EMILY: THANK YOU.

AMNA: AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY.

A STORY OF THE LOVE OF TWO PEOPLE FOR ONE ANOTHER, AND FOR THEIR COUNTRY.

THE NEW BOOK IS BY AN AUTHOR WELL-KNOWN TO NEWSHOUR AUDIENCES, DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN.

SHE SPOKE RECENTLY TO JEFFREY BROWN FOR OUR ARTS AND CULTURE SERIES, "CANVAS."

>> IN THE PAST, REGION, IDEOLOGY - - JEFFREY: DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN AND COMMENTATOR EXTRAORDINAIRE -- FOR YEARS BRINGING THE PAST INTO THE PRESENT ON THE NEWSHOUR AND OTHER PROGRAMS.

A DELIGHTFUL AND DELIGHTED PRESENCE LATE NIGHT.

AND THAT MARK OF TRUE CELEBRITY, ON "THE SIMPSONS."

MOST OF ALL, PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF BESTSELLING BIOGRAPHIES OF LYNDON JOHNSON, TEDDY AND FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENTS SHE'S THOUGHT OF AS MY GUYS, ALIVE RESEARCH AND WRITING.

DORIS: MY KIDS REMEMBER WHEN I WAS IN THE ROOM ONCE, THEY HEARD ME TALKING TO FRANKLIN AND ELEANOR AND WANTING THEM TO GET CLOSER TO EACH OTHER.

THEY WONDERED, WHAT IS GOING ON IN THAT ROOM?

BUT I COULDN'T GET ANY ANSWERS FROM THOSE GUYS.

BUT NOW THIS WAS MY GUY.

JEFFREY: THIS WAS YOUR GUY.

DORIS: THIS WAS MY GUY, 42 YEARS.

JEFFREY: HER LATEST SUBJECT, HER REAL GUY, RICHARD GOODWIN, WHO AS A YOUNG MAN WAS NEAR THE CENTER OF POLITICAL TRIUMPHS AND TRAGEDIES IN THE 1960'S.

A SPEECHWRITER AND ADVISOR TO JOHN F KENNEDY, WITH HIS PROMISE OF A "NEW FRONTIER", AND A CALL ON YOUNG PEOPLE TO HELP CHANGE THE WORLD.

TO LYNDON JOHNSON, HELPING NAME AND SHAPE THE GREAT SOCIETY SOCIAL PROGRAMS TO FIGHT POVERTY AND DISCRIMINATION.

AND TO ROBERT F. KENNEDY, BEFORE HE WAS GUNNED DOWN WHILE CAMPAIGNING FOR THE PRESIDENCY IN 1968.

WHEN DICK GOODWIN TURNED 80, HE DECIDED IT WAS FINALLY TIME TO LOOK AT THE HUNDREDS OF BOXES OF DOCUMENTS AND MEMORABILIA HE'D SAVED FROM THAT TIME, AND WRITE OF THOSE YEARS.

AND HE AND DORIS TOOK ON THEIR FINAL PROJECT TOGETHER.

PART WAY IN, IN 2018, GOODWIN DIED AFTER A BRIEF BOUT WITH CANCER.

DORIS: I WAS HELPING HIM IN THOSE FIRST YEARS TO WRITE A BOOK IN HIS VOICE.

AND THEN WHEN HE DIED, I HAD TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO.

AND WE HAD GONE THROUGH MANY OF THE BOXES, BUT THERE WAS MUCH MORE LEFT TO BE DONE.

AND I REALIZED FINALLY, WHEN I CAME TO THE DECISION THAT I NEEDED TO KEEP THE PROMISE I MADE TO HIM THAT I'D FINISH IT, IT HAD TO BE IN MY VOICE, NOT HIS.

AND I HAD TO BE AN HISTORIAN AS WELL AS A BIOGRAPHER OF HIM.

AND IT HAD TO BE ABOUT THE 1960S AS WELL AS OUR PERSONAL LIFE.

