that sam ward never asked a man about a measure in which he was interested at his dinner table. but he treated his friends so well that they were always anxious to do something for him. and usually asking as they were leaving how they could help. sam brought guests together around his table and let a good dinner, good wine, good conversation convince educated, launch, educate launch schemes or nip them in the bud offer overcome obstacles. his guests who were all chosen with a purpose, might find to their surprise that they had common interests or much to learn from each other. a client might find himself sitting next to a congress man on an issue of importance to him or have a chance to talk casually to a congressman away from his office. dinners were not sam's only means to his ends. he spent many days visiting capitol hill and cabinet

departments. then as now, access was critical to a lobbyist's success and sam enjoyed remarkable access to offices around town. these were men he had known since childhood, met at boarding school, met at columbia, men who had danced with his sisters and whose sisters he had danced with. men who had kind at his tables and he at theirs. like some other lobbyists, he traded information providing facts around figures. many commented on his memory. with the facts he had stored away about mining or steam travel or rail rates coupled with amusing anecdotes, he could hold his listener' attention while arguing for whatever he was being paid to push. no where, not in newspaper accounts shs obit airies or in sam's own letters or those of

his clients was there ever any hint that sam ever took a bribe, offered a bribe, engaged in black dels mail or used any other means to win his ends and sam was very proud of that. in 1875, sam was called to testify before a congressional committee looking into the awarding of contracts to the pacific steam ship company. the hearings went badly for some but not for sam. it spread his fame even further. he told the committee about pig's ears, this cartoon appeared in the new york daily graphic. this is not to say that sam today alone as a par gone of virtue and that all other lobbyists were corrupt. among his fellow lobbyists, some were blatant, some were gross, some would stoop very very low to blackmail and bribe, but many

were none of these things. he stood out from the rest because while he used some of the methods in many lobbyist' bag of tricks, he employed entertaining so defendantly and often to win his ends. it's true that rich philadelphiians had wind and dined in the late 1700s in the hopes of winning their votes. sam enlisted the combination of delicious food, fine wine and sparkling combinations in his lobbying efforts if a systematic and central way that set him apart. sam's style of lobbying required patience to pull off. he often gave dinners for no reason at all, save to bring together men and women together for evenings for enjoyment. but at these evenings he cast

seeds that might not bear fruit for several years. sam's list upon mevern of whom he could drop in for a chat lengthened. these were the hallmarks of what reporters would call the social lobby. and by the late 1860s, he was written up in newspapers across the country as its king. this is a picture of sam looking quite regal in a caricature by spy in 1880. the list of sam's clients expanded to include insurance companies, telegraph companies, steamship lines, banking interests, mining interests, investors and individuals with claims of all sorts. for all of them sam put his dinners, his knowledge of the bureaucracy, his friendships of key players of both parties, together to slide bills through

congress, sidetrack others, guide claims through government bureaus. by the late 1870s when sam has approaching 70, he was slowing down. his dinners still sparkled but his letters revealed that he was getting tired and the deaths of his daughter and his son and law leaving his ten grandchildren or fanned, of his old friend, his brother-in-law had left him shaken. although julia and friends urged him to slow down, the truth was that he couldn't retire. he was famous but he was not rich. he lived well, very well indeed, but on other men's money. a personal savings, sam had none. he worked hard, but when it came to be prove dent, sam was the grasshopper. the ants of the lobby amassed

small fortunes. and then sam's fortune changed dramatically. in 1878 out of the blue, a wealthy california showed up in new york. he had been a teenager when sam found him down on his luck and ill in the 1850s. he had been manipulating a block of railroad stock with sam in mind and he felt the time had come to reward him with the profits. nearly $750,000. with this dramatic change in his circumstances, washington would see less of sam. although he was a frequent visitor, host and guest in the cast, the king of the lobby was abdicating his crown, pulling up stakes 20 years after he first

