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C H A P T E R 2

The History of
Public Relations

OUTLINE

PREVIEW
RHETORICIAN AND PRESS AGENT TRADITION
American Antecedents to Public Relations
Public Relations in a Young Nation
P. T. Barnum and Press Agentry
The Downside of Press Agentry
JOURNALISTIC AND PUBLICITY TRADITION
Early Public Relations Consultants
Not-for-Profit Organizations and Social Movements
Early Corporate Communications Departments
Early Government Public Relations
THE PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN TRADITION
The Creel Committee
Edward Bernays
RELATIONSHIP-BUILDING AND TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION TRADITION
Arthur Page
The Depression and World War II
Post–World War II
Harold Burson
Moss Kendrix
Professionalization of the Field
New Stakeholder Groups
THE GLOBAL INFORMATION SOCIETY
The Internet to Social Media
Global Communication Demands
Proliferating Communication Channels
CASE STUDY
SUMMARY
KEY TERMS
NOTES

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PREVIEW

N
ewspapers have carried advertising since the days of the American Revolution. Benja-
min Franklin, who was also a writer and an editor, published the most widely read
newspaper in the American colonies. His Pennsylvania Gazette carried advertising for such
everyday items as soap, books, and stationery. Franklin even wrote some of his own ads, one
of which praises the superior features of the pot-bellied stove he invented.
People with a message to communicate have long recognized the power of public opin-
ion to move others to action. That’s why public opinion is one of the three factors responsible
for the growth of public relations as a communications medium. The other two are competi-
tion among the many institutions that rely on public support and the development of media
through which these organizations can reach the public. These three factors have motivated
the evolution of public relations through four different traditions:

■ The rhetorician and press agent tradition

■ The journalistic and publicity tradition
■ The persuasive communication campaign tradition
■ The relationship-building and two-way communication tradition

As we look at each of these traditions throughout the chapter, you’ll see that like many
historical trends, they overlap somewhat. Each has been a product of the larger economic,
political, social, and cultural forces of the time, as well as of the growth of mass media and
specialized communications channels. We can think of them as a historical continuum of the
strategic uses of communication by business organizations, social movements, not-for-profit
groups, government agencies, and community groups.

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But it is the lessons we learn from history that make its study important for us. In public
relations we have the benefit of important principles developed and employed by many
20th-century practitioners. Ivy Lee teaches us that we must take positive action in order to
have something worth communicating. Harold Burson, who built the largest public relations
agency in the world, stresses a business culture of “caring and sharing,” or “prize the indi-
vidual and celebrate the team.” Edward Bernays teaches us the importance of applying social
science techniques to influence behavior.
This chapter presents the many individuals and social movements that have shaped our
practice of public relations today. Learn the principles they developed, and be creative in
applying them to the public relations discipline of the future.

The forerunner to modern-day public relations practice can

RHETORICIAN AND be found in the work of rhetoricians, press agents, and other
PRESS AGENT TRADITION promoters. Since early times speechmakers, called rhetoricians,
provided such communication services as speech-writing,
speaking on clients’ behalf, training for difficult questions, and
persuasion skills.
For example, by Plato’s day, ca. 427 to 347 BC, rhetoric as a distinct discipline was
well established in Greece. The foremost rhetorician was Gorgias of Leontinium in Sicily
(ca. 483–375 BC) who believed that the rhetorician’s job was to foster persuasive skills
more than it was to determine if arguments and claims were true or false, according
to Helio Fred Garcia.1 Garcia also noted that even in classical Athens, public opinion
determined matters both large and small, from important public works projects such as
building city walls to the appointment of generals and other high officeholders to set-
tling matters of criminal justice.2
Persuasive skills have been used to influence the public and public opinion for hun-
dreds of years. Artifacts of what can be construed as public relations materials survive
from ancient India, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome. The Crusades, the exploits of Lady
Godiva, the actions of Martin Luther, and the adventures of the conquistadores seeking
El Dorado have all been explained as examples of ancient public relations activities. The
creation in the 17th century of the Congregatio de Propaganda (the congregation for
propagating the faith) by the Roman Catholic Church is often pointed to as a keystone
in the development of public relations. The action brought us the term propaganda but
was not a significant development in a church that exists to propagate the faith.

American Antecedents to Public Relations

Numerous examples of public relations–like activities were identifiable in the early days
of American settlement as each of the colonies used publicity techniques to attract set-
tlers. In 1641, Harvard College initiated the first systematic U.S. fund-raising campaign,
which was supported by the first fund-raising brochure, New England’s First Fruits.
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Chapter 2 • The History of Public Relations 27

Boston Tea Party staged by

Samuel Adams.

In 1758, King’s College (now Columbia University) issued the first press release—to
announce graduation exercises.
Publicity techniques were even more prevalent at the time of the American Revo-
lution and all subsequent conflicts or situations when power has been threatened or
when public support is needed. Indeed, public relations has prospered most in times of
extreme pressure or crisis. Such were the circumstances preceding the American Revo-
lutionary War, when Samuel Adams initiated what can be called a public relations cam-
paign. Adams was to the communication dimension of the Revolutionary War what
George Washington was to the military dimension. Adams recognized the value of using
symbols like the Liberty Tree that were easily identifiable and aroused emotions.
Adams also used slogans that are still remembered, like “taxation without represen-
tation is tyranny.” Because he got his side of the story to a receptive public first, shots
fired into a group of rowdies became known as “the Boston Massacre.” Adams directed
a sustained-saturation public relations campaign using all available media. He staged the
Boston Tea Party to influence public opinion. In the Sons of Liberty and Committees
of Correspondence, he provided the organizational structure to implement the actions
made possible by his public relations campaign.3

Public Relations in a Young Nation

In the infancy of the United States, public relations was practiced primarily in the
political sphere. The publication and dissemination of the Federalist Papers, which led
to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, has been called “history’s finest public rela-
tions job.”4
Early in his presidency, Andrew Jackson appointed Amos Kendall, a member of
the famous Kitchen Cabinet, to serve as the candidate’s pollster, counselor, ghostwriter,
and publicist. Although he did not hold the title, Kendall effectively served as the first
presidential press secretary and congressional liaison. Jackson, who could not express
himself very well, used Kendall as a specialist to convey his ideas to Congress and the

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28 Part I • The Profession

American people through the newspapers of the day. Newspapers, for the first time, were
beginning to reach a rising middle class as a result of urbanization and advances in pub-
lic education and literacy rates. Still, communication was primarily face-to-face because
the majority of Americans lived on farms or in small communities.
Publicity drove the settlement of the American western frontier, the biggest issue
of the time. From Daniel Boone to Davy Crockett to Buffalo Bill, skillful and sometimes
exaggerated promotion was the way to move easterners to the west. Even Jesse James
got into the act when he issued a news release about one of his particularly daring train
robberies. Business leaders, too, became aware of publicity’s virtues. When Burlington
Railroad initiated its 1858 publicity campaign, Charles Russell Lowell stated, “We must
blow as loud a trumpet as the merits of our position warrants.”5

P. T. Barnum and Press Agentry

Phineas T. Barnum has always been considered the master of press agentry, a promoter
with endless imagination. Barnum promoted the midget General Tom Thumb; Jenny
Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale”; Jumbo, the elephant; and Joice Heath, a 161-year-
old woman (it was claimed, although an autopsy report after her death put her age at
70–80). Barnum used publicity to make money, pure and simple.
When P. T. Barnum died, the London Times fondly called him a “harmless deceiver.”
As long as press agentry is used to promote circuses, entertainment, and professional
sports, its negative potential is limited. Its use in business and politics, however, is more
threatening.

The Downside of Press Agentry

In the quest to gain media and public attention, press agentry can become increasingly
outrageous, exploitive, and manipulative. Moreover, the manipulative attempt to gain
the attention of the public through the media has an even darker side.
In 1878, French sociologist Paul Brousse described what he called the “propaganda
of the deed.” The term refers to a provocative act committed to draw attention toward
an idea or grievance in order to get publicity. For European anarchists in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries, propaganda of the deed meant bombing, murder, and assassi-
nation. European sociologists feared that press agents and rhetoricians could incite mob
rule, thereby making governments and societies less stable. This is the same tactic used
by terrorist organizations through attacks such as the 9/11 suicide flights into the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon. Terrorists try to use their attacks to draw attention to
their propaganda.

Societal conditions surrounding the 19th-century American Indus-

JOURNALISTIC AND trial Revolution paved the way for a new dominant model of public
PUBLICITY TRADITION relations practice. The Industrial Revolution hit America with full
force during the last quarter of the 19th century. The nation’s pop-
ulation doubled as immigrants rushed to the land of opportunity.
New products and new patterns of life rapidly emerged. The enforced rhythm of the
factory, the stress of urban life, and the vast distinction between the bosses and the work-
ers were new and not always pleasant realities of American life. In fact, social harmony
was generally breaking down as evidenced by rising conflict and confrontation.

