Pulitzer Prize-Winning Historian Shares Fresh Insights on Abraham Lincoln’s Leadership for Today’s America

The United States is celebrating its semiquincentennial this summer. Across the nation, organizations and companies are marking this milestone with special programs and keynotes that highlight the architects who built this country. Perhaps no one did more to create this “more perfect union” than the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. Hildene, located in Manchester, Vermont, is a 412-acre historic estate featuring a 1905 Georgian Revival mansion built by Abraham Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln.

The estate has invited Doris Kearns Goodwin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian and #1 New York Times bestselling author of "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" (2005), as the featured speaker at The Legacy Gala on Wednesday, July 8, at the newly added Lincoln Hall, launching their civic discourse initiative. 

"Team of Rivals" (2005), adapted as the inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s film "Lincoln" (2012), starring Daniel Day-Lewis, remains the definitive modern study of the 16th president who built a cabinet from his political rivals and held it together through the gravest crisis in American history.

Hildene is set to expand its role as a national platform for civic engagement and learning.

"Doris Kearns Goodwin is the reason many of us understand Lincoln the way we do," said Nan Bambara, Director of Advancement at Hildene. "Having her here to launch this initiative tells members, partners, and the public exactly what we intend to build: a place where Lincoln's playbook for holding a country together gets opened, studied, and put back to work."

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Goodwin is a highly respected biographer and bestselling author, renowned for her insightful studies of several U.S. presidents. She earned a BA from Colby College and a PhD in government from Harvard, where she later taught. Her career launched as a White House Fellow in 1967, working directly for President Lyndon B. Johnson and assisting with his memoirs, which inspired her first book, “Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream” (1976). Goodwin won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for History for “No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II” (1995). Other major works include “The Bully Pulpit” (2013) and “Leadership in Turbulent Times” (2018).

"This is the moment Hildene was built for," said Craig Gemmell, President of Hildene. "Robert Todd Lincoln chose this Vermont hillside to build his ancestral home and steward his father's legacy. Launching our civic engagement initiative here, in conversation with the historian who taught a generation of Americans how Lincoln actually led, turns this house from a place we visit into a place where we do important work together."

Goodwin will join President Gemmell for an on-stage conversation, followed by a cocktail hour, dinner, a live auction, and music for participants.

A frequent TV commentator and public speaker, she brings historical perspective to leadership and democracy and provides context on the people who helped shape the country we live in today.

Ready to inspire your audience and invigorate their passion for American history? Book Doris Kearns Goodwin for your America250 celebrations this summer. Contact Speaker Booking Agency or fill out our Booking Request Form now to bring outstanding talent to your next event and share the enduring legacy of the American spirit with your audience year-round.