blew into town. knew in the chips, sam had his stationary with the compass pointing to sw, in boston gold rather than the thres expensive royal purple you see here in this 1872 letter. with money to spend, sam's gift giving took on staggering dimensions. he had always sent kasks of olive oil, bottles of sauce, baskets of peaches to family and friend and strangers he met on the street. but now for his sister, he paid off the mortgage for the ranch she loved, for julia there was a house as well. in 1880, sam bought her a hand some townhouse in boston. there were bookcases for one niece, a pearl neck lace for another, a salve ier pen dant for another, boxes of cigars,

wheels of cheese, bottle of wine for every one. sam wrote julia explicit instructions for for handling the wine he was sending her in 1881. in the summer of 1880, the letters were filled with enthusiastic reports about a grand money-making scheme. he was backing developer who were pushing a grand resort. within a year, to no one's surprise but sam's the project was requiring more and more cash while little seemed to be getting built. by the fall of 1882, sam was in way over his head. when he finally admitted his situation to friends, they found that not only was his fortune gone, but he had foolishly signed papers making him libel for millions more. when he had hit bottom in 1849, he sailed west to california.

this time he slunk out of town by catching a ship bound for england trying to throw creditors off his scent. the sisters envisioned brother sam leading a quiet live in exile. but in stead, sam bobbed up in london and was straightaway entertained by anyone who was anyone. soon he was writing jaunty letters back to julia who received them sourly telling of country houses, day day at as cot, chatting with the prince of wales. he did take this photo in 1883. the photo is still in family hands. late in 1883, he moved to italy.

he become ill and on the morning of 1884, he dictated one last letter and died. within days of sam's passing, obits opeered in more than a dozen papers. plus newspapers in washington, boston and chicago ran stories with headlines that read a famous lobbyist, dead. sam ward, exit. and from the national police ga zet, his career, add ventures as a lobbyist, speculator and lover. the new york times obittory filled two columns with more than a thousand words. after mentioning his eyes, most of them focused on several

aspects of sam's life. sam as a jeanal host, friend to the world and sam as king of the lobby. what a puzzle was this universal favorite concluded the tribune, who the moralist could not find it in his heart to dislike and the boldest lobby agent could call his comrade. he lived by arts and adornd a questionable life with so much refinement and good breeding. it did put its finger on sam's most significant contribution to the lobby. it correctly concluded that sam's greatest achievement was establishing himself in washington at the head of a profession which, from the lowest depths of disrepute, he raised -- he never resorted to bribery, he excelled in composing -- and sementing the

friendships which played a part in political affairs and he tempted men not by the purse, but with banquets. sam's recipes lived on for decades. for years bar patrons ordered sam wards, a drink he invented, cracked ice in a glass, a then peel of lemon and yellow char truce. the boston summer club carried one of his signature dishes on their menu into this century, which would have pleased him. the social lobby that sam perfected lived on and lived still. in the 1990s, hearings into lobby activities confirmed that the social lobby was alive and well in washington. so well, so important and so effective in fact that dinners

and entertaining were specifically singled out for special rules in the 19 5 disclosure act that were tightened further in 2007. one can almost hear sam disputer with indig nation upon learning that neither members nor their aides can accept free meals from registered lobbyists. despite the scrutiny, the social lobby endures. it entours because of loop who else. there's the tooth pick rule, food served on toothpicks rather than plaets does not cons tate a mel. the reception where members can still attend events where 25 people who are not members of congress attend. but the social lobby lives on because when sam arrived in washington in 1859, brinking people together over good food, remains a great way to break down animosities and conduct

business. it's often a successful strategy still. whenever lobbyists and congressmen come together at social occasions, sam is there. that the continuing power of the social lobby is well understood is clear in this great cartoon from april of 2009. i don't know if you can read. the woman who manages everything more smoothly than you has a handle on creating bipartisanship. a series of intimate dinner parties should do the trick. i've compiled a list of powerful republicans and their favorite foots. i've invited yo yo ma, everybody love him not like bar bra strie sand. at the end of evening each guest gets an adorable puppy. sam could certainly slip into