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Chapter 2 • The History of Public Relations 29

Businesses were racking up enormous profits but were losing public support in the
process. Workers began to organize themselves into unions, and they perceived their
interests in many cases as directly opposed to those of business owners. Business was at
once highly successful and increasingly besieged. Historian Merle Curti wrote that cor-
porations gradually began to realize the importance of combating hostility and to court
public favor. The expert in the field of public relations was an inevitable phenomenon in
view of the need for the services he or she could provide.6
In short, industrialization altered the structure of society and gave rise to conditions
requiring public relations expertise. By the early 1900s, business was forced to submit to
more and more governmental regulations and encountered increasingly hostile criticism
from the press. Corporations recognized that deception, manipulation, and self-serving
half-truths were inappropriate responses to challenges raised by media and government.
As a result, public relations became a specialized function broadly accepted in major
corporations in order to counter hostility by courting public support.
Not surprisingly, the term public relations came into use at this time; its earliest
appearance was probably in Dorman B. Eaton’s 1882 address to the graduating class of
the Yale Law School. The concept, as noted, was not new, but the coining of the term
suggested a new level of importance and consciousness. As historian Marc Bloch has
commented, “The advent of a name is a great event even when the object named is not
new, for the act of naming signifies conscious awareness.”7

Early Public Relations Consultants

Former journalists began to find it possible to make a living in the public relations busi-
ness. In 1900, George V. S. Michaelis established the Publicity Bureau in Boston. His job,
as he saw it, was to gather factual information about his clients for distribution to news-
papers. By 1906, his major clients were the nation’s railroads. The railroads engaged the
Publicity Bureau to head off adverse regulations being promoted by Theodore Roosevelt.
The agency used fact-finding publicity and personal contact to push its clients’ position,
but it kept secret its connection with the railroad. The Publicity Bureau staff increased
dramatically, with offices set up in New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, and
Topeka and with agents in California, South Dakota, and elsewhere.
President Theodore Roosevelt, who saw the presidency as “a bully pulpit,” proved
to be more than a match for the Publicity Bureau. The first president to make extensive
use of press conferences and interviews, Roosevelt was said to rule the country from
the newspapers’ front pages. The passage of the Hepburn Act extended government
control over the railroad industry and represented a clear victory for the Roosevelt
administration.
The father of public relations and the man most credited with nurturing the fledg-
ling public relations profession was Ivy Ledbetter Lee, son of a Georgia preacher. Lee
was a reporter who, early on, saw better prospects in the publicity arena. After working
in New York’s 1903 mayoral campaign and for the Democratic National Committee, Lee
joined George Parker, another newspaper veteran, to form the nation’s third publicity
agency in 1904.
Two years later, coal operators George F. Baer and Associates hired the partnership
to represent their interests during a strike in the anthracite mines. John Mitchell, leader
of the labor forces, was quite open and conversant with the press, which treated him and
his cause with considerable sympathy. The tight-lipped Baer would not even talk to the
president of the United States.

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30 Part I • The Profession

Lee took the assignment and persuaded Baer to open up. Then he promptly issued a
Declaration of Principles to all newspaper city editors. The sentiments expressed in this
document clearly indicated that public relations had entered its second stage.
As Eric Goldman observed, “The public was no longer to be ignored, in the tradi-
tional manner of business, nor fooled, in the continuing manner of the press agent.”8
Lee declared that the public was to be informed:

This is not a secret press bureau. All our work is done in the open. We aim to supply news.
This is not an advertising agency; if you think any of our matter ought properly to go to your
business office, do not use it. Our matter is accurate. Further details on any subject treated
will be supplied promptly, and any editor will be assisted most cheerfully in verifying directly
any statement of fact. . . . In brief, our plan is, frankly and openly, on behalf of business con-
cerns and public institutions, to supply to the press and public of the United States prompt
and accurate information concerning subjects which it is of value and interest to the public
to know about.9

In short, then, Lee’s idea was to tell the truth about his client organizations’ actions.
He believed that if telling the truth damaged the organization, the organization should
correct the problem so that the truth could be told without fear. That said, Lee’s railroad
clients did not react well to this treatise. Public relations historian Ray Hiebert wrote,
“Many an old-timer with the railroad was dismayed when, almost immediately, Lee be-
gan revolutionizing things, putting into effect his theories about absolute frankness with
the press.”10
Lee’s publicity arsenal was not limited to news releases. In helping stave off railroad
freight regulations, Lee published leaflets, folders, and bulletins for customers; company
news for employees; and other material for important decision makers, including con-
gressmen, state legislators, mayors and city councilmen, economists, bankers, college
presidents, writers, and clergymen.11
Lee realized that a corporation could not hope to influence the public unless its
publicity was supported by good works. Performance determines publicity. To achieve
necessary and positive consistency between words and actions, Lee urged his clients in
business and industry to align their senses and their policies with the public interest.
The public, Lee thought, was made up of rational human beings who, if they are given
complete and accurate information, would make the right decisions. As a result, he said
that his job was interpreting the Pennsylvania Railroad to the public and interpreting the
public to the Pennsylvania Railroad. In short, Lee saw himself as a mediator bridging the
concerns of business and the public’s interests.
Then, in 1914, Lee was hired to remake the image of John D. Rockefeller, the owner
of Standard Oil of New Jersey. Nine thousand coal miners went on strike in southern
Colorado in September 1913. The Rockefellers were the principal stockholders in the
largest company involved, the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. In April 1914, an
accidental shot resulted in a battle in which several miners, two women, and 11 children
were killed. The Rockefellers were blamed, and their name was damaged. Lee advised
the younger Rockefeller to practice a policy of openness. After the strike, Lee advised
Rockefeller to visit the mining camps to observe conditions firsthand.
Lee died in disgrace, the victim of his own public relations policies. In the early
1930s, Lee advised the Interessen Gemeinschaft Farben Industrie, more commonly
known as I. G. Farben, or the German Dye Trust. Eventually the Nazis took over, and
the company asked Lee for advice on how to improve German–American relations. He
told the company to be open and honest. Shortly before his death, Lee’s connections
with the Germans were investigated by the House Special Committee on Un-American

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Chapter 2 • The History of Public Relations 31

Activities. Headlines screamed “Lee Exposed as Hitler Press Agent,” and his name was
blackened throughout the United States.
Other early publicity offices were established by William Wolf Smith in Washington,
D.C., in 1902; Hamilton Wright, San Francisco, 1908; Pendleton Dudley, New York’s
Wall Street district, 1909; Rex Harlow, Oklahoma City, 1912; and Fred Lewis and William
Seabrook, Atlanta, 1912.

Not-for-Profit Organizations and Social Movements

Not-for-profit organizations, including colleges, churches, charitable causes, and health
and welfare agencies, began to use publicity extensively in the early 20th century. In 1899,
Anson Phelps Stokes converted Yale University’s Office of the Secretary into an effective
alumni and public relations office. Harvard president Charles W. Eliot, who spoke as
early as 1869 on the need to influence public opinion toward advancement of learning,
was among the Publicity Bureau’s first clients in 1900. The University of Pennsylvania
and the University of Wisconsin set up publicity bureaus in 1904. By 1917, the Associa-
tion of American College News Bureaus was formed.
In 1905, the Washington, D.C., YMCA sought $350,000 for a new building. For the
first time, a full-time publicist was engaged in a fund-raising drive. By 1908, the Red
Cross and the National Tuberculosis Association were making extensive use of publicity
agents. The New York Orphan Asylum was paying a publicity man $75 per month.
Churches and church groups were quick to recognize the value of an organized
publicity effort. New York City’s Trinity Episcopal Church was one of Pendleton Dud-
ley’s first clients in 1909. The Seventh-Day Adventist Church established its publicity
office in 1912. George Parker, Ivy Lee’s old partner, was appointed to handle publicity
for the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1913.
Though largely neglected in histories of public relations, the social movements
of the day adopted the same public relations techniques that were used by other
not-for-profit organizations, according to public relations scholar Karen Miller. More-
over, she notes that public relations texts give virtually no attention to the women who
headed such movements, including Clara Barton, Margaret Sanger, Susan B. Anthony,
Ida B. Wells, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Each of these women used public relations
techniques of the day most effectively to inform the public about controversial issues
despite the fact that their work is generally considered to be outside the business frame
of the field.12

