Background
He is the son of Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and presidential advisor and speechwriter Richard N. Goodwin.
He is the son of Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and presidential advisor and speechwriter Richard N. Goodwin.
Joseph Goodwin was born in Boston, and grew up in the nearby suburb of Concord, where he attended the local public schools, graduating from Concord-Carlisle High School.
Between military tours, Goodwin was selected to join the General Electric Company’s elite Junior Officer Leadership Program (JOLP). Goodwin is a 2013 graduate of Harvard Law School. He ran for the Massachusetts State Senate seat that opened as a result of Susan Fargo"s retirement.
He is a 2001 Cum Laude graduate of Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Literature.
After graduating from Harvard College in the spring of 2001, Goodwin planned to join the workforce then attend law school but in the days following the September 11 attacks, Goodwin felt a call to serve and enlisted in the United States. Army. He arrived in Iraq in Spring 2003, and served as a combat arms platoon leader with the Army’s 1st Armored Division and was awarded the Bronze Star.
In his second tour of duty, Goodwin was charged with cultivating civilian contacts in Afghan cities and towns on behalf of North Atlantic Treaty Organization Commander General David McKiernan and his director of strategic communications, Brigadier General Michael A. Ryan. Goodwin has written extensively about his service in the United States. Army and the military’s efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, including opinion pieces published in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Boston Magazine and the Los Angeles Times.
He has appeared on National Broadcasting Company’s Meet The Press, Public Broadcasting Service’s Charlie Rose, Microsoft and National Broadcasting Company’s Morning Joe and the British Broadcasting Corporation to discuss his Army experiences.
On April 3, 2012, Goodwin announced that he planned to run for the Massachusetts State Senate seat that was being vacated by Senator Susan Fargo. He lost the Democratic primary by 372 votes to former State Senator Michael Barrett.