Doris Kearns Goodwin, a historian, said on Sunday that the United States is experiencing a “moral crisis” due to political tensions.
“But the general impression is that we’ve become too passive observers of what’s going on with ourselves. And one of the things Dante stated is that ‘the lowest spot in hell is for those persons in a moral crisis who remain neutral or mute,'” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“We are currently experiencing a moral crisis, and I am usually optimistic about what history can teach us since we have already experienced extremely difficult times.” These are difficult times, and they will not improve unless we act, unless we take our citizen obligations seriously and apply the traits of character that we must bring to politics,” she added.
Goodwin has published several biographies of former presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson. She has embarked on a media tour to promote her new book, “An Unfinished Love Story,” which chronicles her and her husband’s personal experiences in the 1960s.
Welker pointed out that Goodwin has linked the current political situation to the development of slavery and the Civil War in the 1850s. Goodwin added that she finds two connections between the current situation and the Civil War era, namely media fragmentation and concerns about a peaceful transition of power.
She expressed concern that a peaceful transition of power might not occur following the next presidential election.
“I am concerned that it may not happen, but I somehow think that if the majority of people come out who have different values from that and vote, voting is absolutely essential,” she went on to say.
“And I just hope they understand that this election could turn against them, that the uncommitted and undecided must vote, and that we must simply accept the results.” That does not imply we know what will happen; if the overwhelming majority votes, it may not be as close as we believe. “And then we’ll have a clear choice,” she explained later.
