Presidential scholar and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin gave the keynote address at Bowdoin College’s 2012 Reunion Convocation, held Saturday in the Sidney J. Watson Arena. She shared stories about three historical figures — Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln — all of whom, she said, “triumphed over adversity,” one of the main capacities of a great leader.
Here’s a three-minute excerpt from Goodwin’s speech, which begins with an anecdote of when she and her husband spent the night in a White House bedroom where Winston Churchill once slept. That room is the scene of one of Goodwin’s favorite stories, which has Franklin Roosevelt bursting into the suite to tell Churchill about his new name for the United Nations.
Continue reading Video: Doris Kearns Goodwin Offers Insight into the Inner Lives of Public Figures
