Our Man in London

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Controlling the narrative is at the center of this month's microcast. As tensions escalate between Britain and the colonies, Americans residing and working in London experienced a unique set of difficulties, especially Americans involved in the production and dissemination of political intelligence. In a letter dated 6 March 1785, Arthur Lee underlined for John Adams, "how powerful a political instrument the press is," and how "the readers of News-papers swallow intelligence much more greedily, than any of the rest of their contents." In the wake of events at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, Arthur and the Americans manage to steal a march on their British counterparts, scoring a significant public relations victory at the head of the impending war. One consequence of that victory is the subject of this month's letter dated 22 December 1775, which finds Dr. Arthur Lee put out by some mail gone missing.
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