Quick Corrective Action is Laudable

To the editors:

I feel compelled to comment on your editorial based on the tenet of fairness which should be the foundation for any comments regarding the reputation of someone whose career has been untarnished until now. While Goodwin’s political opinions fall left of my own, I curiously find myself questioning your editorial which negates the painstaking efforts she has made in trying to rectify her inadvertent omissions in the citations of passages which were not her own, despite the fact that the source was cited elsewhere in the same book. A more careful review of the body of her work will reveal that Goodwin’s successes in illustrating and preserving history far outweigh the failures of the technical aspects in doing so.

Goodwin could have easily adopted a Clintonian method in addressing these issues, but has done quite the opposite. She has removed herself from positions of influence in the media and from the Pulitzer committee while she examines her options of corrective action. You write that she should send a clear message that she understands the gravity of her offense; however, no other public figure has sent a clearer message than Goodwin regarding her error and corrective action. She has faced her detractors with a surprising and refreshing amount of humility and remorse, far exceeding those whose transgressions are more egregious. Contrary to your remarks that her neglience “constitutes the lack of respect and appreciation of others’ work,” Goodwin embraces the concept of accountability in facing these transgressions head on, almost to excess. Her recent words and actions serve as the most appropriate model for those self-aggrandizing members of Harvard-at-large who are too full of themselves to admit that they too are only human.

Your remarks are inappropriately harsh and premature, reflecting the hubris which in itself is ironic, since it is this exalted self-image that truly detracts from the positive attributes and contributions of the Harvard Community. Goodwin is nearing the end of her efforts to rectify her errors and a more prudent observer of news would recognize that the time to comment on this unfortunate chapter in an illustrious career has not yet arrived.

Hannah C. Welsh

Shewsbury, Mass.

March 11, 2002