Doris Kearns Goodwin
Encyclopedia
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize
-winning American biographer and historian
, and an oft-seen political commentator. She is the author of biographies of several U.S. Presidents, including Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream; The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga; No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt (which won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1995); and her most recent book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
.
. She attended Colby College
in Maine
, where she was a member of Tri Delta and Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts
degree. She was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship
in 1964 to pursue doctoral studies. In 1968 she earned a Ph.D.
in government from Harvard University
, with a thesis entitled "Prayer and reapportionment: an analysis of the relationship between the congress and the court."
, as a White House Fellow during the Lyndon B. Johnson
administration. Johnson offered the young intern a job as his assistant, an offer that was not withdrawn even after an article by Kearns appeared in The New Republic
laying out a scenario for Johnson's removal from office over his conduct of the war in Vietnam
.
After Johnson left office in 1969, Kearns taught government at Harvard
for ten years, including a course on the American presidency
. During this period she also assisted Johnson in drafting his memoir
s. Her first book, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, which drew upon her conversations with the late president, was published in 1977. It became a New York Times bestseller and provided a launching pad for her literary career.
Goodwin was the first female journalist to enter the Boston Red Sox
locker room. She consulted on and appeared in Ken Burns
's 1994 documentary, Baseball
.
Goodwin won the Pulitzer Prize
in 1995 for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The American Homefront During World War II.
Goodwin received an honorary L.H.D. from Bates College
in 1998. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Westfield State College
in 2008.
Goodwin won the 2005 Lincoln Prize
, awarded for the best book about the American Civil War
, for Team of Rivals, a book about Abraham Lincoln
's presidential cabinet. She is a member of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
advisory board. The book also won the inaugural American History Book Prize
given by the New-York Historical Society
.
Since 1997, Goodwin has been a member of the board of directors
for Northwest Airlines
.
Goodwin is currently working on her next book which will be about Theodore Roosevelt
, focusing on his relationship with William Howard Taft
, the election of 1912
and the muckraking journalism of the Progressive era
.
She is a recurring guest commentator on Meet the Press
, appearing a total of six times (during the tenures of hosts Tim Russert
, Tom Brokaw
, and David Gregory
), as well as a regular guest on Charlie Rose
, appearing a total of twenty-seven times since 1994.
demonstrated that Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, used without attribution numerous phrases and sentences from three other books: Time to Remember, by Rose Kennedy; The Lost Prince, by Hank Searl; and Kathleen Kennedy
: Her Life and Times, by Lynne McTaggart
.
McTaggart weighed in, "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." Goodwin admitted that she had previously reached a large "private settlement" with McTaggart over the issue. She wrote in Time
:
Slate magazine
also reported that there were multiple passages in Goodwin’s book on the Roosevelts (No Ordinary Time) that were apparently lifted directly from Joseph Lash’s Eleanor and Franklin, Hugh Gregory Gallagher’s FDR’s Splendid Deception, and other books. Furthermore, The Los Angeles Times reported similar circumstances concerning her book The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys. The allegations of plagiarism have caused her to take leave of her position as a guest on PBS NewsHour.
, who had worked in the Johnson and Kennedy administration as an adviser and a speechwriter. They have three sons, Richard, Michael and Joseph. Richard's latest short film, "For Rent" earned a Coup De Coeur distinction at the Cannes Short Film Corner, where it screened in May 2011. Michael, a high-school social studies teacher, is the founder of Rivers and Revolutions, a tuition-free interdisciplinary summer program designed to teach highschool students the relationship between literature, history, science, mathematics, philosophy, and the arts. Michael is currently pursuing a Masters of Education at Harvard University. On September 12, 2001, Joseph joined the U.S. Army. For his service in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, he was awarded the Bronze Star. He is currently in law school.
The Goodwins live in Concord, Massachusetts
.
Goodwin related in her contributions to Ken Burns
' award-winning documentary film Baseball stories about her father and herself being Brooklyn Dodger fans. She noted that her father would have her document the baseball game from the radio and replay the events of the game once her father returned home. She cited this as her first experience as a historian. She chronicles her and her family's love for the Dodgers until the team's fateful move to Los Angeles
in 1957. When she met her husband in the late 60s, she became a Red Sox
fan even though her dad became a Mets
fan, one of her sisters later became a Rockies
fan, and her other sister stayed a Dodgers fan.
apologizes to Goodwin for lewd or inappropriate subject matter Colbert is connecting to some other person that he once, apparently, also connected with or asked of Goodwin e.g. inadvertently sending Goodwin a photo of himself when he "replied all" on an e-mail that included a photo of himself in a crotchless iron man
suit.
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning American biographer and historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, and an oft-seen political commentator. She is the author of biographies of several U.S. Presidents, including Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream; The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga; No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt (which won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1995); and her most recent book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln is a book by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin published in 2005. The book is a biographical portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and some of the men who served with him in his Cabinet from 1861 to 1865...