Early Corporate Communications Departments

As early as 1883, AT&T leader Theodore Vail expressed concern about the company’s
relationship with the public and the public’s conflicts with the company. He built sup-
port from the middle class for AT&T programs by implementing cut-rate phone bills,
friendly greetings from the telephone operator, employee morale programs, and paid
advertising. In 1907, he hired James Drummond Ellsworth for AT&T’s public relations.
Ellsworth promoted efficient operation and consideration of customers’ needs, a sys-
tematic method for answering complaints, and acceptance of governmental regulation
as the price for operating a privately owned natural monopoly.
By 1888, the Mutual Life Insurance Company employed Charles J. Smith to manage
a “species of literary bureau.” A year later, George Westinghouse, head of Westinghouse
Electric, established the first corporate communications department. Samuel Insull, an
associate of George Westinghouse, rose to head the Chicago Edison Company, an electric
utility. In 1903, he began to publish The Electric City, a magazine aimed at gaining the

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32 Part I • The Profession

understanding and goodwill of the community. He pioneered films for public relations
purposes in 1909, and in 1912 he introduced bill stuffers, messages to customers in their
monthly statements.
Among the greatest of industrial publicity users was Henry Ford. The Ford Com-
pany pioneered use of several public relations tools. The employee periodical Ford Times
was begun in 1908 and continues today. In 1914, a corporate film department was es-
tablished. Ford also surveyed 1,000 customers to gain insights into their attitudes and
concerns.
Astute corporate communicators began recognizing that well-informed employees
could serve as ambassadors of corporate goodwill. In fact, George Michaelis, who had
founded the Publicity Bureau in Boston, advised George Westinghouse in 1914 to pay
more attention to internal “human relations.” Thus, employees became recognized as a
significant public and an appropriately important audience for public relations efforts.
By 1925, more than half of all manufacturing companies were publishing employee
magazines.

Early Government Public Relations

The greatest public relations effort in history, up to its time, was the one mounted in
support of the U.S. effort in World War I. The military had utilized publicity for several
years; the Marine Corps established a publicity bureau in Chicago in 1907. Never be-
fore had such a massive, multifaceted, coordinated program been mounted. Moreover,
though often used by big business in a defensive fashion, public relations took the of-
fensive when it came to war.

In many respects, the beginnings of the persuasive campaign tradi-

THE PERSUASIVE tion are embedded in the U.S. World War I publicity and propa-
COMMUNICATION ganda program.
CAMPAIGN TRADITION
The Creel Committee
Woodrow Wilson set up a Committee on Public Information in
1917, and newspaperman George Creel was asked to run it. With a staff of journalists,
scholars, artists, and others skilled at manipulating words and symbols, Creel mobilized
the home front with a comprehensive propaganda bureau that utilized all media, includ-
ing film and photography.
Creel did not just work out of a central office; he decentralized the organization and
the effort. Every industry had a special group of publicity workers tending to their par-
ticular contributions to the war effort. Political scientist Harold D. Lasswell was involved
in the Creel organization. Looking back to assess the situation, Lasswell concluded,
“Propaganda is one of the most powerful instrumentalities in the modern world.”13
Although the methods used by Creel’s committee were fairly standard tools of
the public information model, the Creel committee achieved great success because
it made use, without knowing it, of psychological principles of mass persuasion.
Committee members constructed messages that appealed to what people believed
and wanted to hear. Clearly, the Creel committee demonstrated the power of mass
persuasion and social influence at a national level.
The success prompted thoughtful Americans to give more concerted attention to
the nature of public opinion and the role of the public in society. Educational philoso-
pher John Dewey and his supporters believed that wartime propaganda and postwar

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Chapter 2 • The History of Public Relations 33

societal focus on business development signaled that the citizenry was losing interest in
civic life. In contrast, well-spoken political commentator Walter Lippmann professed
that American society had grown too complex for the average citizen to understand. The
government, he thought, should be influenced and run by experts who could interpret
the public will in light of national needs and concerns. The Lippmann interpretation
prompted professional persuaders like Edward Bernays to emphasize that the function
of public relations was to change images and influence public perception of issues.
Given the pro-business attitudes of the 1920s and 1930s, it’s little wonder that
Lippmann’s ideas swamped Dewey’s. Critical scholar Margaret Duffy notes that
Lippmann’s ideas were “grafted” by Edward Bernays, the focal practitioner of the per-
suasive communication campaign tradition.14

Edward Bernays
The leading proponent of persuasion was clearly Edward Bernays, the nephew of psy-
choanalyst Sigmund Freud. Bernays grew up with dinner-table social science discussions
prior to joining Creel’s public information committee. After World War I he became a
science writer and then a theater promoter, where he combined his journalistic and
persuasion interests.
Bernays understood that publics could be persuaded if the message supported their
values and interests. In many ways, the thrust of his philosophy is made clear in his first
book, Crystallizing Public Opinion. At the time, he saw public relations as being more or
less synonymous with propaganda, which he defined as “the conscious and intelligent
manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses.”15
Throughout his career Bernays described public relations as the science of creating
circumstances, mounting events that are calculated to stand out as newsworthy, yet at
the same time do not appear to be staged. Staged “media events” were clearly a defin-
ing characteristic of the agency that Bernays started in 1919 with Doris Fleischman, his
future wife and partner. Bernays’s most well-known event was “Lights Golden Jubilee.”
Underwritten in 1929 by General Electric and the National Electric Light Association,
the jubilee media event recognized the 50-year anniversary of Thomas Edison’s inven-
tion of the electric lightbulb. Bernays cast the celebration as a premier testimony to the
genius of American business and entrepreneurial spirit. It was staged as a massive dis-
play of lighting in Dearborn, Michigan, and at other locations around the world. Prior
to the event Bernays orchestrated tremendous press coverage and magazine features, sa-
lutatory proclamations and endorsements from mayors, governors, and other statesmen
throughout the United States and western Europe. The real newsworthiness, however,
came on the day of the event when the assembled dignitaries on the Dearborn plat-
form included President Herbert Hoover, J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Orville
Wright, Madame Curie, and The New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs.

While Bernays was championing the persuasive cam-

paign approach to public relations, a very different per- RELATIONSHIP-BUILDING AND
spective was being set forth by Arthur Page, a successful TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION
businessman, public servant, writer, and editor. TRADITION
Arthur Page
Arthur Page was approached with an offer to become vice president of AT&T, succeed-
ing the pioneer public relations specialist James D. Ellsworth. Page agreed to accept the

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34 Part I • The Profession

position only on the condition that he would not be restricted to publicity in the tradi-
tional sense. He demanded and received a voice in company policy and insisted that the
company’s performance be the determinant of its public reputation. Page maintained
that all business in a democratic country begins with public permission and exists by
public approval. If that be true, it follows that business should be cheerfully willing to
tell the public what its policies are, what it is doing, and what it hopes to do. This seems
practically a duty.16
Page viewed public relations as a broad-based management function that tran-
scended both the journalistic publicity and persuasive communication campaign tradi-
tions. Under Page’s leadership, however, the company recognized that winning public
confidence required not merely ad hoc attempts to answer criticism. Rather, a continu-
ous and planned program of positive public relations using institutional advertising, the
usual stream of information flowing through press releases, and other methods were
needed. Bypassing the conventional print media, the company went directly to the pub-
lic, establishing, for instance, a film program to be shown to schools and civic groups.
AT&T sought to maintain direct contact with as many of its clients as possible. The
company made a total commitment to customer service. Moreover, money was depos-
ited into a number of different banks, legal business was given to attorneys through-
out the country, and contracts for supplies and insurance were made with many local
agencies. AT&T paid fees for employees to join outside organizations, knowing that
through their presence the company would be constantly represented in many forums.
Finally, the company sought to have as many people as possible own its stock. Today,
AT&T and the successor companies that were created by divestiture in 1984 are the
most widely held of all securities.
What truly set Page apart and established him as a pioneer was his insistence that
the publicity department act as an interpreter of the public to the company, drawing on
a systematic and accurate diagnosis of public opinion. Page wanted data, not hunches.
Under his direction, the AT&T publicity department (as it was still called) kept close
check on company policies, assessing their impact on the public. Thus, Page caused
the company “to act all the time from the public point of view, even when that seems
in conflict with the operating point of view.”17
Page insisted that his staff practice six principles of public relations:

1. Tell the Truth. Let the public know what’s happening and provide an accurate pic-
ture of the company’s character, ideals, and practices.
2. Prove It with Action. Public perception of an organization is determined 90 percent
by doing and 10 percent by talking.
3. Listen to the Customer. To serve the company well, understand what the public
wants and needs. Keep top decision makers and other employees informed about
company products, policies, and practices.
4. Manage for Tomorrow. Anticipate public relations and eliminate practices that cre-
ate difficulties. Generate goodwill.
5. Conduct Public Relations as if the Whole Company Depends on It. Corporate relations
is a management function. No corporate strategy should be implemented without
considering its impact on the public. The public relations professional is a policy-
maker capable of handling a wide range of corporate communications activities.
6. Remain Calm, Patient, and Good-Humored. Lay the groundwork for public rela-
tions miracles with consistent, calm, and reasoned attention to information and
contacts. When a crisis arises, remember that cool heads communicate best.