JEFFREY: THE RESULT, "AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY," PART HISTORY OF A POLITICAL ERA, PART STORY OF A LONG AND LOVING MARRIAGE.

A KEY FIGURE THEY SHARED, THOUGH A KEY FIGURE THEY SHARED, THOUGH NOT AT THE SAME TIME ,LYNDON JOHNSON.

DICK GOODWIN HAD COME TO BELIEVE THAT LBJ'S CONTINUATION OF THE VIETNAM WAR DERAILED MUCH OF THE GOOD ACHIEVED IN DOMESTIC PROGRAMS AND CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRESS.

HE LEFT THE WHITE HOUSE IN 1965 AND WENT ON TO WORK WITH JOHNSON'S POLITICAL NEMESIS, ROBERT KENNEDY.

FOR HER PART, DORIS WORKED DIRECTLY WITH LBJ IN HIS FINAL PERIOD IN OFFICE, AND LATER ASSISTED HIM WITH HIS MEMOIRS.

HUSBAND AND WIFE HAD ARGUED FOR DECADES ABOUT THIS GIANT IN AMERICAN HISTORY AND THEIR OWN LIVES.

GOING THROUGH THE BOXES LED TO A KIND OF UNEXPECTED AND, AGAIN, DEEPLY PERSONAL RESOLUTION.

DORIS: AFTER WE WERE GOING THROUGH THE SELMA PART OF IT, HE WENT UPSTAIRS AND HE SAID, 'OH MY GOD, I'M FEELING AFFECTION FOR THE OLD GUY AGAIN."

AND IT REALLY HEALED HIM IN THOSE LAST YEARS OF HIS LIFE.

THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT GOING THROUGH THESE BOXES THAT, FOR ME, I FELT AS LONG AS WE HAD MORE BOXES TO GO THROUGH, THAT HE'D KEEP ON LIVING AND WE'D HAVE OUR STORY TOGETHER.

THERE WERE STILL HUNDREDS OF BOXES LEFT THAT HAD TO DO WITH THE REST OF HIS LIFE.

AND I REMEMBER HE ONE TIME SAID, WHO DO YOU THINK WILL WIN, THE BOXES WERE MADE.

- - THE BOXES OR ME?

ESPECIALLY AS HE GOT CANCER IN THAT LAST YEAR.

BUT IT GAVE HIM A SENSE OF PURPOSE, A JOY OF WAKING UP IN THE MORNINGS.

AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, HE BEGAN TO REMEMBER THAT WHAT HE HAD ONE, WHAT LBJ HAD DONE, WHAT THE GREAT SOCIETY HAD DONE, WAS PERMANENT, SO THAT THERE HAD BEEN ACHIEVEMENTS THAT HE COULD BE PROUD OF.

AND HE DIDN'T HAVE TO FEEL THAT SADNESS ABOUT WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.

WHAT WAS WAS PRETTY AMAZING.

JEFFREY: ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN IN A LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIP, THERE IS A POINT WHERE YOU MIGHT WONDER, HOW WELL DO I ACTUALLY KNOW THAT PERSON?

NOW YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO KIND OF GO BACK AND EXCAVATE AS A HISTORIAN.

WERE YOU SURPRISED?

DORIS: I THINK WHAT I REALLY ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW WAS, WHAT WAS HE LIKE WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG MAN.

BECAUSE I, I WAS 12 YEARS YOUNGER THAN HIM, SO I DIDN'T KNOW HIM.

WHAT I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH YOU?

HE WOULD SAY TO ME, I DON'T KNOW.

HE WOULDN'T TALK THAT MUCH ABOUT IT.

BUT WHEN I GOT THESE LETTERS AND DIARIES AND JOURNALS, THEN I WAS ABLE TO UNDERSTAND IT AND, JUST AS YOU SAY, EXCAVATE WHO HE WAS.

AND I REALLY DID LIKE THE MAN THAT I FOUND.

I WOULD HAVE BEEN SMITTEN WITH HIM WAY BACK THEN.

JEFFREY: DORIS CONTINUES TO WEIGH IN ON AMERICAN POLITICS, THEN AND NOW.