.
Early life and education
Doris Kearns was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Rockville Centre, New YorkRockville Centre, New York
Rockville Centre is a village located in Nassau County, New York, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the village had a total population of 24,023. The town is made up of middle to upper middle class residents, most of the wealthier residents residing on the north side of town near the...
. She attended Colby College
Colby College
Colby College is a private liberal arts college located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1813, it is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the United States...
in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, where she was a member of Tri Delta and Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree. She was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship
Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation is a private non-profit foundation based in Princeton, New Jersey. It administers programs that support leadership development and build organizational capacity in education. Its current signature program is the...
in 1964 to pursue doctoral studies. In 1968 she earned a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in government from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, with a thesis entitled "Prayer and reapportionment: an analysis of the relationship between the congress and the court."
Career and awards
In 1967, Kearns went to Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, as a White House Fellow during the Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
administration. Johnson offered the young intern a job as his assistant, an offer that was not withdrawn even after an article by Kearns appeared in The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
laying out a scenario for Johnson's removal from office over his conduct of the war in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
After Johnson left office in 1969, Kearns taught government at Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
for ten years, including a course on the American presidency
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. During this period she also assisted Johnson in drafting his memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
s. Her first book, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, which drew upon her conversations with the late president, was published in 1977. It became a New York Times bestseller and provided a launching pad for her literary career.
Goodwin was the first female journalist to enter the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
locker room. She consulted on and appeared in Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
's 1994 documentary, Baseball
Baseball (documentary)
Baseball is an 18½ hour, Emmy Award-winning documentary series by Ken Burns about the game of baseball. First broadcast on PBS, this was Burns' ninth documentary.- Format :...
.
Goodwin won the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
in 1995 for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The American Homefront During World War II.
Goodwin received an honorary L.H.D. from Bates College
Bates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
in 1998. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Westfield State College
Westfield State College
Westfield State University is a comprehensive, coeducational, four-year public university in Westfield, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1838 by noted educator and social reformer Horace Mann as the first public co-educational college in America without barrier to race, gender and economic class...
in 2008.
Goodwin won the 2005 Lincoln Prize
Lincoln Prize
The Lincoln Prize, endowed by Richard Gilder and Lewis Lehrman and administered by the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, has been awarded annually since 1991 for the best non-fiction historical work of the year on the American Civil War. It is named for U.S...
, awarded for the best book about the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, for Team of Rivals, a book about Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's presidential cabinet. She is a member of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission was the Congressionally created 14-member federal commission focused on planning and commemorating the 200th birthday of the United States' 16th president on February 12, 2009. The commission served for ten years, from 2000 to 2010...
advisory board. The book also won the inaugural American History Book Prize
American History Book Prize
The New-York Historical Society American History Book Prize or simply the American History Book Prize is an American literary award given annually by the New-York Historical Society for an adult non-fiction book on American history or biography copyrighted in the year of the award "that is...
given by the New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library located in New York City at the corner of 77th Street and Central Park West in Manhattan. Founded in 1804 as New York's first museum, the New-York Historical Society presents exhibitions, public programs and research that...
.
Since 1997, Goodwin has been a member of the board of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
for Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines, Inc. was a major United States airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines by a merger approved on October 29, 2008, making Delta the largest airline in the world...
.
Goodwin is currently working on her next book which will be about Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, focusing on his relationship with William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
, the election of 1912
United States presidential election, 1912
The United States presidential election of 1912 was a rare four-way contest. Incumbent President William Howard Taft was renominated by the Republican Party with the support of its conservative wing. After former President Theodore Roosevelt failed to receive the Republican nomination, he called...
and the muckraking journalism of the Progressive era
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era in the United States was a period of social activism and political reform that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political...
.
She is a recurring guest commentator on Meet the Press
Meet the Press
Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...
, appearing a total of six times (during the tenures of hosts Tim Russert
Tim Russert
Timothy John "Tim" Russert was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Washington bureau chief and also hosted the eponymous CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview...
, Tom Brokaw
Tom Brokaw
Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw is an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He is the author of The Greatest Generation and other books and the recipient of numerous awards and honors...
, and David Gregory
David Gregory (journalist)
David Michael Gregory is an American television journalist, and moderator of NBC News' Sunday morning talk show Meet the Press.-Early life:...
), as well as a regular guest on Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose (talk show)
Charlie Rose is an American television interview show, with Charlie Rose as executive producer, executive editor, and host. The show is syndicated...
, appearing a total of twenty-seven times since 1994.
Plagiarism controversy
In 2002, The Weekly StandardThe Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...
demonstrated that Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, used without attribution numerous phrases and sentences from three other books: Time to Remember, by Rose Kennedy; The Lost Prince, by Hank Searl; and Kathleen Kennedy
Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington
Kathleen Agnes "Kick" Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington , born Kathleen Agnes Kennedy, was the fourth child and second daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Kennedy. She was a sister of future U.S. President John F. Kennedy and widow of the heir to the Dukedom of Devonshire.-Biography:When...
