Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin will speak at the Adlai E. Stevenson Memorial Lecture Series, co-hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University and Illinois State University on Monday, October 6.

Beginning at Illinois State University, Goodwin will present to a master class from 2-3 p.m. in the Circus Room of the Bone Student Center. This event is open to all students. At 7 p.m., Goodwin will speak at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Shirk Center basketball arena with a presentation titled, Leadership in Turbulent Times; Advice for Today from Our Best Presidents. The moderated program, which is free and open to the public, will be followed by audience Q&A. Registration is appreciated for planning purposes, but not required.

Goodwin’s career as a historian launched when she was selected as a White House Fellow at age 24, an opportunity that led her to work personally with President Lyndon Johnson both in the White House and later on his memoirs. Her first book, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, became a national bestseller and achieved critical acclaim.

Since then, Goodwin has authored numerous critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling books, including the Carnegie Medal winner The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism; and Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, in part the basis for Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-winning film Lincoln. No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II earned her the Pulitzer Prize, and one of her most recent works, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, became an instant bestseller and is being developed as a feature film. 

Goodwin is a graduate of Colby College and Harvard University, where she earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in government and later taught. She is also a partner at Pastimes Productions, an independent film and television production company. Goodwin has served as executive producer on docuseries for the History Channel and as a consultant and commentator for documentaries and films on PBS and HBO.

With her vast knowledge of American leadership and her ability to provide historical context for current-day events, Goodwin is often called upon by the news media, late-night TV hosts, and hundreds of companies, educational institutions, government agencies, and nonprofits to keep the country informed. 

The Adlai E. Stevenson Memorial Lecture Series is named after Bloomington native Adlai E. Stevenson II, former Illinois governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. This event brings innovative and enlightening speakers to Bloomington-Normal campuses to foster community and conversation around the appreciation of learning.