Tom J. Donohue

Thomas J. Donohue Sr. (born 1938) is the President and CEO of the United States Chamber of Commerce located in Washington, D.C. The Chamber of Commerce supports pro-business causes and is the largest and oldest trade association in the United States. The Chamber is the largest lobbying group in the U.S., spending more money than any other lobbying organization on a yearly basis. Donohue has been the Chamber's president since 1997.

Born in Brooklyn to a production manager at the American Can Company, Donohue was raised on Long Island and studied at St. John's University, before pursuing an MA in Business at Adelphi University (1965). His grandfather worked for New York City and was a member of the Tammany Hall machine. He worked his way through college as a union truck driver before working as a fundraiser for the Boy Scouts of America and the National Center for Disability Services. Henry Viscardi, the group's founder, says that when he met Donohue, "I sat him down across the desk from me and asked what job he wanted to have down the road. He said, `I want your job.' That's Tom Donohue for you.”

He worked as an administrator at Fairfield University (1967–69) and as a trustee at Marymount University. From 1969 to 1976 he was the US Official Deputy Assistant Postmaster General, where he helped "convert[] the Post Office from a government department into the quasi-private U.S. Postal Service." Back then, he told Newsday, "you could make a deal in the government. We went up more times to see old Gale McGee, [D-WY, chairman of the Senate Post Office Committee]. He went down under some stairway, we had a drink in the middle of the day, and we talked about Wyoming and then they'd all cuss and swear and tell stories and then, the deal gets fixed."

"We don't do that anymore," he added. "You've got to go through the chairman, but you've got to go through all the plays. You don't just do it with lobbyists, you gotta do it from back home. In the past, if a couple of party leaders didn't want you to do your deal, you were dead in the water. That's not true anymore. So, now we can say, `Well, that's great, Mr. Chairman. We have great respect for you. How about lunch on the 30th and great, that'd be great. Meanwhile we're going to go beat the crap out of you. And go to all your guys and get their votes.' You can roll a chairman now. Or other chairmen will help you roll 'em."

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