James Hilty
20th-Century U.S.
My research, writing, and teaching interests span recent U.S. political history, U.S. public history, the history of higher education, university strategic planning, and land planning. My deepest fascination, however, is with the study of the exercise of political leadership, influence, and power, which led to several publications on the Kennedys, including Robert Kennedy: Brother Protector (1998); "The Kennedy Administration," in Presidential Administration Profiles, (1999); "John Fitzgerald Kennedy" and "Robert Francis Kennedy," Historic World Leaders (1994); and John F. Kennedy: an Idealist without Illusions (1975).
Other representative political history publications include: “Prologue: The Senate Voting Record of Harry S Truman” Journal of Interdisciplinary History (1973), widely reprinted, most recently in Politics and Political Change (2001); "Harry Truman and the New Deal," Truman Encyclopedia (1990); Election for the Ages?” USA Today Magazine (March 2004) and The United States Election System, (2005); “William Jefferson Clinton,” Encyclopedia of American Studies (2003), plus several invited op-ed pieces in the Philadelphia Inquirer on topics such as the JFK assassination, recent presidential elections, Clinton impeachment, and presidential leadership. I also serve as a consultant on American politics for national and local media.