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Volume CXXXIII, Number 9 |
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Kearns Goodwin entertains, inspires Bowdoin audience
ALISON L. McCONNELL
ORIENT STAFF
It isn't every day that a former White House Fellow or Pulitzer Prize-winner
visits the Bowdoin campus. Students, faculty, and community members flocked
to the unique opportunity to hear historian Doris Kearns Goodwin speak
at last Friday's Common Hour.
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| Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin at Common Hour last Friday. (Colin LeCroy, Bowdoin Orient) |
Peppered with anecdotes that drew laughs from a packed Pickard
Theater, Goodwin's talk revolved around her research on several different
presidents and her love of baseball. She described her passion for history
as a "curiously intertwined" one that grew out of her father's
influence and mother's terminal illness.
Goodwin said that she had little choice in loving baseball
with her father in the house. With an early introduction to the sport,
she is an expert on the game. "It has allowed me to cycle back to
my childhood," she said.
After suffering a long-term illness, Goodwin's mother died
when she was 15 years old, leaving a legacy behind with her daughter.
"She would tell me stories...I figured that if I could keep her talking,
this premature aging process could be stopped in its tracks," Goodwin
said.
As a result, Goodwin said that she realized the importance
of a continued oral tradition within families. "Legacies can be passed
on if we pledge to retell their stories," she said.
She also learned an effective method of gathering information
as a result. When interviewing the children of famous people for research,
Goodwin said that asking them to relate stories of their own childhoods
revealed much about their parents.
Moving to the topic of her experience with historical research,
Goodwin spoke most about her interactions with Lyndon Johnson, under whom
she worked in the White House.
Calling him "the best storyteller I've ever encountered
in all my life," Goodwin told colorful anecdotes of Johnson's many
tall tales. She drew laughs from the audience when relating Johnson's
comment that "These journalists, they're such sticklers for detail!"
Goodwin provided insight into her own views of Johnson,
a man whom she said was "roundly defeated by the [Vietnam] war."
She inferred that its mission "had to be right" in his mind
to have cost 50,000 lives.
She mentioned that, later in his life, Johnson seemed to
understand his administration's mistakes in the handling of the war. She
said that his credibility was "devastatingly destroyed" by that
point-a destruction that led to his withdrawal from politics and exile
on the ranch, which she often visited.
Goodwin listed some of the important achievements that she
gathered from studying Johnson's presidency, citing the end of segregation
as a major turning point in United States history. It was an "incredibly
risky" move, she said, one that "forever changed the face of
our country."
Transitioning to the work that earned her the Pulitzer,
Goodwin spoke of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
She likened the circumstances of their administration to
America's current situation, saying that they were "relevant because
FDR led us through two of the greatest crises of this century-the Great
Depression and World War II."
The Roosevelts "were leaders in the [struggle] with
the strongest force against Western society ever," she said. "FDR
made people strong enough to withstand [the events], even when facing
seemingly insurmountable challenges."
The most important things that a leader can do, according to Goodwin,
are to "make people feel connected to the other people in the country...[and]
make them feel they can do something, a sense of participation."
She compared the Axis powers' blitz of London to the recent
attacks on New York City. Goodwin called the antagonists' aim to break
public spirit a failure, and made reference to the Londoners' resilience
in surviving an 18-month onslaught.
Eleanor Roosevelt's influence on her husband's presidency
was a large part of the history Goodwin investigated. "There is no
greater First Lady than Eleanor Roosevelt," she said. "Eleanor
became FDR's eyes and ears, bringing him information and stories about
people in the country."
According to Goodwin, the incorporation of women into the
workforce, a move that Eleanor championed, was "the most important
social trend of the 20th century."
The Roosevelt presidency was not without its dark moments,
Goodwin said. She called the internment of Japanese-Americans during World
War II "one of the greatest failures" of FDR's term. She acknowledged
that his advisors had called it a "military necessity" and pushed
for the action, but called FDR "absolutely responsible for...one
of the most incredible violations of civil liberties in our history."
However, Goodwin indicated that his judgment error contains
a positive connection to modern-day America. "History can really
help us remember our mistakes," she said. "I hope that the consciousness
and memory of [internment camps] is strong enough to remind our government
of what it cannot do."
When asked about the differences she perceives between today's
American presidency versus that of earlier times, Goodwin cited the level
of discussion regarding public figures as radically different. "The
old theory was that private lives were only relevant if they affected
the person's leadership," she said.
The Monica Lewinsky scandal, among others, has "...allowed the media
to focus on things that aren't important," she said. "If we
had lost FDR because of his affairs, it would have been devastating."
Another difference that Goodwin spoke of was the contemporary
presidency's lack of reach. "It's harder to get majority attention;
a wide audience...that's due to competing interests," she said. "This
war may change all that, and make the presidency a more revered institution."
Goodwin added that the terrorist attacks and subsequent
military response have affected Americans all over the country. "More
people are making decisions that they wouldn't have made before September
11," she said. "I believe that we have been provided with our
own rendezvous with destiny. It is the greatest opportunity for greater
deeds."
Goodwin has a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University,
and taught there for several years. She won the Pulitzer Prize for No
Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World
War II. She makes frequent appearances on national television.