King of the Lobby: The Life and Times of Sam Ward, Man-About-Washington in the Gilded Age [Hardcover]

Kathryn Allamong Jacob (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 2009

King of the Lobby tells the story of how one man harnessed delicious food, fine wine, and good conversation to the task of becoming the most influential lobbyist of the Gilded Age.

Sam Ward was a colorful character. Scion of an old and honorable family, best friend of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and charming man-about-Washington, Ward held his own in an era crowded with larger-than-life personalities. Living by the motto that the shortest route between a pending bill and a congressman’s "aye" was through his stomach, Ward elegantly entertained political elites in return for their votes.

At a time when waves of scandal washed over Washington, the popular press railed against the wickedness of the lobby, and self-righteous politicians predicted that special interests would cause the downfall of democratic government, Sam Ward still reigned supreme. By the early 1870s, he had earned the title "King of the Lobby" and jokingly referred to himself as "Rex Vestiari." Ward cultivated a style of lobbying that survives today in the form of expensive golf outings, extravagant dinners, and luxurious vacations.

Kathryn Allamong Jacob's engaging account shows how the "king" earned his crown through cookery and conversation and how this son of wealth and privilege helped to create a questionable profession in a city that then, as now, rested on power and influence.

(2009)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Washington of the 1850s to 1880s, mirroring America's transition to an industrialized, expanding society, was characterized by greed, corruption and social upheaval as political factions vied for office and influence. Cultural historian Jacob (Capital Elites: High Society in Washington, D.C., after the Civil War) captures this tangle of forces, events and people in her short biography of Sam Ward, scion of a New York banking family, '49er, spendthrift and lobbyist. Ward earned the title “King of the Lobby” by applying savoir faire, gastronomy and a genius for social combinations to the hitherto crude process of influencing votes in Congress. He represented insurance, telegraph and steamship companies as well as banking, mining and railroad interests, among others. As with other lobbyists, Ward offered access and technical expertise, but “[he] was in the vanguard of the social lobby....” Using Ward's own words allows Jacob to illuminate his vivid personality. Her extensive research is reflected in her recounting of Ward's life, successfully putting it into the context of the history of lobbying. Jacob's focused narrative will appeal to American history buffs. 20 b&w photos. (Jan.)
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Review

Ward earned the title 'King of the Lobby' by applying savoir faire, gastronomy and a genius for social combinations to the hitherto crude process of influencing votes in Congress... Using Ward's own words allows Jacob to illuminate his vivid personality.

(Publishers Weekly 2009)

A wonderful book. The author explores a protean figure with much to tell us about the evolving nature of politics and government in the age of the Civil War. The author’s great accomplishment here is to make Sam Ward come alive.

(Michael McGerr, Indiana University 2009)

Jacob's trim and surprising biography of Sam Ward... will not change most people's view of what is essentially a hustler's profession. But she brilliantly shows how, in the hands of a master, lobbying can be lifted to the level of art.

(Fergus M. Bordewich Wall Street Journal 2010)

Jacob enthralls readers with anecdotes of Ward beguiling a skeptical press and demonstrating persuasiveness to members of Congress... a crisply written study, making excellent use of new sources and providing historical perspective through sprightly stories enlarging our understanding of the phenomenon of the lobbyist. Sure to please both serious researchers and general readers.

(Library Journal 2010)

In the delectable biography, King of the Lobby, Kathryn Allamong Jacob serves up the life and times of this protean character.

(Drew Bratcher Washingtonian 2010)

Jacob details how a swashbuckling scion of a wealthy New York familysettled into his lobbying career in Washington, D.C....and producespage-turning tales of ethically challenged reporters... [and] a new breedof lobbyist in Reconstruction-era Washington: the 'lobbyess.'

(Matthew Murray Roll Call 2010)

Despite the fairly short length of the book the author sticks as much into the pages as possible. There is no long-winded verbiage in this book. It's a quick read but one that leaves you fulfilled and enlightened.

(Marty Dodge blogcritics.org 2010)

Now virtually forgotten, [Sam Ward] was an immensely able, influential and engaging character who has been rescued from obscurity by Kathryn Allamong Jacob.

(Jonathan Yardley Washington Post 2011)

A splendid biography... of an American original.

(John M. Taylor Washington Times 2011)

In this deft and diverting volume, Kathryn Jacob shows that lobbyists may do good by encouraging elected officials to set aside their differences and work together.

(Kevin R. Kosar Weekly Standard )

Considerable achievement.

(Peter H. Argersinger Journal of American History )

King of the Lobby offers not only an engaging portrait of an important lobbyist, but also provides a helpful introduction to lobbying in the Gilded Age.

