Doris Kearns Goodwin Interview (page: 8 / 9) Pulitzer Prize for History	Print Interview

You were obviously been very close to the White House and Washington, being nearly selected to head the Peace Corps. President Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." Were you taking that to heart?

Doris Kearns Goodwin: There is nothing that I would like to instill in my own three sons more than that philosophy. It's difficult when we talk to them now.

My husband worked for President Kennedy, was involved actually in writing the Peace Corps speech, worked for Lyndon Johnson and did all the great voting rights speeches. So these kids know how much we believe in all this. It is hard to penetrate the modern feeling -- and I understand why they feel it -- that politics is about special interests, that it's corrupt, that it's not really after these large goals that it was when we were there. Issues that are debated -- the balanced budget -- are not quite the same dimension as civil rights or the Voting Rights Act. I keep thinking that history runs in cycles, and that some day these large issues will come before the country again. There will be leaders that inspire young people. I don't think it means that it's over forever, but I'm getting pretty impatient. I'm hoping it comes soon, so that my young people can know that experience that we knew in the '60s, and that the World War II generation knew during the '40s.
[ Video ] Low High    [ Audio ] Quicktime	[ Key to Success ] The American Dream

What does the American Dream mean to you?

Doris Kearns Goodwin: I think what the American Dream means to me is the fact that -- what founded this country -- when I think about those posters that were put up in Europe which said, "Come to America and you'll have golden sidewalks. The land will be yours." There was something so inspirational about the fact that these immigrants from all over the world felt that here was a place of freedom, a place of opportunity. There is still something about Ellis Island, whenever I see it, that makes me realize that the root, in some ways, of this country was that people felt that this was a new land, without a class society, without an aristocratic background, where if you worked hard you could become what you want to become. It's only partly true. I mean, obviously there's racism in this society. There's economic benefits that go to people who are wealthy. There are some people who don't really have a chance. But on the other hand, there's always somebody who makes it through -- even from the worst ghetto -- that makes it through to the top of the society, and that's not true in a lot of other countries. I think that's still what the American Dream means: that with perseverance, with hard work, you can become something, that the classes won't prevent you from becoming, that there's a movement up that ladder with hard work.
[ Video ] Low High    [ Audio ] Quicktime	[ Key to Success ] The American Dream

What one book would you select to read to a grandchild?

Doris Kearns Goodwin: I think if I were reading to a grandchild, I might read Tolstoy's War and Peace. I love literature and fiction. In fact, when I'm not reading for my own books, I tend to read fiction even more than non-fiction. But the kind of fiction that I love the most is ones that tell stories about characters in a time, so that you learn from it at the same time. I've read War and Peace several times, and it can take a whole summer. If I had a grandchild to read it to, I can see it taking a whole summer. They would learn about Russia, they would learn about history, they would learn about human nature. They would learn about, "Can the individual make a difference or is it great forces?" Tolstoy is always battling with those large issues. Mostly, a whole world would come alive for them through that book. So I think I'd have a great time with that.

What advice do you have for young people who are interested in writing and perhaps are suffering from that common ailment, a writer's block? How do you get going?

Doris Kearns Goodwin: I remember in high school, the reason I would be paralyzed from writing so often was that they'd give us the wrong kind of assignments to write. I remember once this horrible essay, having to write, "Experience is an arch under which we all walk." I had no idea what it meant and I still don't know what it means to this day.
[ Video ] Low High    [ Audio ] Quicktime

You'd sit there with abstract thoughts and try and write them on the paper. So the most important thing is, whatever the assignment is that you're given to write, go out and find some small detail that you can write about -- if you're describing a neighborhood, describing a house, describing a person or describing the reaction to a book -- so that you're bringing some material to the essay, or whatever it is that you write.

Do research. Even if you're writing the college essay in some ways, you can do a little bit of research to bring it to life. You can't just expect it all to come from your head. I think the mistaken idea that we have about writing is that somebody sits by a lake and they look at the clouds. There are poets who can do that, who generate their own thoughts with nothing other than what's in their head. Ninety-nine percent of the rest of the writing is from work you build up. When I do research, I have done -- 90 percent of my time is the research, the other ten percent is the writing. So I don't have to face a blank piece of paper. I can look at this as a quote that I have from somewhere. This is an interview that I'm going to take from that. So it's not as scary as having to have it come from your head. So I think the most important thing I would tell kids is, "Don't think of it as something that has to come from your head."
[ Video ] Low High    [ Audio ] Quicktime	[ Key to Success ] Preparation

Even if you're writing a book report, go read other people's essays about that book. It doesn't have to just come from you. Think about what the other person said, then have your own reaction to it. Don't try and start the first paragraph. It's always impossible to have your first sentence and first paragraph. Start in the middle of the thing and then go back and write your first paragraph, because otherwise, that can spend three days figuring out how to open the thing, because the opening paragraph has so much weight to it.

What are your memories of English class? Were you always very successful in that?

Doris Kearns Goodwin: Oh, not at all. When I was younger, I didn't understand detail and information. I kept thinking it had to be big thoughts. For example, if you're writing about Plato or Aristotle, and you're only 17 years old, how are you really going to understand what they're saying? If I were to do it over again now, I would just take a piece of what they were saying and understand that, and apply it something else that I knew about, instead of trying to be a miniature Plato, which you cannot be at that time. So I never felt really confident about writing until I wrote the Lyndon Johnson book.

Just doing that gave you the confidence?

Doris Kearns Goodwin: Doing that, which came from research. Just knowing that there were building blocks to writing, as there is to anything else. That confidence grew, and I thought the next book was better. Then the next one, hopefully, was better than that.

Doris Kearns Goodwin Interview, Page: 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9