any office at one of washington's top public relations firms. and armed with statistics and blackberry make the rounds on capitol hill by day and host and lobby and receptions by night. sam would be happy to see that the social lobby, while just one of many avenues leading to influence in washington, was still going strong. and that entertaining still provides one among many opportunities for communication in the capital. as arthur schlesinger junior noted 100 years after sam's death, every close student of washington knows half the essential business of government is transacted in the evening, where the sternest purpose lurks under the highest frif olty. sam's art was to guarantee that the men and women never focused on the purpose that lurked

beneath his perfectly cooked meals. thank you. >> can i take questions? >> time for questions. >> you mentioned a great convergence of public causes in the post-war period and you listed the great number of private interests that he represented in washington. did he ever take an interest in advancing humanitarian or public cause at all? and could you elaborate a little on the nature of been but the fer. >> could you repeat the question? >> sure. the question was could i elaborate on the enmity between sam and been butter. ben butler was a senator from

massachusetts. he vacillated between being a democrat and republican. he's probably most well known for debacles during the civil war, he was known as spoon's butler, he was the military administrator for new orleans after it was captured by the union. he issued -- i can't remember the name of the order, but it was that all southern women who disrespected union soldiers should be treated as prostitutes. there were rumors he stole family silver. his picture was paint d on the inside of chamber pots in the south. he and sam really hated one another, partly because of butler's vacillation from being a democrat to being a republican. sam was a supporter of andrew johnson. didn't feel that he should be impeached and had aided that in every way he could and ben

butler was counting on johnson being impeached. the two of them traded barbs their entire lives. >> you mentioned james garfield, but i also wonder if he had any encounters with either ulysses grant or twan and what they were like. >> could i talk about sam's relationship with other figures in the period, grant and twain and garfield. garfield was one of his best friends. the two of them loved the classics. sam always had a copy of homer in his pocket and he and garfield were drown together by their love of the classics. garfield also had a family back in ohio and he was in washington and he was lonely and he's one of sam's most frequent dinner

guests. in his diary he recounts eating dinner at sam's three, four times a week sometimes. he was also a very prominent member of an important house committee. he knows why he's invited when certain people are going to be the guest. but he's okay with that. so they were very good friends. sam had very little regard for grant. he didn't like radical republicans. he disagreed with the way reconstruction was being conducted in the south and he really didn't like the scandals that were just swamping the white house in grant's second administration. it really seemed to the nation that this union that had been redeemed by the deaths of 600,000 soldiers was falling apart and that corruption was going to overcome the recently redeemed union. he blamed a lot of that on grant. i don't think he thought grant

was personally corrupt but he blamed him for having corrupt people around him. and i don't really have any evidence of his connection with twain. certainly they were in town at s "the gilded age," it is the most wonderful novel, political novel about washington. and it's just vicious in its characterization of lobbyists. and the edition had wonderful caricatures, and there's one tally of how much it cost to get a bill through congress. and so there are pictures of congressmen and senators and how much it cost to buy them underneath. it's wonderful. as is henry adams "democracy." i highly recommend. they're great. >> i realize that you focused on the primarily male-dominated world of the lobbyist in the late 19th century. but in your book, you teasingly mentioned that there were also women lobbyists, even at that time. can you elaborate about that? and, of course, at the library,

are there collections on women lobbyists in washington? >> i wish there were. the question is about women lobbyists in this period. there were definitely women lobbying. they were known as lobbiesses, which is a hard word to get your mouth around. but lobbiesses were around on the scene. they were there were reporters describing lobbieses. we know there were real live women lobbying for their own claims. these were known to many reporters as the civil war widows, daughters, orphaned by the war. daughters who were the only child left of a family whose farm had been taken by the war or lost livestock. and they would come to washington themselves, and they would sit outside members' offices and try to get a moment of their time. they were rarely successful, and they would often spend what few

resources they had left to do this. there were other women sort of a middle tier of lobby he ises, who would come as claims agents. they would often be hired by male lobbyists to present the case. mark twain says -- talks about why a woman lobbyist is so successful. i think he says, you can't -- you can't brush them off like you can a man. there's -- there's a great line about why he thinks they were successful. and many times, they were. they would plead a case, and they would get a percentage of the claim once it was won. and then there's a third tier, which as far as i know, really only exists in reporters' imaginations. they are the seductive ress, one reporter calls them tempt being peaches, that tempt men into

their doom, very, very beautiful, beautifully dressed, wonderful jewels. and they meet with men privately, and use their femini femini feminine wiles to get what they want. these were talked about over and over in washington, but i really think this was a fear rather than a genuine something that happened frequently. there is one woman, she is the wife of attorney general george williams, who -- about whom scandal allows things were written. things that i can't even repeat in letters here at the library of congress. she does seem to have lobbied for her husband, taken favors, taken money, taken presents, to push things before the justice department. but she's the only person with a real name that i can identify.