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Chapter 2 • The History of Public Relations 35

Public relations historian Karen Miller Russell believes that Page may come clos-
est among early practitioners of representing the sense of the relationship-building and
two-way communication tradition. This shows up, says Russell, in Page’s continual quest
for government-industry accommodation. He led the effort with Columbia University
social scientist Paul Lazarsfeld to conduct regularly scheduled research with customers,
employees, and other key publics to assess AT&T’s standing among those groups. In
turn, he used that feedback both to encourage organizational change and to fine-tune
messages regarding the company’s identity. (See spotlight 2.1 for a brief biographical
sketch of leading public relations pioneers.)

The Depression and World War II

Although corporate and agency public relations practice grew handily as part of the
1920s business boom, it was the Great Depression of the 1930s and the personal leader-
ship of President Franklin Roosevelt that further transformed the practice. With help
from public relations practitioners like Carl Byoir, Roosevelt built public support and
changed public opinion toward his New Deal recovery programs with weekly radio
broadcasts and numerous other techniques, including those described in mini-case 2.1
featuring counselor Carl Byoir.
Roosevelt’s presidency was highlighted by both the Great Depression and World
War II. In June 1942, with America fully engaged in worldwide war, the Office of War
Information (OWI) was established. Similar to Creel’s effort in World War I, a massive
public relations effort was mounted to rally the home front. Elmer Davis directed the
program. The goals of the OWI included selling war bonds; rationing food, clothing,
and gasoline; planting victory gardens; and recruiting military personnel. Other issues
promoted were factory productivity and efficiency.

Post–World War II
The period following World War II represented a high point in professional growth and
development of public relations practice. Many leading practitioners from the 1950s to
the 1980s were among the nearly 75,000 Americans who had the “ultimate public relations
internship,” learning public relations practice during wartime while working for the OWI.
Several important communication agencies still active today trace their beginnings
to the OWI. These include the Voice of America, the American Advertising Council, and
the United States Information Agency, which sponsors scholarly and cultural exchanges.
Many OWI veterans applied their wartime skills to initiate public information and public
relations programs for government agencies, nonprofit organizations, schools, colleges,
and hospitals. Moss Kendrix, a pioneer African American public relations practitio-
ner, was one of those whose career path was launched while working with the Treasury
Department promoting war bonds.18
And yet the hallmark of postwar public relations growth took place in the private
sector, in corporations and agencies. A consumer economy made use of both public
relations and advertising to market products. Agencies came into full being, providing
media relations and media contact capabilities not always available on the corporate
side. The need for these skills was driven in part by the explosive growth of media outlets
not available before the war—including FM radio, general magazines, suburban com-
munity newspapers, and trade and professional association publications. Their services
expanded from a base of counseling and media relations to include public affairs or
government relations, financial and investor relations, crisis communication, and media
relations training for executives.

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Spotlight 2.1 Public Relations Pioneers

P. T. Barnum. A consummate show- wrote Crystallizing Public Opinion ment in 1952. She counseled cor-
man during the middle and late (the first book on public relations), porations, government agencies,
1800s, Barnum originated many and taught the first college-level and presidents along with her hus-
methods for attracting public at- public relations course at New York band. She struggled for equality,
tention. He didn’t let truth interfere University in 1923. Bernays empha- not with her husband, but with the
with his publicity and press agentry sized the social science contribu- attitudes of American business that
techniques. Although he contrib- tion to public relations and was a often paid less attention to the ad-
uted positively to our understand- leading advocate for public rela- vice given by a female public rela-
ing of the power of publicity, his tions professionalism through prac- tions practitioner.
lack of honesty led to a legacy of titioner licensing or credentialing. Carl Byoir. Carl Byoir, like Edward
mistrust of publicity efforts that ex- He remained an active counselor, Bernays, was another member of
ists sometimes even today. writer, and speaker until his death George Creel’s Committee on Pub-
in 1995 at age 103. lic Information in World War I. Af-
George Michaelis. Organizer of the
nation’s first publicity firm, the Arthur Page. When offered a vice ter the war he founded Carl Byoir
Publicity Bureau in Boston in 1900, presidency at AT&T, Page insisted and Associates in 1930 to promote
Michaelis used fact-finding public- he have a voice in shaping cor- tourism to Cuba. He was known
ity and personal contact to saturate porate policy. He maintained that for his use of third-party endorse-
the nation’s press. business in a democratic country ments, use of newspaper advertis-
depends on public permission and ing as a public relations tool, and
Ivy Lee. Often called the father of mod- development of lobbying in legisla-
ern public relations, Lee believed approval.
tive battles for clients such as A&P,
the public should be informed. He John Hill. Along with Don Knowlton, Libby-Owens-Ford, and Eastern
recognized that good words had to John Hill opened a public rela- Railroads.
be supported by positive actions on tions agency in Cleveland, Ohio,
the part of individuals and organi- Rex Harlow. Harlow was a leading
in 1927. When John Hill moved to public relations educator. He be-
zations. His emphasis on public re- New York a few years later to open
lations as a management function gan teaching a public relations
Hill & Knowlton, Knowlton was course at Stanford in 1939 and
put public relations on the right not part of the agency. The New
track with corporate America. may have been the first full-time
York–based agency, though, con- professor of public relations. He
George Creel. As head of the Com- tinued to bear both their names. It also founded the American Coun-
mittee on Public Information dur- became the largest public relations cil on Public Relations in 1939. The
ing World War I, Creel used public agency in the world and continues council eventually merged with
relations techniques to sell liberty to rank in the top grouping. John the National Association of Pub-
bonds, build the Red Cross, and Hill had major steel and tobacco lic Relations Councils to form the
promote food conservation and accounts in his counseling career. Public Relations Society of America
other war-related activities. In so His agency was sold to J. Walter in 1947. Harlow founded the Pub-
doing, he proved the power of Thompson in 1980 for $28 million. lic Relations Journal in 1944 and
public relations and trained a host In 1987, it was sold to the English- the Social Science Reporter in 1952.
of the 20th century’s most influen- based WPP Group for $85 million.
Moss Kendrix. Kendrix, an African
tial practitioners.
Doris Fleischman Bernays. Doris American public relations pioneer,
Edward Bernays. An intellectual Fleischman Bernays was Edward developed numerous public rela-
leader in the field, Bernays coined Bernays’s counselor partner from tions and advertising campaigns
the phrase public relations counsel, their marriage in 1922 until retire- and messages for such clients as

