An Unfinished Love Story

Another masterpiece from Doris Kearns Goodwin

I was thirteen years old the year, 1960, that John F. Kennedy ran against Richard Nixon for President of the United States. My family lived on the Main Line west of Philadelphia which was republican country. At that point in my life, I had no interest in politics. One of the main reasons being that I had to compete with the goings on in the world for attention from both my parents. I wanted to be seen and to be heard and hated the competition.

In the summer and fall of 1960, a lot of that changed. JFK was stirring up passionate feelings in his supporters who were doubling and tripling with each of his planned campaign stops. When he came to Philadelphia, I don’t remember where, my father took me with him to stand in the glow of this 43 year old man who had captured the attention of a nation with his movie star good looks and his fresh opinions. This may be a faulty memory, but I remember being in a large parking lot. He was standing higher than us, his adoring fans-probably in a car or makeshift stand of some sort. My father and I made it to the front of the crowd and JFK shook my hand. I don’t remember anything else.

I have another memory of bicycling from Haverford, where we lived, to Ardmore the next town over. We, my friends and I, usually went there to buy 45s (If you remember those, you are as ancient as I am!). Across the street, an enterprising person was selling Democrat buttons and trinkets. With my own money, I bought a gold donkey. Of course, it was rubbish stuff but it was my rubbish stuff! I pinned it on whatever blouse I was wearing and sensed my parents would approve.

I have thought a lot of that time during the past week as I’ve been reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s latest book: An Unfinished Love Story: A personal history of the 1960s (2024). Goodwin was married to Dick Goodwin for forty-two years and “married to American History” even longer. Doris worked under President Johnson, helped him with writing his memoirs, and wrote a biography of him after he died. Dick Goodwin was a speech writer for JFK and Johnson and then became very close friends with Robert Kennedy as he contemplated and then decided to run for President.

DKG is such an engaging writer that I felt yanked back to the 60s but witnessing it as an adult as well as through the eyes of the two Goodwins. Anyone who lived through the 60s knows what an amazing decade it was. One of such hope and possibility then tragedy after tragedy. I have tended to look back on that decade as one that failed us. That my generation somehow screwed up. By the end of reading An Unfinished Love Story, I was willing and happy to view it from DKG’s eyes—much more positively.

This book came to exist because Dick collected every piece of paper that he ever held. He carted around 300 boxes of his letters, journals, speeches, and memorabilia but would never open them. On his 80th birthday, he told Doris that he was ready to see what was there. It took them two and a half years to get through all the boxes. By then, Dick was ill and eventually died. It took her several years of grief and moving her home, to take up their project again. She felt she had to write the book as she watched what was going on in the country.

The two met in 1973 after most of the events in the book had taken place. She takes us through the boxes, through those years before they met, and tells us how they discussed each event, their reminiscences. I listened to the audio version of the book and was treated to a number of speeches made by JFK, RFK, and Johnson. What a jolt hearing those voices again.

What makes this book so interesting for me, aside from the fact that it is so well-written and engaging, is that it fills in details that I didn’t know about because I wasn’t especially political. I began to appreciate why Goodwin is so interested in leadership (She has also written a book entitled Leadership). She lays out the qualities of these men that were trying to guide our country to live as a democracy. The decisions they made and how they made them. It is such a contrast to much of what is going on today. The two of them would often argue the traits of JFK and Johnson.

When I finished the book, I wondered about President Biden. How would they describe his leadership qualities? I am now a person who reads a lot about politics in the US. There is a different perspective watching and listening when living in France. We don’t get the 24 hour loop on TV that people in the States get - if they watch TV. Most of my information comes from reading and I am choosy about what publications I read. I have wondered out loud why Biden’s ratings are so low when he has done so much for the citizens of the United States—all citizens. In fact, I believe he is on record as getting passed more laws that help the ordinary man and woman of the US than any president since FDR. I’ve watched his State of the Union speeches and chuckled out loud as he cleverly led MAGA Republicans into traps that were hard to get out of. Famous for his gaffs, I’ve noticed very few in his years as President. He works hard at being a leader for everyone.

In general, leadership qualities are not valued in the US anymore. The media rarely reports an event where Biden has spoken with skill and compassion (I was amazed at how often Bobby Kennedy used that word in all his speeches while running for President) when referencing us as a population or an event that needed interpretation by the President. The media believes that the US population is far more interested in all the hate speeches, all the threats of violence, and the fascist ramblings of the other candidate.

These are my thoughts only. I ponder while I walk around Paris and the Parc de Bagatelle. To me, Biden has grown into a leader. He is a leader in a world that no longer wants his kind of leadership. More and more, the world seems to want Fascist leadership, authoritarian leadership. A Big Brother who tells us what to do and will punish severely if we trespass. So is Biden a leader? Has he taken the temperature of the whole country and finessed how to lead us through this ‘valley of the shadow of death’? I don’t know. I don’t read the polls, which are usually wrong, anymore. I have no way of predicting since so many Americans have very short-term memories and vote passionately.

I would be very interested if you, my readers, would put your thoughts in the comments below. And then go get yourself a copy of An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin. You’ll thank me.

A bientôt,

Sara