J.Michael Martinez

Robert Clifton Weaver was the first secretary of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department as well as the first Black person to...

Stewart Udall was a three-term United States congressman from Arizona as well as secretary of the interior under Presidents John F....

My book Scoundrels: Political Scandals in American History is slated to be published in June 2023. The publisher, Rowman & Littlefield,...

Wilbur Joseph Cohen is not a well-known public figure during the twenty-first century, but in his era, he was recognized in some quarters...

Remembered as a gruff, pile-driving, hard-working, stern taskmaster, Admiral Hyman G. Rickover helped the U.S. Navy modernize its...

Frances Oldham Kelsey is discussed in a chapter of my upcoming book Public Service Exemplars: “A Finer Spirit of Hope and Achievement.”...

A chapter of my upcoming book Public Service Exemplars: “A Finer Spirit of Hope and Achievement” is devoted to Allen Welsh Dulles. Dulles...

Ralph Johnson Bunche was a giant figure in the field of American foreign policy. As a diplomat who worked in multiple agencies, he proved...

Chapter 8 of my upcoming book Public Service Exemplars: “A Finer Spirit of Hope and Achievement” portrays a pioneering health advocate,...

Robert Moses was a public servant who spent his professional career in metropolitan New York overseeing public works projects such as the...

Every summer since I initiated my first blog in July 2011, I have provided an update on my writing projects. Thus, here is my latest...

David Eli Lilienthal dedicated 19 years of his life to government service, first as director of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the...

A chapter in my upcoming book Public Service Exemplars: “A Finer Spirit of Hope and Achievement” is devoted to Lieutenant General Leslie...

I am pleased to announce the publication of my 16th book, Libertines: American Political Sex Scandals from Alexander Hamilton to Donald...

In March 2022, my longtime friend and co-author, M. Christine Cagle, and I published an article titled “Reexamining Confederate Symbols...

Harold LeClair Ickes was a progressive Midwestern Republican politician who became the United States secretary of the interior during...

Frances Coralie Perkins was a trailblazer, the first woman to serve in an American president’s cabinet. She was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s...

For this blog, I dip back into the archives. This entry, dated September 8, 2011, summarizes my harrowing experience delivering a paper...

I started writing my blog in July 2011. Sometimes I look back at the archives and reprint my “greatest hits” from the vault. This...

Charles Gates Dawes is not well known in the twenty-first century, but in his time, he was an influential figure in the Republican Party...