On the organizational or client side, new services areas were added to complement
the existing areas of publicity/media relations, employee publications, community rela-
tions, and audiovisual services. Chief among these was a new public affairs component to
develop relationships with governmental offices in the legislative and executive branches
of government. Initially, governmental affairs, or public affairs, built on community
relations practices, but it soon came into its own, oftentimes as a result of new federal
Great Society programs begun in the 1960s and 1970s. Civil rights, environmental, ur-
ban development, and similar programs all mandated citizen involvement or public par-
ticipation assessments to determine how various stakeholders and established publics
were affected by changes in land use, zoning, and community development activities.
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Coca-Cola, Carnation, Ford Mo- Chester Burger. A “counselor to 1953. While the Marsteller ad
tor Company, and the National counselors” in public relations, was agency owned 51 percent of the
Education Association. Born in honored as the first life member of public relations agency, the public
1917 in Atlanta and educated at the Counselor’s Academy. He is re- relations firm was a freestanding,
Morehouse College, Kendrix was nowned for his many public rela- separate company. The agency
editor of his college newspaper tions campaigns in civil rights and grew to become the world’s
and co-founder of Phi Delta Delta public diplomacy. His public rela- largest public relations agency
Journalism Society, the only Afri- tions career began, though, like by expanding both in the United
can American journalism society many early public relations prac- States and to 35 countries around
for decades.19 titioners with work in the media. the world and remains at or near
Kendrix was drafted in World He joined CBS in 1941 as a page the top today. Burson believes
War II and served in the U.S. Army and left there in 1955 after he had behavioral change should be the
working for the War Finance Of- risen to National Manager of CBS goal of most public relations ob-
fice. There he received his on-the- News. World War II interrupted jectives. He remains on Burson-
job public relations experience his career with CBS. He served in Marsteller’s executive board as
traveling throughout the country the U.S. Army Air Force and pro- founding chair.
with African American celebrities duced the army’s first broadcasts. Betsy Ann Plank. Plank began her
promoting war bonds. In 1946, he returned to CBS from 63-year public relations career in
In 1944, Moss Kendrix estab- the army and was the nation’s first 1947. In 1952 she was the first
lished his own public relations firm television news reporter.22 person hired by Daniel Edelman
in Washington, D.C. His highly suc- Chester Burger & Co., his com- when he began his agency in
cessful public relations work for the munications management con- Chicago. She opened Edelman’s
Republic of Liberia’s Centennial sulting firm, included clients such first European offices, but wasn’t
Celebration launched his future as AT&T, Sears, American Bankers content to sit on the sidelines and
career in public relations working Association, American Cancer So- returned in 1965 to her native
with major corporations and na- ciety, Texas Instruments, and Occi- Alabama to march in the civil
tional nonprofit agencies such as dental Petroleum Corporation. He rights struggle.
the National Dental Association is the author of six books on man- She moved from executive
and NEA.20 agement. vice president of Edelman World-
In addition to his public relations Patrick Jackson. Highly regarded public wide to become the first woman
consulting, Kendrix also hosted the relations counselor Patrick Jackson in Illinois Bell to head a division
weekly radio program Profiles of served the profession with distinc- within the corporation. She re-
Our Times. He died in 1989. tion for more than 30 years until tired in 1990 but remained active
Denny Griswold. Griswold founded his death in 2001. He published the until her death in 2010 with vari-
and served for almost 40 years as trade newsletter pr reporter, where ous public relations activities, but
editor of Public Relations News, the he reported on current research especially with her involvement in
first weekly newsletter devoted affecting public relations practice the Public Relations Student So-
to public relations. Her profes- with an emphasis on applying com- ciety of America. She co-founded
sional experience included work munication and behavioral science Champions for PRSSA, co-chaired
for broadcasting networks, Forbes, research findings. He also served as the 1987 Commission on Public
BusinessWeek, and Bernays’s public president of the Public Relations So- Relations Education, initiated the
relations firm. Her newsletter pub- ciety of America. Certification in Education for Pub-
lished thousands of case studies. Harold Burson. A native of Memphis, lic Relations and established the
She not only covered the profes- Burson founded Burson-Marsteller Plank Center for Public Relations
sion, but she helped give it identity Public Relations with Bill Marsteller, Leadership at the University of
by honoring many of its leaders in an advertising agency owner, in Alabama.
her newsletter.21

The new mandated citizen involvement and public participation programs exem-
plified the growing relationship-building and two-way communication tradition. The
two-way tradition involved building long-term relationships with publics and important
stakeholders for organizations to recognize. Programs were geared not toward persua-
sion but rather toward mutual understanding, compromise, and creating win-win situ-
ations for organizations and their affected publics and stakeholders. In many respects
this approach had already been adopted across regulated industries such as public utili-
ties, cable television businesses, and others for which license renewals and rate increases
were contingent on government approval. In turn, that approval was contingent on the
licensee demonstrating community support by showing that the needs of various publics
had been addressed in the renewal application.
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Mini Case 2.1●

Carl Byoir and FDR

Franklin Delano Roosevelt became ill to do the job. Byoir had founded his ties and 30 percent to a newly created
with polio in 1921 while vacationing own public relations agency in 1930 to national polio research commission.
a few months after his defeat as vice promote tourism to Cuba. Byoir’s fund- Carl Byoir led the first three birth-
president on the James Cox Demo- raising idea for the Warm Springs Foun- day balls. He then left because he had
cratic ticket of 1920. Roosevelt nar- dation was to create a special event to become disillusioned with President
rowly escaped death from the polio raise the money. That event turned out Roosevelt when FDR “packed” the
and fought the crippling effects of the to be birthday balls around the country Supreme Court in 1937.
disease for the rest of his life. to celebrate President Roosevelt’s birth- But out of Byoir’s effort came not
In 1926, Roosevelt bought a run- day on January 30, 1934. only the birthday balls but also the
down spa in Warm Springs, Georgia, Byoir sent letters to newspaper March of Dimes, the National Foun-
from friend and philanthropist George editors around the country asking dation for Infantile Paralysis, and fi-
Peabody. The spa—with 1,200 acres, them to nominate a birthday ball nally victory over polio. Carl Byoir had
a hotel, and cottages—was in poor director for their area. If an editor elevated fund-raising to a new level
shape, but the curative powers of the didn’t respond, he went to either the through his public relations efforts and
hot mineral springs held promise for Democratic Party chairman in the had given new insight into techniques
many polio victims. area or to the Roosevelt-appointed that public relations practitioners con-
When Roosevelt was elected gover- postmaster to ask them to do the tinue to use today.
nor of New York in 1928, he realized ball. Media were besieged with in-
he wouldn’t have time to oversee the formation about the balls. National Questions
rehabilitation effort at Warm Springs, syndicated columnist and broad- 1. What have other not-for-profits
so he asked his law partner, Basil caster Walter Winchell presented an done that build on this concept of
O’Conner, to lead the effort. O’Conner appeal that was so good it would be a national special event?
formed the Warm Springs Foundation used for years for both birthday balls 2. Check out the St. Jude Children’s
to raise money for the refurbishing of and the March of Dimes. Radio per- Research Hospital Web site (www
the health resort, but the stock market sonalities tried to outdo one another .stjude.org) to find out about its
crash in 1929 made fund-raising dif- in promoting the balls. In the end Thanks & Giving Program. How
ficult. 6,000 balls were held in 3,600 com- does it capitalize on a national au-
When Roosevelt became president munities, and more than $1 million dience to give to St. Jude?
in 1932, the foundation was nearly was raised for the foundation.
bankrupt. However, one of the founda- The next two years the event was
tion fund-raisers, Keith Morgan, hired changed to split the proceeds, with Source: Scott M. Cutlip, The Unseen Power
a public relations counselor, Carl Byoir, 70 percent going to local communi- (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1994), pp. 553–63.

Harold Burson
Harold Burson personifies this post–World War II growth of public relations. The
co-founder of Burson-Marstellar Public Relations, one of the world’s largest and most
respected agencies, Burson came from humble beginnings. He grew up in Memphis,
Tennessee. His parents were immigrants. They couldn’t afford to put him through
college, so he paid his way through Ole Miss by serving as a campus reporter for the
Memphis Commercial Appeal. He served as an enlisted man in the combat engineers in
World War II and later covered the Nuremberg trials for army radio network.23
In 1946 Burson began his own public relations agency. He soon became a leader in
the postwar boom of public relations that saw a small discipline of less than 20,000 prac-
titioners grow to a major career opportunity today, with more than 400,000 practitioners
estimated by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Burson joined with Bill Marsteller in 1953 to form Burson-Marsteller, which be-
came the world’s largest public relations agency. It continues to be among the top three
agencies in the world today. Burson was CEO for 35 years and managed the expansion of
the agency into more than 35 countries. Crediting much of the success of the agency to
hiring valuable people who often spent their entire careers with the agency, Burson says
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Chapter 2 • The History of Public Relations 39

that if he were to start again, he would pay even more attention to “recruiting, training,
developing, motivating, and rewarding key employees.” He suggests that the success of
his agency is primarily related to four key actions:
1. Hiring a cadre of dedicated employees who worked for the firm for many years.
2. Developing a family atmosphere with a team approach for the business.
3. Creating a corporate culture proactively by seeding new offices with experienced
Burson-Marsteller employees who hired and trained local people.
4. Positioning the firm as a leader by being the first to use multimedia (including its
own broadcast studio with satellite uplink and downlink), crisis simulation, health
care practice, and personal computers.24
See video clip #5 on the Online Learning Center for the interview with Harold Burson.25

Moss Kendrix
Moss Kendrix, an African American public relations pioneer, developed numerous
public relations and advertising campaigns and messages for such clients as Coca-Cola,
Carnation, Ford Motor Company, and the National Education Association. Kendrix was
born in 1917 in Atlanta and educated at Morehouse College.26
Kendrix was drafted in World War II and served in the U.S. Army working for the
War Finance Office, where he received his on-the-job public relations experience travel-
ing throughout the country with African American celebrities promoting war bonds.
In 1944, Moss Kendrix established his own public relations firm in Washington,
D.C. He successfully did the public relations work for the Republic of Liberia’s Centen-
nial Celebration, which launched his future career in public relations.
In addition to his public relations consulting, Kendrix also hosted a weekly radio
program called Profiles of Our Times. He died in 1989.

