Hilbert College	History of Mass Communications History of Public Relations	- Home - Students - Tutorials - - Student Papers -
by: Dewey Adams , Jennifer Bonds, Tiffany Jackson 09, November, 1999 Although opinions differ about the exact origins of public relations, it is generally accepted that PR has existed in some shape or form since the beginning of civilization itself. The underlying goal of public relations is to influence the public and mold their opinions. PR has been utilized by individuals, corporations, and groups throughout history to induce understanding and develop good rapport with another target population. As Ben Franklin said, "Public relations is based on communications which begins with understanding the audience," (Leahigh, 1993). The industry has evolved along with society to facilitate the political, social and economic growth of the world. The field is inextricably tied to the public because the survival of each individual depends on the status of the whole. Communication, conciliation, consensus and cooperation are integral aspects of a maintained society and therefore are the fundamental players of public relations (Cutlip, 1995). While theorists believe that PR was born with the Neanderthal's trading techniques, the earliest concrete roots of public relations can be traced back to around 1800 BC in the Middle East (Cutlip, 1995). Archeologists have unearthed farm bulletins in Iran that exhibit a primitive attempt to influence farmers to use certain techniques. This type of PR can be evidenced by ancient writings, pottery, hieroglyphs, and art. Other exact examples of archaic public relations can be found in Caesar's commentaries (Nolte, 1974) as it was common practice to try and sway the population's opinion on rulers and leaders of the land. The Bible also alludes to this domain in Matthew 5:15, "As long as people kneel or tremble at the alter of public relations, our livelihood is assured," (Leahigh, 1993) demonstrating that the field played an important role in much of history. While the first exhibitions of public relations were inadvertant and simply an attempt at persuasion, the later uses were well crafted and took on more of the aspects we relate to PR today. As people began to see how important it was to gain the support and help of the public, groups began to employ strategy and technique in an attempt to reach the optimum number of people while achieving maximum results. When early settlers arrived in America they faced the hefty task of populating their colonies. They used one of the first organized PR undertakings to help lure new recruits from Europe and the effort was well rewarded (Newsom, 1993). Public relations was also used in recruiting settlers of the colonies to move out into the unsettled lands of America. PR was an essential part of the development of new communities in the railroad expansion around the turn of the century, it's completion at Promontory Point in 1869 being the first major public relations opportunity in the United States. The Catholic Church was one of the first organizations to employ a public relations group to help their cause. They formed the 'Society for the Propagation of the Faith' to impress public opinion of Roman Catholics and increase the membership of the church. It is from this organization that we get the term propaganda which is used with a considerably broader meaning today (Nolte, 1974). Another aspect of modern PR can be credited to Harvard University's fundraising bid in 1641. While in England promoting the school and striving to collect funds students decided they needed some literature to help in pitching their cause. They conceived, what we call now, the brochure to aid in conveying quantities of information to others with less man-power. Public Relations as a career, and modern public relations in general, owes itself to three key men: Carl Byoir, Edward L. Bernays, and Ivy Lee. Although his contributions are not as well documented we should also mention Amos Kendall. Kendall was the first White House press counselor, serving under Andrew Jackson in the 1820's and 1830's. He was the most influential member of Jackson's "Kitchen Cabinet" and broke most stereotypes of a public relations man. While most people thought of a public relationsman as being suave and handsome, Kendall was shy and unattractive (Cutlip, 1995). Carl Byoir seemed destined for greatness. He was the managing editor of the Waterloo Times-Tribune in Iowa at the age of 17. At the University of Iowa Byoir was general manager for "the most impressive ever published for that time" copy of The Hawkeye, the university of Iowa's yearbook (Spector, 1997) Byoir dabbled in starting the Montessori school system in the U.S. and became circulation manager for all of Hearst Magazines' publications in 1914. In 1917, Byoir was asked to join the World War I Committee on Public Communication. It was there that he made his greatest contribution to the war effort. He designed a campaign that targeted non-English speaking draft-eligible men; the campaign was a success and added 75,000 men to the United State's war effort (Spector, 1997). The latter part of Byoir's life is clouded by allegations that he was a spy for Nazi Germany, but all he really did was promote American tourism of Germany in the late 1930's because his firm was hired to do so. There was some mudslinging by Congressman Wright Patman, and an investigation of Byoir, at Byoir's request, that found him innocent of all charges (Spector, 1997). Edward L. Bernays is known as the father of modern public relations. He invented techniques that are staples of today's public relations career field. He is credited with getting women to smoke, bacon and eggs a part of American breakfasts, and Calvin Coolidge back in the White House (Tye, 1998). To do all of this he linked female smoking with female liberation, used the testimony of medical professionals to prove a hearty breakfast was a healthy breakfast, and used Bi-Partisan support to elect Coolidge to a full-term in the White House. Bernay's heavy use of psychological influence and manipulation may be attributed to family heritage, since his uncle was Dr. Sigmund Freud (Tye, 1998). Ivy Lee is the man who convinced America that the Rockefellers were not heartless "Scrooges" and pushed many other big businesses onto the American people. Lee was never loved by America, however (Heirbert, 1966). Besides having his name kicked around Congress for his supposed muckraking, Lee also accidentally aligned himself with Germany during the time after World War I. His true goal was to end the worldwide depression through an end of reparations and war debt payments from Germany. However, this correlated his name the likes of Hitler and caused the latter part of his life to be shadowed by this misunderstanding. While these key figures cultivated public relations they were shaping the history of the United States as we know it today. With the conception of democracy the value of PR became obvious; it undoubtedly takes persuasion and influence to come to a consensus between multitudes of citizens. Without effective dissemination of facts, interaction between groups and an open exchange of ideas a democratic society simply could not succeed. Pearson stated the case well by saying "PR plays a significant role in preserving the pluralism of American society by opening channels of communication and allowing opposing groups to understand each other," (Pearson 1970). Following in suit, PR has been the catalyst for many American developments since the country originated. Contrary to common belief, the American Revolution wasn't sparked by sudden, widespread outrage over the king's power but instead by a few angry people who changed the public's indifferent sentiments. The few radicals convinced the populace to not live with the annoyance of taxes and turned the inconvenience into fuel for a revolution (Nolte 1974). Public relations has also served other U.S. wartime efforts, such as rallying support behind our government's decisions. During World War I a committee was assembled to steer public opinion towards the goals of the diplomats in order to win the war. The "Creel Committee," named for its foreman George Creel, was able to gain support for the draft, raise funds for the military and the Red Cross, and enforce "meatless and wheatless days" to conserve food (Nolte 1974). The council was able to effectively sway the population's opinion through careful planning and the use of mottoes like "make the world safe for democracy" and "hang the Kaiser" (Nolte 1974). Slogans also played an important role in World War II as is evidenced by Winston Churchill's plea to keep up the fighting until victory. He offered his country and his allies "nothing but blood and sweat and tears" on the road to defeating the Axis powers (Nolte 1974). His emotional appeal won the hearts and support of British and Americans alike. Even the Constitution, which is considered the basis for our government and laws, originated as a public relations document. It was drafted specifically to cater to public conviction and to ease qualms and grievances of the population. As a natural response to a rapidly changing society public relations was forced to grow and metamorphasize. As the culture became increasingly specialized and complex PR's responsibilities have also come more into demand. The big companies and businesses whom profited from the technological boom were no longer in touch with the community. Their sights were to large to relate to individual consumers and they took for granted the public that kept them afloat. All this condiscension among big corporations bred an overwhelming anti-business sentiment (Pearson 1990). Public relations came back in force to convey big business sentiments to the population. Seeing how the tide of public notions effects their industry, entrepreneurs and professionals changed their tune from that of "damn the public" to "inform the public" (Pearson 1970). Beginning in the late 1970's enterprises began understanding the consumer movement and vowed to keep the public educated so that each individual could exercise "sound judgment" (Pearson 1970). Since the industries and entities represented by PR have become accountable the field of public relations has gained a lot of respect and clout for being honest and not just fooling the public. In the past PR exhausted all available outlets for disseminating information and as designs grew more complex and inventions became more common public relations was strengthened. The telephone, television and radio all helped foster the PR industry and facilitate its expansion. Over the last two decades the PR industry has been generously enhanced by the advent of more convenient technology. Agencies are now able to utilize satellites to transmit information much faster and more efficiently. In addition to being able to reach multitudes of people almost effortlessly, software and computing techniques are making the transmissions more professional and persuasive with graphics and designs. The common-place of computers has also fueled the explosion of PR and would seem to dictate that the industry could only be headed upward (Newsom 1993). Today, public relations has developed into a multi-million dollar industry. Most modern developments in public relations are linked with political reform movements, as PR is an important part of politics, playing a major part in who becomes elected and what laws are passed. Politicians use public relations to keep themselves in good standing with the public, which is very necessary for their job. What began as mere publicity has grown to include many other uses, from interpreting public opinion and it's impact on an organization to researching ways of helping a business to maintain it's goals. Bibliography: Cutlip, Scott. (1995). Public Relations History: From the 17th to the 20th Century. Lawrence Earlbaum Associates. Heirbert, Ray. (1966). Courtier to the Crowd.Iowa State University Press. Leahigh, Alan. (1993). The History of- quote, unquote- Public Relations.Public Relations Quarterly.. Newsom, Doug. (1993). This Is PR.Wadsworth Publishing Company.. Nolte, Lawerence. (1974). Fundamentals of Public Relations.Pergamon Press Inc.. Pearson, Ron. (1990). Perspectives on Public Relations History.Public Relations Review.. Spector & Assoc. (1997). Public Relations Museum. Online:http://www.prmuseum.com/home.html. Tye, Larry. (1998). The Father of Spin.Crown Publishers Inc..

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