William Lowe Boyd was there, making a difference in the study of politics of education, both intellectually and organizationally, at key moments in the development of the field. In fact, the field and study of the subject itself were linked politically, as scholars interested in research on the political science of how schools operate were involved in establishing the subfield of political science around issues of who "controls" American public schools, including autocratic, class-oriented, professional, and democratic groups. Although early authors argued that education was an essential public good, and remained "above and beyond" the haggling and maneuvering of local, state, or national politics, Boyd and others established that the larger and more complex education became, the more political its actions and ideas became. Boyd, then, helped to establish the field of education politics research--and the key associations that supported and published on the subject. This article captures the three-part contribution of Boyd: (a) intellectually, as a thinker and shaper of the field; (b) politically as leader and developer of the field; and (c) as editor and writer of key journals and organs of the discipline education politics.