Doris Kearns Goodwin's Husband Has Much in Common with Roger Clemens...

As she prepared for this morning’s interview, Doris Kearns Goodwin thought about how much she’s enjoyed being a part of the Imus in the Morning program over the last 15 years.

It was a nice sentiment, to be sure, and one she eagerly imparted to the I-Man, who interpreted it slightly differently. “It sounds like you think I’m going to die,” he said.

Assuring him this was not the case, Goodwin, a rabid Boston Red Sox fan, lamented the fall of pitcher Roger Clemens, who will be indicted for lying to Congress about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.

“I loved that guy so much when he was with us,” said Goodwin, who was in the stands at Fenway when Clemens struck out 20 batters in one game. “I would never imagine then that I would hate him, as I do now.”

Clemens claimed—and maintains—that the injections he was given by his bonehead trainer were not steroids, but Vitamin B12, a legal and commonly used supplement that allegedly increases a person’s energy.

And it turns out athletes aren’t the only ones using it. “When Dick was in the White House, they used to inject them, the speechwriters who had to stay up all night writing speeches, with what was supposedly Vitamin B12 in the rear end,” said Goodwin, referring to her husband Dick Goodwin, a former speechwriter for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Hold the phone. “You’re telling me that when your husband was writing speeches for Jack Kennedy…that they were injecting him with amphetamines in the White House so he could stay up and finish a speech?” Imus said, shocked to his core.

Goodwin protested that her husband thought it was Vitamin B12, but realized years later that it was probably something stronger. As for who “shot him up,” as Imus put it, Goodwin said it was the White House doctor. She also told Imus this information is readily known; after all, the 1960s were a wild time, as he probably remembers.

“No,” he told his guest. “I don’t.”

Goodwin believes that President Obama was right to say last week that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else. Backtracking on that comment the following day, however, undercut his point.

“The problem for Obama again and again is that he just hasn’t absorbed the 24-hour news cycle, and even if he’s saying the right thing, it’s going to inject itself in a way that he can’t get away from it,” she observed.

The debate over whether a mosque should be built in the shadow of Ground Zero has been blown out of proportion, said Goodwin, who thinks the plans should follow through.

“This is an important issue for the country as a whole, this is what we were founded on,” she said, talking about religious freedom.

As their chat came to an end, Imus assured Goodwin that he’s enjoyed having her as a guest on this show as much as she’s enjoyed being one.

“I hope you’re on for a few more years, and I hope I am as well,” he said. “Although, it doesn’t sound like you think so.”

-Julie Kanfer