ABSTRACT
As the waves of the Progressive revolt rose around Capitol Hill in the early months of Roosevelt’s presidency, it became apparent to shrewd men that conventional lobbying and legislative fixing would not prove adequate in a time when, in Roosevelt’s words, there was “a condition of excitement and irritation in the public mind” The discerning interest groups began to see the need to go beyond the legislator to his constituents to build support for or foment opposition to proposed legislation. Inside government, Roosevelt and his Forester, Gifford Pinchot, were showing the power of publicity in making the nation conservation minded. Outside government, the Anti-Saloon League with its program of political agitation directed toward the defeat of wet and election of dry candidates was showing the way to pressure groups. This new kind of lobbying required communication with a congressman’s constituents as well as contacts with him in the Capitol.
