Joe Kearns Goodwin

Joseph Kearns Goodwin (born October 14, 1977) is a former U.S. Army Captain, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was awarded a Bronze Star for exemplary service in combat. Between military tours, Goodwin was selected to join the General Electric Company’s elite Junior Officer Leadership Program (JOLP). Goodwin is recent 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 the son of Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and presidential advisor and speechwriter Richard N. Goodwin.

Early life and education
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. He is a 2001 Cum Laude graduate of Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Literature.

Career and awards
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 U.S. 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 NATO Commander General David McKiernan and his director of strategic communications, Brigadier General Michael A. Ryan.

Goodwin has written extensively about his service in the U.S. 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 NBC’s Meet The Press, PBS’s Charlie Rose, MSNBC’s Morning Joe and the BBC 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 was endorsed by US Senator John Kerry and CityYear co-founder and former US Senate candidate Alan Khazei, among others. He lost the Democratic primary by 372 votes to former State Senator Michael Barrett.

Personal life
Goodwin married Victoria Bonney in October 2011; the two met while working on a 90-day special election to fill the United States Senate Seat vacated by Ted Kennedy.