Fund-raising events, such as

this WalkAmerica for March
of Dimes, use public relations
tools to make them successful
events.

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Spotlight 2.2 First Lady of Public Relations

Dr. Susan Gonders communication organizations: Pub-

Southeast Missouri State University licity Club (1963), Welfare Public Re-
lations Forum (1966–67), Chicago
Betsy Ann Plank (1924–2010) will Chapter of PRSA (1969), and Public
always be “the first lady of public re- Relations Forum (1979). She was also
lations” because she achieved “firsts” past president of United Christian
that cannot be replicated. Her most Community Services. She was com-
enduring legacy, however, is to public munications chair of the Chicago
relations education. “I believe a strong United Way campaigns in 1972, 1978,
foundation in education is fundamen- and 1987. She was an Advisory Board
tal to a profession and defines it,” member of Illinois Issues, the state’s Betsy Ann Plank
Betsy told PR Tactics in 2006. “We sim- public policy periodical. She chaired
ply have to have strong educational the Illinois Council on Economic Edu-
underpinnings and all that infers— cation and the Citizenship Council of was an act of faith,” Betsy said, “and,
research, ethical disciplines and re- Metropolitan Chicago, and she served in my case, the beginning of a lifetime
sponsibility to society at large.” on the boards of the United Way and love affair with students.” Chris Teahan
The munchkin-sized redhead began the Girl Scouts. She was a founder and was staff administrator for the first two
a jump ahead of her peers, graduating past chair (1980–81) of The Chicago decades of PRSSA, and he wrote “A
from high school at 16 and from the Network, an organization of lead- Brief History of PRSSA” upon his retire-
University of Alabama at 20. After a ing career women, and she received ment. Betsy spearheaded the writing
stint at NQV radio in Pittsburgh, she be- its First Decade Award in 1989. At of the history of the organization’s sec-
gan her 63-year public relations career Chicago’s 1984 Leader Luncheon, ond two decades, authored by Susan
in 1947. She and her husband, indus- she was recognized as the area’s lead- Gonders and Barbara DeSanto.
trial film producer Sherman Rosenfield ing woman in communications, and The year of 1973 marked major
(1923–1990), made Chicago their the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago milestones. Betsy became the first fe-
home. Betsy was one of the first to be named her 1992 Volunteer of the Year. male president of PRSA, she completed
hired when Daniel Edelman started his The Public Relations Society of her 21-year agency career, where she
agency in 1952. She traveled to Paris America (PRSA) was founded in 1947, rose to executive vice president of
to open Edelman’s first European of- the same year Betsy entered the pro- Edelman Worldwide, and she began
fices, and she returned to her native fession. She participated in the move- her 17-year corporate career. She was
Alabama in 1965 to join the final leg ment to found the Public Relations the first woman to head a division of
of the civil rights march from Selma to Student Society of America (PRSSA) Illinois Bell, and she remained with
Montgomery. during the 1967 National Conference Bell/AT&T/Ameritech through 1990,
She became the only person to in Philadelphia, and the first “Alpha” with executive positions in public rela-
serve as president of four Chicago chapters were chartered in 1968. “It tions planning and external affairs.

Professionalization of the Field

More important, perhaps, were the concerted measures taken to establish public
relations as a defined, respectable, and accepted field of professional practice. In fact,
the 40 years from 1960 to 2000 are perhaps best characterized as the professional-
development-building era in public relations. In 1947, Boston University established
the first school of public relations. Two years later, 100 colleges and universities offered
classes in the subject.
Perhaps more than anything else, the 50-year period between the end of World War II
and the Internet explosion was characterized by professionalizing the practice. Two major
national professional associations were formed from mergers of smaller groups. The largest,
the PRSA, began in 1948 and now maintains a membership of 20,000, including more than
110 local chapters as well as university student organizations under the name of the Public
Relations Student Society of America. See spotlight 2.2. In 1954 the PRSA developed the first
code of ethics for the profession. The society set up a grievance board for code enforcement
in 1962, a program of voluntary accreditation in 1964, and a rewritten ethics code in 2000.
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When she was PRSA national presi- • PR News named her one of the active members of the Public Rela-
dent, she insisted that PRSSA students World’s 40 Outstanding Public Re- tions Division (PRD) of the Association
become self-governing. She told PR lations Leaders (1984). for Education in Journalism & Mass
Tactics that “our students have proven • PRSA Educators Academy honored Communication (AEJMC), and she
to be of great judgment and leader- her in 1997 with the first David W. made a point of making sure that, by
ship, and they’ve lived up to every Ferguson Award for contributions 2008, the Plank Center sponsored cash
expectation we’ve had of them.” by a practitioner to public relations awards for the best student papers for
As 1982–83 adviser to the PRSSA education. PRD, PRSA, and other organizations.
National Committee, she co-founded “This business has been very good to
• The Arthur W. Page Society recog-
Friends of PRSSA (now Champions for us—providing a challenging, exciting
nized her with the Distinguished
PRSSA) to fund student awards com- and rewarding career,” Betsy told PR
Service Award in 2000.
petitions. She co-chaired the 1987 Tactics. “Surely we owe something to
Commission on Public Relations Edu- • She was the first Page Society Life- its future. . . . We all need a new gen-
cation, which developed guidelines time Achievement Award recipient eration capable of performing.”
for the undergraduate public rela- in 2002. The PRSA Foundation named the
tions curriculum. That led to the 1989 Betsy was an avid historian, and Betsy Plank Scholarship Endowment
founding of Certification in Education because Alexander Hamilton was Fund in her honor in 2006, and the
for Public Relations (CEPR), a volun- her favorite founding father, she was Foundation recognized her at its inau-
tary program of review that provides pleased to be the first woman to re- gural Paladin Award Dinner in 2009.
public relations programs of study ceive the Hamilton Award (2000) Betsy had no siblings or biologi-
worldwide with a stamp of approval from the Institute for Public Relations. cal children, but she adopted tens of
from PRSA. “In my philosophy, public relations is thousands of “PRSSA children,” some
She was a founding member of the fundamental to a democratic society of them now retired. All of the papers,
PRSA College of Fellows, and she was where people make decisions in the memorabilia, and assets that filled
the first person to receive all of PRSA’s workplace, marketplace, the commu- her 5,000-square-foot condo, which
top awards including: nity and the voting booth,” Plank said. overlooked Lake Michigan from the
“Its primary mission is to forge respon- living room and Cubs stadium from
• Gold Anvil (1977) for lifetime
sible relationships of understanding, the dining room, went to the Plank
achievement.
trust and respect among groups and Center. From this bequest and from
• Lund Award (1989) for civic and the impact she made in her lifetime,
individuals—even when they disagree.
community service. Betsy will continue to inspire genera-
Mr. Hamilton’s historic work contin-
• First recipient (2001) of the Patrick ues to inspire and inform that difficult tions of new public relations profes-
Jackson Award for distinguished challenge today.” sionals.
service to PRSA. In 2005, she established the Plank
Other awards and achievements Center for Leadership in Public Rela-
tions at the University of Alabama. The Source: Susan Gonders, professor of public
included: relations, Southeast Missouri State Univer-
center’s mission is to develop research,
• First woman elected by readers sity. Dr. Gonders, co-chair of PRSA Education
scholarships and forums that advance Affairs Committee, is also coordinator for
of Public Relations News as Profes- the ethical practice of public relations. the certification program, CEPR, for PRSA.
sional of the Year (1979). She was one of the few non-educator

In 1970 the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) was

formed by the merger of the International Council of Industrial Editors and the Associa-
tion of Industrial Editors. The IABC has been at the forefront in underwriting research
studies, examining the current state and future of the public relations profession. Both
PRSA and IABC now administer professional continuing education programs for their
members and an accreditation program. Practitioners who pass both oral and written
accreditation exams are deemed accredited and allowed to place the initials APR or ABC
after their names on their business cards. PRSA uses APR (Accredited Public Relations);
IABC uses ABC (Accredited Business Communicator).
In addition to PRSA and IABC, today more than a dozen national public relations
organizations are based in the United States, not to mention those whose membership is
largely outside the United States. They’re listed here to indicate the range of profession-
ally organized specialties within public relations:
Religious Public Relations Council, founded in 1929.
National School Public Relations Association, founded in 1935.
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42 Part I • The Profession

