Doris Kearns

"Conversations With and About Mike"

Link: https://doriskearnsgoodwin.com/about-doris/

Doris Kearns Goodwin is a presidential historian, international keynote speaker, Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times #1 best-selling author and a partner in Pastimes Productions.

Ms. Goodwin is often called upon by the news media and late night TV hosts as well as companies, educational institutions and nonprofits to discuss leadership and provide historical context for current day, including discussion of the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic. While sheltered in place, her ReadyCam Home Studio allows for news interviews and virtual fireside chats and lectures.

Ms. Goodwin’s seventh book, “Leadership In Turbulent Times,” was an instant bestseller and published to critical acclaim in Fall 2018.

Focusing on Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson, the book provides an accessible and essential road map for aspiring and established leaders in every field, and for all of us in our everyday lives.

In 2020, Ms. Goodwin executive produced through her new independent production company, Pastimes Productions Inc., the miniseries WASHINGTON, which was broadcast to record audiences on HISTORY over Presidents’ Day weekend 2020. She is currently working on additional miniseries on Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt also for HISTORY.

Ms. Goodwin previously authored six critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling books, including the Carnegie Medal winner “The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism,” which is in part the basis for a new film being developed about Ida Tarbell, the famous muckraking journalist of the era.

Ms. Goodwin’s award-winning “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” was the inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s film “Lincoln,” which grossed $275 million at the box office and earned 12 Academy Award® nominations, including an Academy Award for actor Daniel Day-Lewis for his portrayal of the 16th president. “Team of Rivals” is often cited as an inspiration for business and political leaders, including President Barack Obama, and was awarded the prestigious Lincoln Prize, the inaugural Book Prize for American History, and Goodwin in 2016 was the first historian to receive the Lincoln Leadership Prize from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation.

Ms. Goodwin earned the Pulitzer Prize in History for “No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II.” Her “The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys,” was adapted into an award-winning television miniseries.

Ms. Goodwin’s career as a presidential historian and author was inspired when as a 24-year-old graduate student at Harvard she was selected to join the White House Fellows, one of America’s most prestigious programs for leadership and public service. At the White House celebration of the newly chosen Fellows, she found herself sharing the dance floor with President Johnson. He told her he wanted her to be assigned directly to him in the White House. But it was not to be that simple. For like many young people, she had been active in the anti-Vietnam War movement and had co-authored an article that called for the removal of LBJ, published in the New Republic several days after the White House dance. Despite this, LBJ said: “Bring her down here for a year and if I can’t win her over no one can.” She worked with Johnson in the White House and later assisted him in the writing of his memoirs.

Ms. Goodwin then wrote “Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream,” which became a national bestseller and achieved critical acclaim. It was re-released in Spring 2019, highlighting LBJ’s accomplishments in domestic affairs.

Ms. Goodwin has served as a consultant and has been interviewed extensively for PBS and HISTORY’s documentaries on Presidents Johnson, Roosevelt and Lincoln, the Kennedy family, and on Ken Burns’ “The History of Baseball” and “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.” She served as a consultant on HBO Films’ “All the Way” starring Bryan Cranston as President Johnson. She played herself as a teacher to Lisa Simpson on” The Simpsons” and a historian on “American Horror Story.”

Ms. Goodwin graduated magna cum laude from Colby College. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Government from Harvard University, where she taught Government, including a course on the American Presidency.

Ms. Goodwin was the first woman to enter the Boston Red Sox locker room, and is a devoted fan of the World Series-winning team. She lives in Boston.

Editor’s Note: The Appendix for “Conversations With and About Mike” contains transcripts for the recorded audio and video clips. To view the Audio Transcripts go to this page >

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