Presidential Leadership in Turbulent Times
Are leaders born or made? How does adversity affect the growth of leadership? Does the leader make the times or do the times make the leader? This and more will be discussed by Doris Kearns Goodwin, a world-renowned presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
Goodwin's latest book, Leadership in Turbulent Times, culminates five decades of studying American presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson. Through studying these presidents and notable historical leaders, Goodwin develops a road map for aspiring and established leaders in all fields and for everyone in their everyday lives.
Goodwin, 75, who lectured before a sold-out crowd at Global Summit VIII in 2016 at Mercyhurst University, is the author of six critically acclaimed and New York Times best-selling books, including her 2013 book, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. Winner of the Carnegie Medal, The Bully Pulpit is a dynamic history of the first decade of the Progressive era, that tumultuous time when the nation was coming unseamed and reform was in the air. Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios has acquired the film rights to that book and boasts previous work with Goodwin's material, having drawn from Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln for the Academy Award-winning Lincoln.
Her storied career has also involved working closely with President Johnson, being the first female journalist to enter the Boston Red Sox locker room, and she appears regularly on NBC's Meet the Press.
Goodwin, who earned a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University, was married to the late Richard Goodwin. She has two sons, Michael and Joseph.
Event sponsored by: 
Valet parking will be available at Gannon arches on West Seventh Street.
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a world-renowned presidential historian, public speaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times #1 best-selling author. Her eighth book, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, will be published on April 16, 2024. Artfully weaving together biography, memoir, and history, this new book takes readers on the emotional journey Doris and her husband, Richard (Dick) Goodwin embarked upon in the last years of his life as they delved into more than 300 boxes of letters, diaries, documents, and memorabilia that Dick had saved for more than fifty years. They soon realized they had before them an unparalleled personal time capsule of the 1960s, of the events and pivotal figures of the decade—John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, and especially Lyndon Johnson, who greatly impacted both their lives. The voyage of remembrance brought unexpected discoveries, forgiveness, and the renewal of old dreams, reviving the hope that the youth of today will carry forward this unfinished love story with America.
Goodwin’s previous books include the critically acclaimed and New York Times best-selling Leadership: In Turbulent Times, which incorporates her five decades of scholarship studying Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. Leadership inspired the History Channel’s miniseries events Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and FDR, which Goodwin executive produced through her production company, Pastimes Productions, Inc.
Goodwin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in history for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. Her Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln was awarded the Lincoln Prize and was in part the basis for Steven Spielberg’s highly acclaimed film “Lincoln.”
Well known for her appearances and commentary on television, Goodwin is seen frequently in documentaries and on television news, cable networks and late-night talk shows. She even portrayed herself on an episode of the enduringly successful television show “The Simpsons.”
Goodwin’s interest in presidential leadership was inspired by her experience as a 24-year-old White House Fellow, working directly for President Johnson in his last year in the White House, and later assisting him in the preparation of his memoirs. Her first book was the widely praised and enormously popular Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream.
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. Goodwin lives in Boston. She was the first woman to enter the Boston Red Sox locker room in 1979, and is a devoted fan of the World Series-winning team.
