Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin reveals 'what real leadership looks like' at Headliners luncheon

Author Doris Kearns Goodwin has thought about leadership for her whole career, she told a Headliners Luncheon audience Monday at the National Press Club.

In her newest book, “Leadership in Turbulent Times.” the acclaimed presidential historian decided to approach the topic by focusing “a lens on the guys I knew the best,” referring to her previous books on former Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.

“I wanted to shine a light on what real leadership looks like,” she said.

She cited Abraham Lincoln’s persistence in his first run for office when he told an audience that he would not be too disappointed if he did not become their representative because, she quoted him as saying, “If I lose, don’t worry. I’ll be back.”

Theodore Roosevelt made headlines and caused commotion in his first term of the New York legislature until he realized he wasn’t getting anything done, she said, adding that he had the resilience to acknowledge his errors and learn to compromise. She quoted him, “I rose like a rocket and I fell like a rocket.” Roosevelt developed empathy as he saw the conditions of his constituents, she said, and that made his leadership stronger.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt involved himself with his people on the campaign trail and said, ”This is me,” she quoted.

Kearns Goodwin said leaders are both born and made. She noted Lincoln’s natural ability with language, Franklin Roosevelt’s optimistic nature and Johnson’s energy. But leadership also requires hard work, she said.

She quoted Theodore Roosevelt’s essay that most success came from people with ordinary talent that they develop to an extraordinary degree through hard work.

But it is also important to be able to relax, she said. Lincoln used humor and trips to the theater.Theodore Roosevelt would take challenging hikes through Rock Creek Park that were a hardship to following reporters. Franklin Roosevelt held cocktail evenings during WWII during which mention of the war was forbidden.

Good relationships with the media were essential to making their achievements possible, she said. She pointed to the press coverage of conditions that made Theodore Roosevelt’s progressive measures feasible, the reporting that helped Franklin Roosevelt develop support in wartime and the reporting on civil rights that made Johnson’s civil rights legislation possible.

“The idea that the press is the enemy of the people is unconscionable,” she said.

In response to a question on the current president, she said he has empathy with his constituents and communicates with them, two of her traits of leadership. She said she had hoped that these would expand beyond his base.

She also noted the importance of using the technology of each period, social media currently, but the developments in newspapers in Theodore Roosevelt’s time and Franklin Roosevelt’s use of the radio so that people felt he was talking to them individually.

On writing, she emphasized telling a story and, as a historian, leaning on diaries and letters, which reveal emotions. People are reflective when they write letters and diaries, she said, adding that their absence will be a hindrance to future historians.