and i can't find any lobby he ises who left any kind of a written record. >> where does the term "lobby," "lobbyist" come from? >> it's very old. in the united states used as the early 1820s. and there's one ledgend that it comes from the lobbies of the willard hotel. it exists far further back in american history than that. it's a term that's used in england before it's used here. but you find it as early as the 1820s. and it's -- i mean, lobbying is as old as the government, from the minute the government opened, there were individuals pressing for claims, asking for compensation, looking for pensions for the revolutionary war service. it's protected by the first amendment. and that's something that a lot

of people don't understand. so in the 1870s, when reporters are calling for the abolition of the lobby, hello, you know, you just can't do that. and to lobby for the abolition of the lobby is an interesting exercise that was pointed out by many advocates for lobbying. and sam was one of them. he gave an impassioned testimony before the house ways and means committee on the importance of the lobby. and its regard in london, that there were lobby agents that had a certain time and a place to lobby before members of parliament. so it's very old. >> originated in england? >> if you look at different political dictionaries, you find a different dictionary -- a different definition. in each one. but it seems as though it's used in england before it's used here.

>> you mentioned that women were at some of these dinners. was thatted standard, and did the women withdrawal and then the men talk politics or how did it work? >> sam had two kinds of dinners. he had one kind of dinner that really had a targeted purpose. if there was a bill before the finance committee, or the ways and means committee, and one of sam's clients wanted the vote to go a certain way, he would -- there's wonderful correspondence between sam and his client, bar low. bar low writes and says it's the most candid letter writing about lobbying i've ever seen. barlow will write and say, i want this vote passed. and sam will write back and say, okay,it going to cost you. i'm proposing four dinners at $500 each. and here wiare the people i'm suggesting, but who do you want. those dinners were more purposeful. but he often had dinners where

he would just invite people he thought would be congenial. lots of foreign-born ministers and their american wives, people he knew from different aspects of his life. they were really more cultivating dinners. women would be present. i don't have any evidence that they withdrew while the men smokedcy gars, whether or not it was to talk business. and sam was very respectful of women's opinions at these dinners. everybody who at dinner at sam's wrote home about them. and that's one of the reasons we know so much about these dinners. and they would talk about, sam listened to me. mr. ward asked me about my opinion of this. and it didn't go unnoticed. all of the women who wrote home mentioned this. are you signalling me? >> i'm signalling you, yes. thank you very much. please join me in thanking cathy. >> thank you. really a pleasure to have your

knowledge and your -- research experience explained to us so well. you really have a contemporary look at a -- historical look at a contemporary situation which everyone in the audience has enjoyed. cathy is going to sit here to sign books. there are books for sale just outside the door. they're on sale at the library of congress discount. i encourage you to buy them. and come back in and continue the conversation and get the books signed. but let's conclude one more time with a -- with a thank you to cathy. thank you. next weekend on history bookshelf, john nagy talks about the history of espionage which he outlines in his book "invisible yink." he is a member of the round table in philadelphia. history bookshelf airs three times each weekend, including

saturday at noon eastern. this is c-span 3, with politics and public affairs programming throughout the week, and every weekend, 48 hours of people and events telling the american story on american history tv. get our schedules and see past programs at our websites. and you can join in the conversation on social media sites. i had my ambition to walk where john smith and poke han as walked. this makes a rectangular space that would be the chancel. poke honor as it marries john rolf in this church in 1614. so i guarantee you, i'm standing a little dipper than she was. >> later today on american history tv, tour the jamestown colony dig with project director william kelso. the colonyas