That is the book historianDoris Kearns Goodwinwrote that debuted at No.
Kearns Goodwin and her Pastimes Productions partner Beth Laski will produce with Broccoli, Hanks and Goetzman.
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CAA repped the book and Kearns Goodwin, and WME reps Pastimes.
‘An Unfinished Love Story’; Richard Goodwin and Doris Kearns Goodwin at their Concord homeCourtesy of Annie Leibovitz
He was tasked with heading a congressional investigation into suspicions that wildly popular TV game shows like21were fixed.
He wrote speeches that framed an era of idealism that was somewhat extinguished with JFKs assassination.
Goodwin resigned his White House post because he disagreed with the escalating Vietnam War.
President Johnson and Doris Kearns in the Oval OfficeYoichi Okamoto / Colorization by Bryan Eaton / courtesy of LBJ Library
He later became an architect of the presidential campaign of JFKs brother Robert Kennedy.
LBJ vowed to win her over and she wound up helping the president write his memoirs.
She met Goodwin while at Harvard, they fell in love and married in 1975.
And all encompassed in 300 boxes.
DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN: He was like Zelig.
Everywhere you want him to be in the 1960s, he just happens to pop up there.
DEADLINE:He was lucky to have a wife who is a historian.
Where did you keep all those boxes?
KEARNS GOODWIN: Oh my God.
It was such a pain in the neck, to be honest.
And finally then, as you know from the beginning of the book… Hes singing as he comes down the stairs.
He always came down the stairs with some sort of something going on.
I would have three hours of solitude until he came floating down each morning.
I was so happy when he finally decided to do this.
KEARNS GOODWIN: Certainly, there were moments.
Im actually holding it.
I would often talk to them, but they would never answer me.
Your great partners in telling him to be kind to her.
And they say, whats going on in there?
But now I have this guy in front of me.
I can talk to him, I can ask him questions, I can show him stuff.
It was so different from all the experiences I had before.
He could also argue with me in a way that the other guys couldnt.
DEADLINE:He held JFK in as high esteem as you did LBJ.
He would counter in return.
And the debate with Nixon.
And I began to feel even more [of JFKs] inspirational capacity.
DEADLINE:It lifted his sadness?
KEARNS GOODWIN: It changed.
There was a sadness that was in him, really throughout his life with me.
So that he felt a sense that what happened in the country had endured.
And we started talking when I was a young professor at Harvard.
I knew that then.
And he would say, how would I know?
I was too busy being me to think about what I was like.
And thats when I came down one morning and just said to him, Im totally smitten with you.
Yes, I wouldve fallen in love with you when you were in your twenties.
And then he said, and it made me sad, Im so glad you like him so much.
I rather envy him.
I couldnt understand that.
Id say, but it is you.
And he said, no, its not.
And its not just because Im much older now, but Ive lost something along the way.
And he handled it with such grace.
We somehow believed that he would live as long as the boxes were still there to open.
Everybody who knew him knew that something happened.
Beth knew him during this time.
Instead of getting rid of you, he says, Im going to change your mind.
He does, and later you launch your literary career writing his memoirs with him.
But at the time, it was pretty difficult.
I had worked on this article before I got the White House Fellowship.
And then he dances with me.
[LBJ] says he wants me to work directly for him.
And there were a couple of days there where it wasnt clear what would happen.
But I only found that out afterwards when I was working on this project.
And luckily Id forgotten all of that stuff.
So it really was extraordinary on his part.
I mean, I would not have been a presidential historian if it hadnt been for that.
My field was Supreme Court history when I was at Harvard.
But then that first book led to my wanting to study other presidents.
And I like to think that I would never change it for anything.
Its just been so wonderful to catapult yourself back to different times.
And the latest being the 1960s.
Those are my times.
So the last one of those times was the 1960s.
But he turned out to become the most interesting political figure I think Ive ever met.
So thats part of this story too.
So it is interwoven in this whole book and hopefully in the movie.
Still feel that way, with where America is headed?
Doris, are we going to be okay?
Are we going to be okay?
And they hug her, they cry.
I mean, its been really dramatic.
DEADLINE: What do you tell them?
KEARNS GOODWIN: It is hard.
It would be foolish to deny that this is a very difficult time that sometimes feels unprecedented.
But this is where history can come in.
Just think of what it was like when Lincoln came in.
Seven states seceded from the Union over a war that was going to kill 600,000.
And yet it ends with the union restored and emancipation secured.
At the turn of the 20th century, there were anarchist bombings in the streets.
There was an industrial revolution thats shaking up the economy, not unlike the globalization and the tech revolution.
There was a big gap in the rich and the poor.
It was a very tumultuous time.
And yet Teddy Roosevelt was able in the progressive movement to do rational reforms about the exploitation of workers.
If not, youll be the worst.
He said, No, Ill be the last.
Just like we dont know.
They lived with the same anxiety we feel, and somehow we came through that.
So weve got to take some strength.
We have to believe, because weve got to act to make it better.
DEADLINE: Your book on Lincoln explored his insistence on stocking his cabinet with political adversaries.
You wonder if those people have been removed in favor of sycophants.
Look at Trumps lawsuit with CBSs 60 Minutes over the use of different Kamala Harris soundbites.
From a historical perspective, how alarming is this?
KEARNS GOODWIN: What history shows us is the press is critical during every one of these times.
They were the muckrakers [exposing] business and its relationship with government.
That was during Teddy Roosevelts time.
The problems come when you consider the press a problem.
I think the free press is essential.
And so is having people around you who can argue with you and question your assumptions.
Weve got to look to ourselves right now, look to the citizens.
Maybe theyre going to be the only guardrails, the most important guardrails left.
And thats the argument when Lincoln was called a liberator.
He said, dont call me that.
It was the anti-slavery movement and the Union soldiers that did it.
The progressive movement was there before Teddy Roosevelt.
The Union movement was there in the 30s.
It was that first time I ever felt something larger than myself that I was belonging to.
And it changed me.
And Id like to believe that thats the importance of looking at the sixties again.
And if we dont feel that now somehow…I dont see how its all going to happen yet.
KEARNS GOODWIN: It was really hard and it took a couple years.
It was just too sad for me to go through the rooms with his not being there.
I was so sad.
She was so much a part of the house.
I felt the same thing.
I worried, will I forget him if Im not here?
Will it be too sad to stay?
What am I going to do with all these books?
DEADLINE: What did you do?
High school kids go there in the afternoons.
There are lectures, and events there almost every other night.
That gave me a sense of, hes still here.
And then I moved into the city and then it was Covid.
Im a pretty optimistic person and have been a pretty resilient person, but that was really hard.
DEADLINE: That sounds terrible…
KEARNS GOODWIN: And finally I decided that maybe it was time.
But it was slow.
I just sat down there and just decided, well, let me try it.
So I think it really has, I think its helped.
I also think he would be thrilled.
DEADLINE: And now a movie keeps him, and your love story alive.
What are your final memories of him?
KEARNS GOODWIN: I think part of it was just the power of his words.
I mean, words really matter, and thats something for us to remember now.
DEADLINE: Speaking out against apartheid…
KEARNS GOODWIN: Those words are on Bobbys grave.
DEADLINE: His last words to you?
KEARNS GOODWIN: He took my hand and put it on his chest.
And then that was it.