: Her Life and Times, by Lynne McTaggart
Lynne McTaggart
Lynne McTaggart is an American journalist, author, publisher, lecturer, and spokesperson. According to her author profile, she is a spokesperson "on consciousness, the new physics, and the practices of conventional and alternative medicine"...
.
McTaggart weighed in, "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." Goodwin admitted that she had previously reached a large "private settlement" with McTaggart over the issue. She wrote in Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
:
Fourteen years ago, not long after the publication of my book The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, I received a communication from author Lynne McTaggart pointing out that material from her book on Kathleen Kennedy had not been properly attributed. I realized that she was right. Though my footnotes repeatedly cited Ms. McTaggart's work, I failed to provide quotation marks for phrases that I had taken verbatim, having assumed that these phrases, drawn from my notes, were my words, not hers. I made the corrections she requested, and the matter was completely laid to rest—until last week, when the Weekly Standard published an article reviving the issue. The larger question for those of us who write history is to understand how citation mistakes can happen.
Slate magazine
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
also reported that there were multiple passages in Goodwin’s book on the Roosevelts (No Ordinary Time) that were apparently lifted directly from Joseph Lash’s Eleanor and Franklin, Hugh Gregory Gallagher’s FDR’s Splendid Deception, and other books. Furthermore, The Los Angeles Times reported similar circumstances concerning her book The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys. The allegations of plagiarism have caused her to take leave of her position as a guest on PBS NewsHour.
Personal life
In 1975, Kearns married Richard N. GoodwinRichard N. Goodwin
Richard N. Goodwin is an American writer who may be best known as an advisor and speechwriter to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and to Senator Robert F. Kennedy.-Life and career:...
, who had worked in the Johnson and Kennedy administration as an adviser and a speechwriter. They have three sons, Richard, Michael and Joseph. Richard's latest short film, "For Rent" earned a Coup De Coeur distinction at the Cannes Short Film Corner, where it screened in May 2011. Michael, a high-school social studies teacher, is the founder of Rivers and Revolutions, a tuition-free interdisciplinary summer program designed to teach highschool students the relationship between literature, history, science, mathematics, philosophy, and the arts. Michael is currently pursuing a Masters of Education at Harvard University. On September 12, 2001, Joseph joined the U.S. Army. For his service in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, he was awarded the Bronze Star. He is currently in law school.
The Goodwins live in Concord, Massachusetts
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 17,668. Although a small town, Concord is noted for its leading roles in American history and literature.-History:...
.
Goodwin related in her contributions to Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
' award-winning documentary film Baseball stories about her father and herself being Brooklyn Dodger fans. She noted that her father would have her document the baseball game from the radio and replay the events of the game once her father returned home. She cited this as her first experience as a historian. She chronicles her and her family's love for the Dodgers until the team's fateful move to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 1957. When she met her husband in the late 60s, she became a Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
fan even though her dad became a Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
fan, one of her sisters later became a Rockies
Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies are a Major League Baseball team based in Denver, Colorado. Established in 1991, they started play in 1993 and are in the West Division of the National League. The team is named after the Rocky Mountains...
fan, and her other sister stayed a Dodgers fan.
Popular culture
Goodwin is part of a recurring gag on The Colbert Report where Stephen ColbertStephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
apologizes to Goodwin for lewd or inappropriate subject matter Colbert is connecting to some other person that he once, apparently, also connected with or asked of Goodwin e.g. inadvertently sending Goodwin a photo of himself when he "replied all" on an e-mail that included a photo of himself in a crotchless iron man
Iron Man
Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...
suit.
Books
- Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream (1977)
- The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga (1987)
- No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The American Homefront During World War II (1995)
- Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir (1997)
- Every Four Years: Presidential Campaign Coverage (2000) ISBN 0-9655091-7-6
- Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham LincolnTeam of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham LincolnTeam of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln is a book by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin published in 2005. The book is a biographical portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and some of the men who served with him in his Cabinet from 1861 to 1865...
(2005) ISBN 0-684-82490-6
Quotations
- "I got to know this crazy character [Lyndon B. Johnson] when I was only 23 years old.... He's still the most formidable, fascinating, frustrating, irritating individual I think I've ever known in my entire life."
- "I just want them to come alive again. That's all you really ask of history."
External links
- Doris Kearns Goodwin official website
- Appearances at the Pritzker Military LibraryPritzker Military LibraryThe Pritzker Military Library is a research library for the study of military history in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded in 2003 by COL James N. Pritzker, IL ARNG to be a non-partisan institution for the study of "the citizen soldier as an essential element for the preservation of...
- Interview with Liberadio(!) with Mary Mancini & Freddie O'Connell May 4, 2009 a few days before her appearance at Vanderbilt University
- Profile by Kevin C. Murphy