WHEN SHE REFERS TO AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY, SHE ALSO MEANS THE ONE SHE AND HER HUSBAND HAD FOR THEIR COUNTRY.

HOW WORRIED ARE YOU NOW AND HOW WORRIED WAS DICK AND WOULD HE BE NOW?

DORIS: YOU KNOW, THE INTERESTING THING IS, ONE OF THE THINGS HE WROTE SHORTLY AFTER WE STARTED GOING THROUGH THE BOXES, HE WENT OVER TO HIS STUDY AND HE CAME BACK WITH A LITTLE THING HE WROTE IN WHICH HE WAS TALKING ABOUT AMERICAN HISTORY, AND HE TALKED ABOUT THE FACT THAT EVERY CHANGE THAT HAS COME IN AMERICA HAS COME FROM THE GROUND UP.

AND SOMEHOW THOSE CHANGES MADE OUR COUNTRY BETTER.

AND HE ENDED UP SAYING AMERICA IS NOT AS FRAGILE AS IT SEEMS.

AND I THINK THAT WAS HIS OVERWHELMING FEELING.

AND I BELIEVE IT'S MINE TOO.

JEFFREY: THAT'S MORE HOPEFUL THAN A LOT OF PEOPLE FEEL RIGHT NOW.

WE ARE STRONGER THAN WE THINK.

DORIS: YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE THINGS ABOUT HISTORY IS THAT IT GIVES YOU A SENSE OF PERSPECTIVE AND SOLACE AND REALLY, LESSONS.

ALL THE PEOPLE I'VE STUDIED LIVED THROUGH REALLY HARD TIMES.

THEY HAD THE SAME ANXIETY WE HAVE.

BUT SOMEHOW I TAKE SOLACE FROM THINKING THOSE WERE REALLY, REALLY TOUGH TIMES, MAYBE EVEN TOUGHER THAN THE TIME WE'RE LIVING THROUGH NOW.

I THINK WHEN PUT TO THE TEST, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL COME THROUGH.

JEFFREY: "I TRIED TO OUTRUN GRIEF IN THE MONTHS AFTER DICK'S DEATH," DORIS WRITES IN AN EPILOGUE.

ONE SOLACE, DONATING THEIR VAST COLLECTION OF BOOKS TO THE LOCAL LIBRARY IN CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS, WHICH CREATED THE "GOODWIN FORUM" AS A COMMUNITY SPACE FOR READING AND PUBLIC LECTURES AND TALKS.

BUT THE FIRST COUPLE OF YEARS, SHE SAYS, WERE REALLY HARD.

DORIS: AFTER A WHILE, I REALIZED THAT BY DOING THE BOOK, I KEPT HIS MEMORY ALIVE RATHER THAN TALKING ONLY ABOUT THE GRIEF.

I HEARD HIS VOICE.

HE WAS BACK, HE WAS BACK WITH ME.

IF I HAVE ANY KIND OF HOPE FOR THE BOOK ITSELF, IT'S THAT, DON'T WAIT UNTIL THE PERSON DIES BEFORE YOU GO THROUGH THEIR MEMORABILIA.

TALK TO YOUR PARENTS OR GRANDPARENTS ABOUT THEIR MEMORIES AND WHATEVER THEIR MEMORABILIA THEY HAVE, BECAUSE THAT'S THE WAY PEOPLE LIVE ON THROUGH THE STORIES THAT SOMEBODY TELLS TO THE NEXT GENERATION.

AND THOSE STORIES KEEP THAT PERSON ALIVE.

SO I'D LIKE TO BELIEVE THAT I'VE KEPT DICK ALIVE.

HE'S CERTAINLY KEPT ALIVE FOR ME, AND MAYBE FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE NOW WHO WILL READ THIS, THEY'LL KNOW WHAT A GREAT CHARACTER HE WAS.

JEFFREY: THE BOOK IS "AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY."

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, NICE TO TALK TO YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH.

DORIS: THANK YOU SO MUCH.

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