If Doris Kearns Goodwin is to be believed, the world should little note nor long remember anything about the battle of Gettysburg — and instead focus all its attention on the life of Doris Kearns Goodwin.
The celebrity historian and serial plagiarist delivered the keynote address at this week’s opening ceremonies commemorating the 150th anniversary of the battle that turned the tide of the Civil War.
But instead of speaking about Abraham Lincoln or Gens. George Meade and Robert E. Lee — to say nothing of the thousands of soldiers who gave what Lincoln would later hail as “the last full measure of devotion” — Goodwin’s speech centered on, well, Goodwin.
And gay rights. And the feminist movement. And JFK, LBJ, Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton.
Most of all, Goodwin talked about how wonderful her life has been, about all the presidents she’s been able to write about and about wandering the halls of the White House residence in the wee hours with Bill and Hillary Clinton trying to figure out which famous guest slept in which room.
All but relegated back to the history books were Pickett’s Charge, Cemetery Ridge and how what this paper at the time called “those three glorious days” ended the South’s hopes for victory. Which strikes us as at least as pertinent as Goodwin’s recollection of dancing with Lyndon Johnson.
Goodwin, of course, was exposed a few years back as having plagiarized from several other writers, in one case paying a substantial settlement to an author to keep her quiet.
Given the abundance of profound books and articles inspired by the events of July 1-3, 1863, surely Goodwin’s audience at Gettysburg would have been much better served had she just read material lifted from one of those works.