This is the fourth volume in the Hall Institute of Public Policy's 2020 series. These topical and scholarly articles are meant to examine some of the major issues facing the state of New Jersey and the United States, and embrace matters of national security, social entitlements, religious differences, the gold standard, prosecutorial misconduct, the rights of alleged terrorists, the free market economy and other concerns. These essays offer a unique picture of where we are as a free people, and is compiled by one of the few nonpartisan, not for profit think tanks in America.

Riccards and Flagg examine in detail the development of Franklin Delano Roosevelt from a young politician in Albany to assistant secretary of the Navy to governor of the state of New York. The volume shows how Roosevelt developed his rhetorical skills, his art of manipulation and coalition building, and his incredible bond to the American people through the Depression and World War II. As commander in chief, he mastered the leadership skills that made him a great military leader and a political leader who established himself as a paramount figure using control of the Democratic party. In the process, he solidified the party as a long-lasting coalition that set the United States as a world empire.

This study is a comprehensive history of the papacy, the oldest elective office in the world, and how it has managed over the centuries the most complex voluntary association of faith. The book argues that in fact through most of its existence, the papacy has adapted managerial models of the secular world and applied them to the Catholic Church. Since its emergence from the Jewish synagogues to a persecuted minority in the Roman Empire to becoming the established religion of the West, the Church and the papacy engaged the world on its own terms. It is only after the Council of Trent did the Church become somewhat more divorced and estranged from the environment around it. This book focused on those changes and on the great popes across the centuries who reformed and altered Catholicism. Special attention is directed to Gregory I, Innocent I, Innocent III, Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXVII, Paul VI, and John Paul II. The conclusion is that the persistence of the Catholic Church for so many centuries was due to its ability to preserve the faith, but re-establish its forms and managerial class.

In the first major, in-depth study since World War II, Michael P. Riccards provides a narrative history of the U.S. presidency that is also an invaluable reference. Volume One covers the presidency from its creation to its major crisis in the Civil War and the transitional presidency of McKinley. Volume Two Continues the history up to the presidency of George Bush. In Volume Two, he provides coverage of each administration and extended treatment of the more important presidents. Though there is some biographical material about each chief executive, the focus is on issues, policies, legislative achievements and foreign policy decisions for each administration.

The first study on Woodrow Wilson as commander in chief during the Great War, this volume analyzes Wilson's management style before the war, his diplomacy and his final demise in his battle with the Senate. It considers the war as representing the collapse of Western traditional virtues and examines Wilson's attempt to restore them. Emphasizing the American war effort on the domestic front, it also discusses Wilson's rise to power, his education, career, and work as governor as necessary steps in his formation. The authors deal honestly and critically with the controversial racism that characterized this brilliant but limited career. Wilson provided many precedents for future war presidents from FDR to Trump. Those who are interested in the development of the war powers over the last century will find essential lessons in Wilson's tenure as commander in chief.

What makes a great president? Certainly leadership, accomplishments, crisis management, political skill, character, and integrity are part of the equation, but the great presidents have something more. They not only govern well, but are part of something lasting; their presidencies influence the thoughts and beliefs of generations. These powerful men are not flawless leaders, they have made mistakes and miscalculations, but in the end their decisions have changed the nation and often the world. In Destiny's Consul: America's Greatest Presidents, presidential scholar Michael P. Riccards provides a concise introduction to the lives, presidencies, and personal qualities of ten great individuals whom Riccards argues are our greatest presidents. Organized chronologically, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Ronald Reagan are shown to truly be great. It will be of interest to anyone interested in the presidency of American history.

This volume is a collection of verse plays by Michael P. Riccards. The author shows how a modern verse style can be used to heighten and deepen the situations and events that characterize a variety of subjects from historical dramas of great men to baseball heroes and famous persons in fables that we all know and love.

This is the fourth volume in the Hall Institute of Public Policy's 2020 series. These topical and scholarly articles are meant to examine some of the major issues facing the state of New Jersey and the United States, and embrace matters of national security, social entitlements, religious differences, the gold standard, prosecutorial misconduct, the rights of alleged terrorists, the free market economy and other concerns. These essays offer a unique picture of where we are as a free people, and is compiled by one of the few nonpartisan, not for profit think tanks in America.