Marjorie E. Kornhauser (Tulane) has posted Shaping Public Opinion and the Law in the 1930s: How a Common Man Campaign Ended a Rich Man’s Law on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:

As mass communications and technology become more sophisticated, the ability of a small group to influence laws by shaping public opinion increases. The 1920s and 30s were a formative period in the growth of political lobbying. Shaping Public Opinion and the Law in the 1930s: How a "Common Man" Campaign Ended a Rich Man’s Law, explores this development by examining the 1935 repeal of a 1934 law requiring that certain income tax information be public records available to all.

Although very few Americans paid income taxes in the 1930s, an intense campaign led by one man under the banner of a small conservative organization largely consisting of wealthy individuals harnessed the hopes and fears of the common man to support a policy that did not affect them. The story of this campaign is a remarkable one for anyone interested in American history, the media, politics, or simply a good tale, full of razzle-dazzle and a large dose of kidnapping anxiety. Studying the repeal campaign, however, offers more substantive rewards. It provides perspective on the recurrent tension between the right to know and privacy and deepens our knowledge of conservative groups during the New Deal.

The Article first provides a brief history of publicity of federal tax information. It then sets the stage for the 1934 provision’s repeal by first briefly describing conservative "educational" or "lobbying" groups in the 1920s and 1930s, then concentrating on the Sentinels of the Republic, the group that sponsored the repeal, and finally focusing on Raymond Pitcairn, the man responsible for the campaign. It then proceeds to the repeal itself, detailing the Sentinels’ campaign, discussing congressional opposition, and explaining the Roosevelt administration’s position. It concludes that Pitcairn’s campaign not only proved instrumental to the repeal of the pink slip but confirmed the power of a small, committed number of individuals to effect political change by harnessing the support of the "common" man, a technique still frequently used, as in the recent battle to repeal the estate tax.