Doris Kearns Goodwin Joins Twitter. You’re Welcome

TIME's own Mark Halperin helped the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian sign up and send her first tweet during an appearance on 'Meet the Press'.

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Meet the Press (@meetthepress)

Attention history buffs: the Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin is now on Twitter, thanks to TIME’s own Mark Halperin.

Her first tweet:

[tweet https://twitter.com/DorisKGoodwin/status/214360241033326593%5D

On Saturday, the political analyst announced to the Twitterverse that he would set up an account for the New York Times best-selling author during their appearance on Meet the Press

“I was sort of kidding, but, after the show Sunday, as the traditional post-program brunch was being served, I slid my iPad in front of her and announced, in effect, that it was time,” Halperin says.  “I told her what a great news source it is, and I promised it wouldn’t bite. She was game.”

Halperin took a photo of Goodwin for her avatar and then taught her how to post updates, follow other people, and manage her stream.  Meet the Press tweeted out her new handle, and Halperin shared a picture of her using his iPad.

Goodwin’s second post was about her son Joe Kearns Goodwin (@JoeKGoodwin), who is running for  Massachusetts state senate. She even used the appropriate hashtag:

[tweet https://twitter.com/DorisKGoodwin/status/214377159186333697%5D

By Monday afternoon Goodwin was closing in on 4,000 followers.

In her third tweet, she thanked Halperin for his help:

[tweet https://twitter.com/DorisKGoodwin/status/214441534437863425%5D

Goodwin’s first book was a biography of Lyndon B. Johnson, Lyndon Johnson & The American Dream (1976). In 1995, she won a Pulitzer Prize in history for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The American Home Front During World War II (1995). Her most recent book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (2006), won the Lincoln Prize.