, Emily L. (October 13, 2016)."AHS: Roanoke finds itself in a hole, keeps digging—into its past".The A.V. Club.RetrievedOctober 14,2016.
  41. ^"Doris Kearns Goodwin on The Simpsons (9 October, 2016)".Doris Kearns Goodwin.October 9, 2016.RetrievedSeptember 1,2022.
  42. ^"Something Bad Is Happening In Our Country And You Can Make It Right" - Doris Kearns Goodwin(Television production). April 17, 2024.RetrievedApril 18,2024– via The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
  43. ^Crader, Bo (January 28, 2002)."A Historian and Her Sources".The Weekly Standard.
  44. ^Lawless, Jill (March 23, 2002)."Author Says Doris Kearns Goodwin Took 'Heart and Guts' From Her Book".Associated Press.
  45. ^Goodwin, Doris Kearns (January 27, 2002)."How I Caused That Story".Time.Archived fromthe originalon February 9, 2002.
  46. ^Noah, Timothy (January 28, 2002)."How To Curb the Plagiarism Epidemic".Slate Magazine.RetrievedOctober 6,2017.
  47. ^"Doris Kearns Goodwin Leaves Pulitzer Prize Board".The Wall Street Journal.May 31, 2002.Archivedfrom the original on April 15, 2018.RetrievedApril 15,2018.
  48. ^Lewis, Mark (February 27, 2002)."Doris Kearns Goodwin And The Credibility Gap".Forbes.RetrievedFebruary 10,2012.
  49. ^King, Peter H. (August 4, 2002)."As History Repeats Itself, the Scholar Becomes the Story".Los Angeles Times.RetrievedMay 1,2022.
  50. ^FM, Player (October 26, 2018)."Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin Looks To The Presidents Of The Past To Understand The Politics Of Today | Larry Wilmore (Ep. 54) Larry Wilmore: Black On The Air podcast".player.fm.
  51. ^Roughier, Ray (March 15, 1995)."The Natural TV producers love Doris Kearns Goodwin, historian and baseball fan, who is right at home in front of a camera. Now Mainers will have three chances to see her in person".Portland Press Herald.p. 1C.RetrievedSeptember 6,2009.
  52. ^LLC, New York Media (August 18, 1975)."New York".New York Media, LLC – via Google Books.
  53. ^Lee, Richard S. (December 15, 1975)."Doris Kearns and Richard Goodwin Marry, As Kennedy, Mailer and White Spectate".thecrimson.
  54. ^ab"Richard N. Goodwin, White House speech writer, dead at 86".wtop.AP.May 21, 2018. Archived fromthe originalon May 22, 2018.RetrievedMay 21,2018.
  55. ^"About".richardngoodwin.
  56. ^"Doris Kearns Goodwin's 'Leadership' coming in September".Boston Herald.Associated Press. February 13, 2018.RetrievedApril 15,2018.

External links[edit]

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