After Trump’s victory – Ambassador Kennedy: “Stone times ahead”

“There are difficult times ahead of us. We cannot pretend that this is not the case,” Kennedy warned in a panel discussion with influential American historian Doris Kearns Goodwin at Webster University in Vienna on Monday evening.

Kearns is considered the doyenne of American historiography and, with her biographies of legendary presidents such as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson, she not only shaped their image among the American public. Her Lincoln portrait ‘Team of Rivals’ is also said to have persuaded US President Barack Obama to appoint his bitter primary opponent, Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State. According to Obama, ‘Team of Rivals’ is the book he would take with him to a desert island.

“Since Donald Trump’s clear victory, many friends in Austria have asked me what that means,” Kennedy said at the start of the conversation with Kearns Goodwin in the packed hall of the American private university. “I can’t think of anyone better to explain this historic year than you, Doris,” the ambassador praised the American historian as an “icon” and leading expert on American presidential history.

From baseball to historical icon
In the humorous conversation, Kearns Goodwin told how covering baseball games at age six sparked her interest in history and how it took her longer to write her biography of World War II President Franklin D. Roosevelt “than the war lasted.” “I was only with my late husband longer” than with the presidents she portrayed, she chatted to the audience’s amusement.

American presidents are rarely equally skilled at foreign and domestic policy, and many great presidents have faced misadventures in their lives, Kearns Goodwin said. For Theodore Roosevelt, for example, the death of his wife and mother forced him to dedicate himself without calculation to public service, while the polio disease taught FDR humility. The 81-year-old expressed her doubts about whether she would still get the chance to portray an American president.

Take care of American democracy
Kearns Goodwin takes a calm look at the existential concerns about American democracy expressed by both parties during the recent presidential election. There have been similar situations several times in history, “but we forget.” In 1860, six southern American states seceded simply because Republican Abraham Lincoln had won the presidential election. As a result, the US paid “a terrible price” in the form of the Civil War with its 600,000 deaths, but ultimately not only was national unity restored, but the United States’ “original sin” of slavery was eradicated. “So we came out stronger,” the historian emphasized. The same was the case under Roosevelt’s presidency, when all of Europe capitulated to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and all of Western civilization was ‘in danger’.

US Ambassador Kennedy and historian Goodwin at Webster University in Vienna:

Trump advised Kearns Goodwin to follow Lincoln’s example. “I hope he will not punish his enemies,” she said, referring to the future president. Instead, he should make room in his cabinet ‘for people who disagree with him’. Lincoln was quite politically inexperienced when he was elected and subsequently made “the huge decision” to bring his three much more experienced rivals within the party into government, even though they all considered themselves the better president.

“I don’t know how it’s all going to end.”
Kennedy thanked the historian for giving people “hope” with her findings. “We don’t know how this will all turn out, but maybe we can play a role by taking action,” the ambassador called on citizens to participate. The great strength of the transatlantic relationship gives her hope. This is based on shared values ​​such as advocating free trade or media freedom: “Whatever challenges lie ahead, we do not have to tackle them alone. This gives me comfort and encourages me to be optimistic about the future.”