Public Relations Society of America, founded in 1948. Includes 21,000 members, not
counting members of the affiliated Public Relations Student Society of America.
Agricultural Relations Council, founded in 1953.
International Public Relations Association, founded in 1955.
National Society of Fund-Raising Executives, founded in 1960.
National Investor Relations Institute, founded in 1969.
International Association of Business Communicators, founded in 1970 and now
with 13,000 members.
Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), founded in 1975.
National Association of Government Communicators, founded in 1976.
Issue Management Council, founded in 1982.
The Arthur Page Society, founded in 1983.
Society of Healthcare Strategy and Marketing Development, founded in 1996 and
subsuming previous hospital and health care public relations associations.
Association of Counseling Firms, founded in 1999.
Professional and specialized public relations organizations also started professional
magazines and newsletters, such as the Public Relations Journal and Communication
World, which were followed by other private newsletters and trade magazines, such as
the Ragan Report, PR News, PR Tactics, PR Week, pr reporter, and Public Relations Quar-
terly. Taken together, these professional publications form a distinctive literature aimed
at those practitioners.
Public relations texts were published once college-level courses were offered, first as
a concentration within the journalism or mass communication major and later within
speech communication or integrated communication. Then came the academic journals,
where university professors published research findings or developed new theoretical
traditions to explain the practice of public relations. The principal journals were Public
Relations Review, Public Relations Research and Education, Public Relations Research An-
nual, and the Journal of Public Relations Research. A public relations literature or body of
knowledge was developing separately from related fields such as advertising, journalism,
public opinion, and interpersonal communication. Those conceptual underpinnings
were grounded in theory and are outlined chronologically in spotlight 2.3.
Taken together, these new professional magazines, texts, and research publications all
reinforced the growing consensus that public relations work could be organized in terms
of a four-step process—research, planning, communication and action (implementa-
tion), and evaluation. As time went on, the field gained even more respect as program
plans expanded to include measurable objectives and follow-up evaluation measures to
assess the impact, the cost, and ways to improve future campaigns and programs.

New Stakeholder Groups

In the late 1960s and the 1970s, democratically inspired social movements used effec-
tive public relations techniques to oppose business interests. With little money or staff,
environmental group members, for example, became proficient at staging tree huggings,
roadblocks, and other events whose conflict themes were almost guaranteed to generate
television footage. They effectively used not only alternative and specialized media but
also journalistic conventions, sometimes at the expense of losing their hard edge, ac-
cording to sociologists Todd Gitlin and Charlotte Ryan.27

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Conceptual Traditions in
Public Relations Spotlight 2.3
1920s: Systematic understanding of audience segmentation techniques, of the field, and other gender-
the importance and nature of public J. Grunig’s situational theory ex- related effects.
opinion emerged not only in terms plains which publics will become 1980s–2000: J. Grunig’s four models
of polling and scientific measure- most active regarding specific is- of public relations based on one-
ment but also as a social organizing sues. Relational communication, way/two-way and balanced/
process around issues. with its roots in interpersonal com- unbalanced communication have
1950s: Persuasion and social influence munication, set forth by Rogers prompted the greatest amount of
principles, and especially those set and Millar, accounts for conditions recent research and theory devel-
forth with the Yale Communication prompting and inhibiting relational opment in public relations.
Program, provided the strategies development. Social and organizational struc-
for establishing, maintaining, and 1960s –1990s: Social psychological tural influences on the growth and
changing opinions and attitudes. foundations underpinning public nature of public relations work,
1960s: The diffusion of innovations re- relations practice flourished along- including research on public rela-
search tradition served as a concep- side specific public relations theo- tions in different industry categories,
tual framework for public relations ries. Many of these theories are used structurally determined cross-cultural
practitioners, health communica- to study cognitive or knowledge impacts on the practice, and en-
tors, and Peace Corps officials on change and information process- croachment on the public relations
how to combine interpersonal and ing in public relations and health functions by related areas, became
media communication to change communication. These include evident.
behaviors. Most recently, the dif- attitude/action consistency, expect- 1990s–2010: Critical theory ap-
fusion framework has been used to ancy value theory, co-orientation, proaches emerged. Scholars in this
illustrate the use of marketing com- theory of reasoned action, framing tradition believe that the practice
munication elements, including theory, social cognitive theory, and and study of public relations from a
publicity, advertising, sales promo- game theory. business and organizational stand-
tion, and direct selling. 1970s–2000: Normative influences on point mask power differences in
1970s: Situational theory of publics the practice of public relations have society and ignore nonmainstream
was put forth. While public rela- underpinned important research groups, including social move-
tions practitioners use a range of on practitioner roles, feminization ments and third-party candidates.

Societal concerns during the late 1960s and 1970s prompted businesses and their
public relations agencies to place new emphasis on governmental and community
relations, issue tracking, issue management, and strategic planning. This was especially
the case with regulated businesses, such as utilities and telecommunication firms whose
rate structures, franchises, and licensing requirements placed a premium on effective
relationship building among key constituencies.

Another distinct phase in public relations history emerged

around 1990 and was characterized by (1) the use of the
THE GLOBAL
Internet and other new communication technologies and INFORMATION SOCIETY
(2) the growth of public relations agencies, which occurred
oftentimes either by merging with larger public relations agen-
cies or advertising agencies or by forming alliances with other firms in regional cities.
The 1990s were also characterized by the growth of specialty practices in public
relations. Investor relations, though begun 20 years earlier, came into its own as technol-
ogy companies sought venture capital, became stock-held corporations through initial
public offerings, and later merged with other public corporations. Thus, keeping stock-
holders informed and attracting new investors became a central, rather than peripheral,
public relations function.
43

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44 Part I • The Profession

By 1990 leading firms had aligned their corporate giving with ongoing community
relations programs. As well, their global reach throughout the 1990s led to more focus
on corporate social responsibility in general rather than corporate giving in a narrow
sense. Issues management and environmental scanning functions became more system-
atic, owing to computer databases and tracking systems in which organizations could
join chat groups, listservs, and blogs.
The opening of new markets on a global scale led to systems of global strategic de-
sign with local implementation and a noticeably heavier emphasis given to intercultural
issues or differences in the ways companies could offer themselves and their products in
different cultures and regions of the world.
At home, a much greater degree of specialization began occurring at agencies as they
sought to develop more subject matter competence in key industrial niches, including
technology, health care, financial and investor institutions, and international practice.
Another milestone was reached when it became known that more and more public
relations practitioners were seeking master’s degrees either to become more specialized
within the field of public relations or as a way of taking on more general management
responsibilities.
The 1990s was a time of explosive growth for public relations and corporate com-
munication stemming in large part from (1) growth and use of the Internet, (2) global
communication demands, and (3) proliferating communication channels.

The Internet to Social Media

The Internet changed the nature of public relations work. To put the impact of the
Internet in perspective, those who study media adoption note that radio took 30 years to
reach an audience of 50 million, and TV took 13 years; by contrast—the Internet took
just four years. By 2000, e-mail had become the preferred medium for reaching report-
ers with whom an organization had already developed relationships.28 But by 2010 social
media through the Internet have provided another major change for the public relations
practitioner.
Before the Internet, the thrust of media relations work was “pushing” information
from the organization to the desks of media reports, producers, and editors via news
releases, news tips, and press kits. That all changed because the Web gives the reporter
the opportunity to pull and parse needed company information from the Web site and
all of its links without ever going through the public relations or media relations office.
The Internet is a very different and more powerful media relations tool than almost any
other tool used in the preceding 50 years.29
The more recent use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube has
provided another tool for public relations practitioners. Although it has become com-
monplace for reporters to check Web sites while writing their stories, they now often de-
pend on social media like Facebook to solicit quotes and additional information. Twitter
is often the tool for breaking spot news to the media, and YouTube can be used to post
video stories or interviews for use by the media.
Search engines like Google have also revolutionized the way journalists and public
relations practitioners gather information. Likewise, blogs of a given subject give read-
ers a pulse on current issues. They, too, like Facebook, can be used to gather quotes for
stories.
Journalists and public relations practitioners are not the only ones reaping the ben-
efits of the Internet and social media. Fund-raising groups, nonprofit organizations, and
political /social movements all use these new and relatively “free” technologies to meet

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Chapter 2 • The History of Public Relations 45

their needs, allowing them to operate more competitively within their limited budgets.
See chapter 9 for more about the use of social media in media relations.

Global Communication Demands

Just as Internet Web sites and e-mail functions have reshaped public relations practice,
so too has the creation of new consumer and financial markets around the world. Com-
petition for worldwide markets speeds product introduction times. As a result, trade
magazine editors and financial reports clamor for updated information almost by the
hour. Gone, then, are the days when publicity releases could be planned and scheduled
weeks and months in advance.
The new worldwide public relations environment means working simultaneously
with the media across various cultures, nations, and regions. Under these conditions,
public relations practitioners are forced to be better versed in intercultural communica-
tion practices and to understand differences in the ways media reporters and editors are
approached or contacted in different cultures.
In Japan, for example, contact with the media is made through “press clubs” main-
tained separately by each industry or at government press rooms maintained by each
government minister. Press club secretaries decide whether to issue press releases,
call press conferences, or do nothing. The press club seal of endorsement— especially
regarding press conferences—markedly increases newspaper coverage.

