King of the Lobby

Posted by Karen 18 February, 2010 As Advocacy Techniques, Digital Politics Podcast, The Power of Social Networks, Who's Who

Guest on the Digital Politics podcast today was Kathryn Allamong Jacob, Curator of Manuscripts, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University and author of King of the Lobby: The Life and Times of Sam Ward Man-About-Washington in the Gilded Age (Johns Hopkins, 2010). I recommend this book not only for its insights about the early days of lobbying in Washington but also because it reveals many similarities to our own times. While online tools give new meaning to the social lobby, the story of Sam Ward provides perspective about doing business in Washington. What would Sam have thought of Facebook?