Opening Keynote: Lessons in Resilience

Sponsored by:     

 
 

Doris Kearns Goodwin

World-Renowned Presidential Historian and Pulitzer Prize-Winning, New York Times #1 Best-Selling Author

Thursday, October 7
11:15 am
Boston Convention and Exhibition Center

Doris Kearns Goodwin is a world-renowned presidential historian, public speaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. She is the author of seven critically acclaimed New York Times best-selling books, including her most recent, Leadership in Turbulent Times, which incorporates her five decades of scholarship studying 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 this special keynote presentation, Goodwin will reflect on more than 150 years of U.S. history to put into context today's turbulent times and share her deep understanding of the ambition, resolution and resilience of some of our nation's most revered presidents. She'll explain how past setbacks and triumphs shed light on the cultural, economic and political transformations that define today's challenging times, with a goal of educating and entertaining. Goodwin brings to life some of our most successful presidents to provide insight for today's leaders, and to demonstrate that however fractured modern political culture has become, our democracy is also resilient and has survived—even thrived—through more troubling times in the past.

Goodwin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in history for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II.  Her book, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys was adapted into an award-winning five-part televison mini-series. Her memoir Wait Till Next Year is the heartwarming story of growing up loving her family and baseball. Her sixth book, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism, won the Carnegie Medal and is being developed into a film. Goodwin's Team of Rivals: The Politcal Genius of Abraham Lincoln served as the basis for Steven Spielberg's hit film Lincoln and was awarded the prestigious Lincoln Prize, the inaugural Book Prize for American History, and the Lincoln Leadership Prize.

Well known for her appearances and commentary on television, Goodwin is seen frequently in documentaries and on television news, cable networks and talk shows. It was Goodwin's 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, that fueled her interest in becoming a presidential historian and author. 

Goodwin graduated magna cum laude from Colby College. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Harvard University, where she taught Government, including a course on the American Presidency. In 1979, she was the first woman ever to enter the Boston Red Sox locker room, and she continues to be a devoted fan of the team.