Proliferating Communication Channels

The proliferation of media channels— especially cable channels and new magazine
titles— continues in response to individual and media desires for more specialized in-
formation tailored to the various reading and viewing interests of investors, customers,
employees, donors, and so on. For public relations practitioners this means matching
the qualities of traditional and online media to the information needs of their target
audiences. Ray Kotcher, senior partner and CEO of Ketchum, explains how channel
proliferation affects media relations work: “At the moment we are being asked to deal on
a more strategic level (make this a new development) because of this incredible momen-
tum in the media, messaging, and information that’s out there. Think about it. We only
had one NBC network 15 years ago. Now we have CNBC, MSNBC, and I don’t know
how many NBC’s online.”30

Wreck on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1906

By Craig E. Aronoff
Case Study
Kennesaw State College

S evere railroad regulations passed in 1903 and 1906 caused Alexander J.

Cassatt, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, to seek the counsel of Ivy
Ledbetter Lee concerning how to deal better with the press and the public. Lee
went right to work. He believed in absolute frankness with the press. Veteran
railroad men were distressed at Lee’s behavior. They were convinced that re-
vealing facts about accidents would frighten customers.

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46 Part I • The Profession

A golden opportunity for Lee to put his ideas into practice soon arose. A
train wrecked on the Pennsylvania Railroad main line near the town of Gap,
Pennsylvania. As was its time-honored practice, the company sought to sup-
press all news of the accident.
When Ivy Lee learned of the situation, he took control. He contacted re-
porters, inviting them to come to the accident scene at company expense. He
provided facilities to help them in their work. He gave out information for which
the journalists had not asked.
The railroad’s executives were appalled at Lee’s actions. His policies were
seen as unnecessary and destructive. How could the propagation of such bad
news do anything but harm the railroad’s freight and passenger business?
At about the time of the wreck on the Pennsylvania, another train accident
struck the rival New York Central. Sticking with its traditional policy, the Central
sought to avoid the press and restrict information flow concerning the situa-
tion. Confronted with the Central’s behavior, and having tasted Lee’s approach
to public relations, the press was furious with the New York line. Columns and
editorials poured forth chastising the Central and praising the Pennsylvania.
Lee’s efforts resulted in positive publicity, increased credibility, comparative ad-
vantages over the Central, and good, constructive press coverage and relations.
Lee’s critics were silenced.
Earl Newsom, himself a public relations giant, looked back at this accident
nearly 60 years later and said:

This whole activity of which you and I are a part can probably be said to have its
beginning when Ivy Lee persuaded the directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad that
the press should be given all the facts on all railway accidents—even though the
facts might place the blame on the railroad itself.*

When Ivy Lee died in 1934, among the many dignitaries at his funeral were
the presidents of both the Pennsylvania and the New York Central railroads.

Sources: Material for this case was gathered from Ray Hiebert’s Courtier to the Crowd (Ames, IA: Iowa State
University Press, 1966), pp. 55–61; Eric Goldman’s Two-Way Street (Boston: Bellman Publishing, 1948),
p. 8. *Earl Newsom, “Business Does Not Function by Divine Right,” Public Relations Journal (January 1963), p. 4.

Questions
1. Were Lee’s actions in response to the railroad accident consistent with
practice today? Explain.
2. Had the New York Central accident not occurred, what do you think
would have happened to Ivy Lee and his relationship with the Pennsylvania
Railroad? Do you think the course of public relations development would
have been affected?
3. In certain totalitarian states, news of accidents and disasters is often
largely suppressed. What do you consider their reasons to be for retain-
ing a posture given up by American public relations practice more than
80 years ago?

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Chapter 2 • The History of Public Relations 47

The scope of public relations work today is clearly nothing like it was in early
times or even during the jump-start period following World War I. Even so, the
pattern of development can be seen in the four orienting traditions: the rhetori-
Summary
cian and press agent tradition, the journalistic publicity tradition, the persuasive
communication campaign tradition, and, finally, a relationship-building and
two-way communication tradition. We close with a quote from veteran public relations
educator and historian Scott M. Cutlip who wrote in The Unseen Power, “The essential- For self-testing and additional
ity of public relations as a management function that Ivy Lee envisaged in the early 1900s chapter resources, go to the
becomes clearer each passing day as our global society becomes even more dependent on Online Learning Center at
effective communication and on an interdependent, competitive world.”31 www.mhhe.com/lattimore4e.

online rhetoricians
press agents
propaganda of the deed
stakeholders Key Terms

1. Helio Fred Garcia, “Really-Old-School Communication Yearbook 23

Public Relations,” Public Relations
Strategist (Summer 1998), p. 18.
(2000), pp. 381–420.
13. Harold D. Lasswell, Propaganda
Notes
2. Ibid., pp. 16–18. Techniques in the World War
3. Philip Davidson, Propaganda and the (New York: Knopf, 1927), p. 220.
American Revolution, 1763–1783 14. Margaret E. Duffy, “There’s No Two-
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Way Symmetric About It: A Postmodern
Press, 1941), p. 3. Examination of Public Relations
4. Allan Nevins, The Constitution Makers Textbooks,” Critical Studies in Media
and the Public, 1785–1790 (New York: Communication 17, no. 3 (September
Foundation for Public Relations Research 2000), pp. 294–313.
and Education, 1962), p. 10. 15. Stuart Ewan, A Social History of Spin
5. Richard Overton, Burlington West (New York: Basic Books, 1996), p. 34.
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University 16. George Griswold Jr., “How AT&T Public
Press, 1941), pp. 158–59. Relations Policies Developed,” Public
6. Merle Curti, The Growth of American Relations Quarterly 12 (Fall 1967), p. 13.
Thought, 3rd ed. (New York: Harper & 17. Allan R. Raucher, Public Relations and
Row, 1964), p. 634. Business, 1900–1929 (Baltimore: Johns
7. Marc Bloch, The Historian’s Craft (New Hopkins University Press, 1968),
York: Knopf, 1953), p. 168. pp. 80–81.

8. Eric F. Goldman, Two-Way Street (Boston: 18. “Moss Kendrix: A Retrospective,” The
Bellman Publishing, 1948), p. 21. Museum of Public Relations, retrieved
from www.prmuseum.com/kendrix/life
9. Quoted in Sherman Morse, “An .html on March 3, 2008.
Awakening on Wall Street,” American
Magazine 62 (September 1906), p. 460. 19. Ibid.

10. Ray E. Hiebert, Courtier to the Crowd: 20. Ibid.

The Story of Ivy Lee and the Development 21. “In Memoriam: Denny Griswold,”
of Public Relations (Ames: Iowa State PRSA, retrieved from www.prsa
University Press, 1966), p. 57. .org on Sept. 23, 2005; “Arthur W.
11. Ibid., p. 65. Page Society Will Honor Two Public
Relations Legends,” retrieved from www
12. Karen S. Miller, “U.S. Public Relations .awpagesociety.com on Sept. 25, 2005.
History: Knowledge and Limitations,”

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48 Part I • The Profession

22. “Chester Burger,” The Museum of Public 28. Don Middleberg and Steven Ross,
Relations, March 2000, retrieved from “The Middleberg/Ross Media
www.prmuseum.com/burger/chet1.html Survey: Change and Its Impact on
on March 3, 2008. Communication,” Eighth Annual
23. Harold Burson, E Pluribus Unum: The National Survey, 2002.
Making of Burson-Marsteller (New York: 29. Carole Howard, “Technologies and
Burson-Marsteller, 2002). Tabloids: How the New Media World
24. Ibid., p. 161. Is Changing Our Jobs,” Public Relations
Quarterly 45 (Spring 2000), p. 9.
25. Dan Lattimore, video interview with
Harold Burson, Memphis, TN, 2002. 30. Ray Kotcher, “Roundtable: Future
Perfect? Agency Leaders Reflect on the
26. “Moss Kendrix: A Retrospective.” 1990s and Beyond,” Public Relations
27. Todd Gitlin, The Whole World Is Watching: Strategist 8 (Summer 2001), p. 11.
Mass Media in the Making and Unmaking 31. Scott M. Cutlip, The Unseen Power
of the New Left (Berkeley: University of (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1994), p. 761.
California Press, 1980); Charlotte Ryan,
Media Strategies for Grassroots Organizing
(Boston: South End Press, 1991).

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