Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln had a lot in common. Unlike Theodore Roosevelt, his friend William Taft never understood how to work with the media. And Lyndon Johnson was a great storyteller, although half of the
stories he told were not true.
These bits of information and more highlighted the campus visit of Doris Kearns Goodwin in October 2013. Missouri
Western students, employees, community members and more than 750 area high school students enjoyed her storytelling at the University’s 20th annual R. Dan Boulware Convocation on Critical Issues. As part of her visit, she met with a small group of students at a breakfast, spoke to a crowd of over 2,000 in the M.O. Looney arena, and engaged 400 lunch-goers in a
question-and-answer session.
“She was really remarkable both on and off stage,” said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president.
Perhaps one of the most renowned presidential scholars, Dr. Kearns Goodwin has written books about six
presidents. The 2012 movie, “Lincoln,” was based on her book “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” and her book “The Fitzgeralds and Kennedys” was made into an ABC mini-series.
Dr. Kearns Goodwin told students at the breakfast about her research and writing processes and talked about her
love of history that dates back to telling her father play-by-play accounts of Brooklyn Dodgers games as a 6 year old.
At the lunch, she explained how each of her books on presidents came about, including the one about Roosevelt and
Taft that was released shortly after she visited Missouri Western.
Dr. Kearns Goodwin said she enjoyed writing about Taft because most people don’t know a lot about him. That was the
opposite of Lincoln, she said, who has had more than 14,000 books written about him.
“You learn so much when you write a book,”she said. “I felt like I went back to college every time I wrote a book.”