On Wednesday, September 12, 2012, Ray Feyre, Chair of the JFK Selection Committee announced that the Committee has chosen Doris Kearns Goodwin to lead-off its 62nd St. Patrick’s Parade.
When notified of her selection, Goodwin said, “For a presidential historian, the JFK National Award holds special meaning, but as the daughter of Michael Francis Aloysius Kearns, it is downright thrilling.”
2013 Parade Committee President, Richard Dupuis said “I’m proud of the JFK Selection Committee for choosing an outstanding recipient who perfectly represents everything and more that this award embodies. Ms. Kearns Goodwin will be greeted warmly and enthusiastically on March 17 when she marches down the streets of Holyoke.”
The John F. Kennedy Award is presented annually to an American of Irish descent who has distinguished themselves in their chosen field or profession.
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Presidential historian and political analyst, graduated with a B.A. degree from Colby College, magna cum laude and member of Phi Beta Kappa. She was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at the White House and holds a Ph.D. degree in Government from Harvard University where she also taught, including an American Presidency course.
Doris worked as an assistant to President Lyndon Johnson in the White House and later assisted Johnson in the preparation of his memoirs. She has published numerous books and articles, several of which were bestsellers and made the Book-of-the-month-Club. These include the following writings:
o Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, 1976. Book-of-the-Month-Club. New York Times bestseller. Reviewer for the New York Times called this book “the most penetrating political biography” he had ever read.
o The Fitzgeralds and The Kennedys, 1987. Literary Guild. New York Times bestseller for five months. Winner of various awards. Made into six-hour miniseries aired on ABC in 1990. “Rarely has popular history rung so authentic.” the New York Times reviewer wrote.
o No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II.
Awarded Pulitzer Prize for History in April, 1995. Also was awarded the Harold Washington Literary Award, the New England Bookseller Association Award, the Ambassador Book Award and The Washington Monthly Book Award, New York Times bestseller for six months.
o Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir, 1997. Growing up in the 1950s in love with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Book-of- the-Month-Club. New York Times bestseller. “This is a book in the grand tradition of girlhood memoires, dating from Louisa May Alcott to Carmen McCullers and Harper Lee.” The Washington Post reviewer wrote. It has been optioned for a musical.
o Team of Rituals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Winner of the prestigious Lincoln Prize and the Inaugural Book Prize for American History, 2006. National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist. New York Times bestseller. “A brilliantly conceived and well-written tour de force of a historical narrative,” wrote the reviewer for the Boston Globe. Steven Spielberg acquired the rights to the book and has developed the feature film, Lincoln, based on it, with Daniel Day-Lewis to star as Lincoln. Release date was November 2012.
Doris has also published numerous articles on politics for leading national publications. She is the winner of the Charles Frankel Prize given by the National Endowment for the Humanities. As a political analyst she has appeared frequently on television, interviewed by Charlie Rose Show, Meet the Press, Oprah Winfrey, Jay Leno’s Tonight Show and she is a consultant and interviewed extensively for PBS and the History Channel documentaries.
Doris is married to Richard N. Goodwin, writer, presidential advisor, speechwriter and playright, who worked in the White House under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. The Goodwins live outside Boston, MA, and have three sons: Richard, Michael, and Joseph.
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Presidential historian and political analyst, graduated with a B.A. degree from Colby College, magna cum laude and member of Phi Beta Kappa. She was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at the White House and holds a Ph.D. degree in Government from Harvard University where she also taught, including an American Presidency course.
Doris worked as an assistant to President Lyndon Johnson in the White House and later assisted Johnson in the preparation of his memoirs. She has published numerous books and articles, several of which were bestsellers
