Distinguished Carlson Lecture Series

About the Series

For more than four decades, the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, with support from Carlson and the Carlson Family Foundation, has presented the Distinguished Carlson Lecture Series, bringing to Minnesota world-renowned speakers to participate in a forum dedicated to the presentation and discussion of the most important policy issues of the day. The series began in 1980 with a gift from Curtis L. Carlson to honor his late friend, Hubert H. Humphrey, and to “contribute to the intellectual life of the greater Twin Cities community by sponsoring lively forums of broad interest.”

Distinguished Carlson Lecture: Leadership for a More Perfect Union: Lessons from America at 250, Featuring Doris Kearns Goodwin

Monday, November 2, 2026, 6 to 7:15 p.m.
Northrop | University of Minnesota

Tickets available to the general public on Monday, October 12, 2026

The event is presented by the Humphrey School of Public Affairs with support from Carlson and the Carlson Family Foundation. Admission is free and open to the public, but tickets are required.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and bestselling author Doris Kearns Goodwin comes to the University of Minnesota for the 2026 Distinguished Carlson Lecture, “Leadership for a More Perfect Union: Lessons from America at 250.”

As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, Goodwin will draw on her study of American presidents and pivotal moments in the nation’s history to explore leadership, civic courage and the shared sense of purpose that has helped guide the country through periods of division and transformation.

The evening will begin with remarks by Goodwin, followed by a conversation moderated by Gary Eichten, MPR News editor-at-large and retired program host, exploring presidential leadership, American democracy and what history can teach us about leadership in times of national challenge.

About Doris Kearns Goodwin

Doris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, public speaker, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential scholar whose work has shaped public understanding of American leadership and democracy for more than five decades.

Her most recent book, “An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s,” was an instant No. 1 New York Times bestseller. Goodwin is also the author of acclaimed works including “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II.”

Goodwin began her career as a White House fellow and worked directly for President Lyndon Johnson before later assisting him with his memoirs. She earned a doctorate in government from Harvard University, where she taught government, including a course on the American presidency.

About Gary Eichten

MPR News Editor-at-Large and retired program host Gary Eichten held several positions during his 40-plus-year career at Minnesota Public Radio, including news director, special events producer and station manager. He served as host for Minnesota Public Radio's live, special events news coverage and anchored all of the major news programs on Minnesota Public Radio, including Midday, which he hosted for more than 20 years. A graduate of St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, Eichten began his career in 1967 in Collegeville as one of Minnesota Public Radio’s earliest employees. In 2007, Eichten was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Among the honors he has received is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting award for best local news program; the 2011 Graven Award from the Premack Public Affairs Journalism Awards Board for his contribution to excellence in journalism and the 2019 Public Leadership Award from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School.

History

The Humphrey School’s namesake, Hubert H. Humphrey, believed in an innovative, creative, and humane approach to public service. As Minneapolis mayor, U.S. senator, and vice president, Humphrey dedicated his life to strengthening the American democratic process through broad participation of informed citizens and had a profound impact on many people whose lives he touched, including Curtis Carlson, founder, CEO, and chairman of Carlson and the Carlson Family Foundation.

Carlson is known to have loved attending public lectures and credits them for influencing his aspirations and philosophy. His friendship with Humphrey prompted Carlson to seek out a forum in which Humphrey’s ideals would be kept at the forefront. Accordingly, as a tribute to his late friend, Carlson established the Distinguished Carlson Lecture Series to honor Humphrey and "contribute to the intellectual life of the greater Twin Cities community by sponsoring lively forums of broad interest."

With this gift, Carlson provided his and future generations of Minnesotans the same opportunity he had in his youth: The chance to see and listen directly to some of the greatest voices of our time, here in the Twin Cities. In the tradition of the lecture series Carlson attended earlier in his life, the Distinguished Carlson Lecture Series features renowned public figures of international note, ranging from authors to heads of state.

The first Distinguished Carlson Lecture featured John Gardner, founder of Common Cause, former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, and former president of the Carnegie Corporation, on October 29, 1980. To date, the Carlson Lecture has presented more than 50 speakers.