Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times No. 1 best-selling author and presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin will deliver the opening keynote address, sponsored by The Kraft Heinz Co., at the 2020 National Grocers Association Show, to be held Feb. 23-26 at the San Diego Convention Center.
Goodwin has a long career of studying the American presidents, with a focus on Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson, and is known for her insights into what made these leaders great and how they overcame challenges that have shaped American history.
Her seventh book, Leadership in Turbulent Times, was published in September 2018, was a New York Times bestseller. Goodwin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. Additionally, Goodwin’s Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln was adapted by Steven Spielberg in Lincoln.
She is also well-known for her appearances and commentary on television and is frequently seen in documentaries including Ken Burns’ The History of Baseball and The Roosevelts: An Intimate History; and on news and cable networks, and shows including Meet The Press and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She played herself as a teacher on The Simpsons and a historian on American Horror Story.
Goodwin’s career was inspired when as a graduate student at Harvard, she was selected to join the White House Fellows. She worked in the White House and later assisted President Lyndon Johnson in writing his memoirs. She proceeded to write Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, which became a national bestseller.
“We are excited to welcome Doris Kearns Goodwin as the keynote speaker for our opening session at the 2020 NGA Show,” says Greg Ferrara, president and CEO of the National Grocers Association. “Given her extensive knowledge of American history and its leaders, I look forward to hearing her thoughts on today’s political environment and what we can anticipate as a country going forward by what we know from our past.”
The opening keynote session will take place Sunday, Feb. 23 at 5 p.m.
