Doris Kearns knew she had met someone special when Richard “Dick” Goodwin introduced himself in 1972. Dick was a Boston native who distinguished himself as a speechwriter in both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations in the 1960s. Doris had served as a staffer to Lyndon Johnson in his final year as president. A friendship was started and within a few years led to their marriage. As the years elapsed, Doris became a noted writer of historical biographies, covering Johnson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Dick would go on to write several acclaimed books while keeping his toe in the political pool when needed.

Nearly 40 years after their first meeting, Dick had a brainstorm. During his lengthy tenure in politics and government, he had accumulated hundreds of boxes of memorabilia. At 80 years old, he wanted to excavate the past and explore it with his wife in a collaborative effort that would yield a definitive memoir. Many of Doris’ previous books relied on archives to unearth the past, whereas Dick offered her a witness to many of the key events.

"Doris Kearns Goodwin has written a book that is both touching and gratifying, made all the more poignant by Dick’s death in 2018. It’s a living history that won’t be forgotten any time soon."

Dick wasn’t a political novice when approached to work for Senator John F. Kennedy’s campaign in 1959. Previously, he had clerked for Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter and worked for a congressional investigative committee. He worked with fellow Kennedy speechwriter Ted Sorensen in penning speeches for Kennedy that would win over the electorate in 1960. As the Kennedy administration progressed, Dick worked on JFK’s Alliance for Progress along with various policies toward Latin America.

Dick’s gift for creating impactful speeches led to Johnson calling for his skills upon assuming the presidency after Kennedy’s assassination. Johnson planned to move forward with the passage of civil rights legislation that would put an end to discrimination against African Americans. As LBJ’s administration progressed, Dick’s feelings went from promising to disillusionment as the reforms of the Great Society took a back seat to the escalation of US involvement in Vietnam. After leaving the administration and speaking out on the war, Dick and LBJ were forever divided. Dick left Washington wiser for the experience and would be sought out for advice over the following decades.

AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY is a first-class memoir and a fascinating history book. Dick and Doris’ service at the Johnson White House had nearly overlapped, yet their lingering perspectives of their tenure were markedly different. Dick was a staunch Kennedy defender, while Doris was a Johnson stalwart. Dick viewed LBJ as a mercurial figure who sacrificed his Great Society for the disaster in Vietnam. Doris saw him as a tragic figure whose accomplishments were drowned out by war.

This re-examination of the past allows Dick and Doris to see various historical occurrences with a newfound viewpoint. The emotional impact of the narrative often lies within the events of each featured year, whether revolutionary or tumultuous in scope. The interactions between them are infused with love and respect for each other, along with history.

Doris Kearns Goodwin has written a book that is both touching and gratifying, made all the more poignant by Dick’s death in 2018. It’s a living history that won’t be forgotten any time soon.