Dick Goodwin (r)
1931 - 2018
With one of his former bosses
Earlier this week, Richard Goodwin died at the age of 86. Goodwin had quite a career. Graduated first in his class at Harvard Law School, by the age of 30, he had clerked for United States Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter and served as chief counsel for the Congressional Committee that investigated the television "quiz show scandals" in the 1950's. In that latter capacity, he was portrayed by actor Rob Morrow in the terrific 1994 feature film, "Quiz Show".
He went on to become a speechwriter and key policy advisor to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. It was Goodwin who, among other things, coined the phrased "Great Society" to describe the social legislative programs of the Johnson Administration. He ultimately split with LBJ over the President's Viet Nam War policy, and went on to work in the campaigns of Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy in 1968. When Robert Kennedy was assassinated, he pretty much bowed out of involvement with electoral politics, and devoted his life to writing and the law. He was one of the last links to the "Kennedy era" of Presidential history.
I would highly recommend the obituary for Mr. Goodwin that appeared in the Washington Post earlier in the week. It makes for fascinating reading.
RIP Richard Goodwin.
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