Doris Kearns Goodwin on Late Night July 8, 1998

everybody we are back my next guest tonight is a poitz surprise winning author and political analyst whose books include the fitzgeralds and the kennedies and no ordinary time now her latest book wait till next year is now out in paperback please welcome Doris karn's Goodwin [Music] this is a really uh interesting book actually to come from you I think because i' I've read your book on FDR and love the book and this is more a book it's a personal sort of reminiscence of growing up in the ' 50s it's not really about a political Topic at all it's just about your fascination with the Brooklyn yeah and the Brooklyn Dodgers right you know which yay Brooklyn Dodgers they'll be back and uh what's fasinating something I can relate to a little bit because I'm Catholic is that in the book you talk a little bit about how it was hard to reconcile being a Dodgers fan and an ardan Dodgers fan with a proper Catholic upbringing now what was what was the problem there the big problem was that when I went to my first confession my first holy confession I had to admit to impure thought and what those impure thoughts were that I wished harm to all the other teams that were the rivals to my Brooklyn Dodgers so I figured I would just slip this in between the normal sins for a seven-year-old like disobeying my parents 20 times talking in church 15 times so I just snuck in Wishing harm to others thinking the priest wouldn't ask me but he said to whom did you wish harm cuz that's a pretty scary thing for a little kid to say terrifying I ate some gum when I wasn't supposed to I stayed up a little late I wish harm upon others and then he says and to whom and I had to say well I wish harm to the great Yankee pitcher Ali Reynolds I wanted him to break his arm and I wanted Alvin dark of the Giants to fall down the steps of his stoop and I wanted Ena Slaughter to break his leg what's more disturbing is that you had specific Horrors for each one I think that's the scarier part wor because he said and how often do you make these wishes and I had to say every night when I pray so what did he say what did he tell you to do oh he was great he just said to me look let me tell you a secret I'm a Brooklyn Dodger fan as much as you you do not need to wish harm on others they will win the World Series someday I promise you wait how can he promise you that he had power and they did he pee through the curtain I'll take care of it don't worry he said stay your Hil mares and your our fathers and get out of here he said uhhuh now you when the it was very traumatic for Dodgers fans when they moved to Los Angeles did you continue to root for the Dodgers then oh no way I couldn't follow baseball for eight years until I finally moved to Boston went to Fenway Park and then found the same kind of team like the Brooklyn Dodgers almost always winning but then losing yeah yeah I was going to say your life then has been a real Joy hasn't it no I grew up uh in Boston too so I grew up a Red Sox yeah I know but hard it's hard they will win someday fairly and squarely you'll see right okay I hope so do no I I it's hard you know it's hard you grow up and you think it's always going to happen and then that last time yeah um now uh you got you talking in the book about getting to meet some of your baseball Heroes some of the people that you just idolize who was your favorite Jackie Robinson without a question and the great experience I had was I finally got his autograph after years of waiting I brought one of these ridiculous autograph books that girls used to have in those days that we would sign to one another with sentimental flowery statements like I will love you till Niagara Falls I will cherish you till rubber tires and I figured I had one of those too actually I did it have a little key in it yeah and you then you could secretly keep it under your bed and I figured if he wrote his name in the middle of these intimate sayings he would look like one of my great great friends I didn't think he'd even bother looking at it but he started reading these things I thought I would faint but then he said well I see I'm in good company he smiled and he thought for a long moment and in complete keeping with the spirit of the book he wrote keep your smile a long long while Jackie Robinson it that's great it's a great thing to have absolutely the uh there's a lot of um there's a lot of great stuff in this book but I'm not doing my job if I don't bring up something which is relevant today you uh cuz there's so much talk about Monica Lewinsky White House intern in the uh in President Clinton's office uh you were a White House intern embarrassingly and you were a White House intern for president Lyndon Johnson when I was 24 years old too embarrassingly yeah and you had a beret it's gone tonight I thinked you wouldn't want to see it well any any uh I mean any any reminiscences anything you can tell us about what it's like to be a was like to be a White House intern for l Johnson well he was a great character probably the most interesting president I've ever known in fact each time I went to visit him at his Ranch he had this Warehouse filled with gifts and each time you went to see him you got to choose from a higher and higher shelf almost as if you were at an amusement park and you'd finally make it to the top wait so the first time you get to visit you get to pick something from the first shelf the bottom shelf and that was like a certificate that you'd flown on Air Force One and then a few months later you'd worked your way up to the neck shelf which was a scarf that had his name embroidered on it 500 times and then the neck shelf was a watch that had his picture on it until finally I got to the top shelf after about 8 or nine months he said you're one of my best friends you can pick from the top shelf and then he said I love this present as much as you do CU you'll think of me every morning and every night when you open this wonderful gift I opened it up and inside with the largest electric toothbrush I had ever seen in my life and it had the official presidential seal on the front and his smiling face on the back and I thought oh my God this man is right I'll think of him every morning and every night how did they put lynon Johnson's face on an electric toothbrush he had wayes he had he wasn't on the moving part right you know he was that would be that would be the scary part every morning you're trying to brush your teeth and Lyon Johnson's going actually it would work for Nixon complete workout in the morning well uh the book's fantastic wait till next year uh everyone check it out it's a it's a very cool Memoir Doris Kern's goodwi was great having on theam come on we'll take a break everybody we'll be right back [Music] [Applause] okay everybody that is our show for I do want to thank all my guests stay tuned for later we will see you tomorrow byebye