(Gaines M. Foster Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (November 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801893976
• ISBN-13: 978-0801893971
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #595,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kathryn Allamong Jacob is curator of manuscripts at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at the Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. She is the author of Testament to Union: Civil War Monuments in Washington, D.C., also published by Johns Hopkins, and Capital Elites: High Society in Washington, D.C. after the Civil War.

When she was growing up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Kathryn Allamong Jacob's grandfather organized family car trips to different historic sites each month year round. These trips always included wonderful meals cooked by her grandmother, packed in wooden boxes designed and built by her grandfather, and eaten on picnic tables, sometimes while wearing mittens. Jacob liked the Gettysburg battlefields best, with their acres of markers featuring dying bronze soldiers and celebrating suicidal charges, especially in the autumn because that meant steaming macaroni and cheese casseroles. With the past so thrilling and linked with family and food she loved, it seems only natural that Jacob should become a historian of the United States during the years just before, during, and after the Civil War.

After graduating from Goucher College, Jacob earned her MA in history from Georgetown University and her PhD in American history from Johns Hopkins University. She has held positions as university archivist at Johns Hopkins University; assistant historian at the U. S. Senate Historical Office; archivist at the National Archives; assistant program director at the National Historical Publications and Records Commission; deputy director of the American Jewish Historical Society; and she is currently curator of manuscripts at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University.

Themes important for placing Sam Ward's life and the post-bellum lobby into the context of their times run throughout Jacob's career. Her doctoral dissertation examined high society in Washington during the Gilded Age. As a historian for the Senate, Jacob studied Congress and lobbying up close. As editor-in-chief of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989 (Government Printing Office, 1989), she gained an understanding (and a trove of arcane details) of the lives of hundreds of former senators, some of whom got caught up in the cascade of scandals that washed over the two administrations of Ulysses S. Grant.

Research for her first book, Capital Elites: High Society in Washington, D.C., after the Civil War (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995), introduced Jacob to Sam Ward, a key player at the three-way intersection of politics, power, and entertaining in the post-war years. Her second book, Testament to Union: Civil War Monuments in Washington, D.C. (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998), again took her into the thick of politics and lobbying, where she ran into the ubiquitous Sam once more.

A frequent lecturer on Washington during the Gilded Age, Jacob has also discussed the lifestyles of the 19th-century rich and famous on "America's Castles," produced by Cinetel Productions for the Arts and Entertainment Network; and on "The Grand Tour" and "America's Mansions, Monuments, and Masterpieces," both by Jupiter Entertainment for A & E. She has written for American Heritage, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post on the Lizzie Borden ax murders, physician Clelia Mosher and her sex survey of American women, sculptor Vinnie Ream, who unabashedly lobbied Congress for government commissions, and Sam Ward. In all of these, Jacob weaves biography together with social, cultural, and political history to create a colorful tapestry that not only examines a life but tells a bigger story about power, class, or gender -- sometimes all three.

Jacob lives in historic (of course) Lexington, Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Onward, December 21, 2009

By 

Christian Schlect (Yakima, Washington/USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: King of the Lobby: The Life and Times of Sam Ward, Man-About-Washington in the Gilded Age (Hardcover)

A pleasant biography of a most interesting fellow and a good history of early lobbying in our nation's capital.

Sam Ward had a boatload of life experiences that gave him the stories to entrance, over fine dinners, the political bigwigs of the day. He was a friend with the poet Longfellow and brother of the woman who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic. He was as comfortable in the gold rush of California as the drawing rooms of England.

Ms. Jacob, the author, handles Sam Ward's story well and interweaves it nicely with a broader view of lobbying. I like her calm, rational view of this time honored activity: she notes both the dark side and the useful side of this craft, one that is inexorably tied, to some degree at least, to the functioning of all governments.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whenever lobbyists, clients, and congressmen come together, Sam is there, May 10, 2010

By 

ROROTOKO (rorotoko dot com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: King of the Lobby: The Life and Times of Sam Ward, Man-About-Washington in the Gilded Age (Hardcover)

"King of the Lobby" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Jacob's book interview ran here as the cover feature on May 7, 2010.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars King of the Lobby: The Life and Times of Sam Ward, February 17, 2010

By 

Mary P. Johnson (Severna Park, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: King of the Lobby: The Life and Times of Sam Ward, Man-About-Washington in the Gilded Age (Hardcover)

Author Kathryn Allamong Jacob brings Gilded Age Washington alive for the reader, describing the capital in its village adolescence with such meticulous historical accuracy that we become part of the scene of this "backwater capital" where politicians were transients. Into this bland scene Jacob introduces us to a colorful Sam Ward whose elegance and charm captivate us. Lobbyists were already part of the Washington political scene during the Civl War era employed by business barons to court and influence Congressmen. Here we discover a lovable lobbyist - a king whose table seems a wondrous place as described in this fascinating read called "King of the Lobby."