Ethics and the Profession: The Crystallizing of Public Relations Practice from Association to Accreditation, 1936–1964

Abstract

Scholars consider the development of public relations ethics to be an integral component in professionalizing public relations. If this connection exists, the solidifying of the profession that took place from the interwar to postwar periods should provide not only evidence for this linkage, but also insight into a philosophy of public relations practice and its key ethical considerations. This study establishes the bookend years of 1936, which marked the founding of the first professional public relations association, and 1964, which marked the start of Public Relations Society of America's accreditation for practice, as defining moments in establishing a profession. An analysis of speeches from business leaders, government officials, and communication practitioners shed light on practices and ethics. The uneasiness many current scholars and professionals express toward persuasive strategies was largely absent during the formative years, as truthful advocacy via two-way communication became emblematic of public relations practice.

Notes

1 Edward L. Bernays, Public Relations (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1952), 69; Genevieve McBride, “Ethical Thought in Public Relations History: Seeking a Relevant Perspective,” Journal of Mass Media Ethics 4, no. 1 (1989):5–20. Richard S. Tedlow, Keeping the Corporate Image: Public Relations and Business, 1900–1950 (Greenwich, CT: Jai Press Inc., 1979).

2 Eyun-Jung Ki and Soo-Yeon Kim, “Ethics Codes of Public Relations Firms in the United States and South Korea,” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 87, no. 2 (2010):363–77; Jacquie L'Etang, “The Myth of the ‘Ethical Guardian’: An Examination of Its Origins, Potency and Illusions,” Journal of Communication Management 8, no. 1 (2003):53–67; Michael Parkinson, “The PRSA Code of Professional Standards and Member Code of Ethics: Why They Are Neither Professional nor Ethical,” Public Relations Quarterly 46, no. 3 (2001):27–31. Ron Pearson, “Perspectives on Public Relations History,” in Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public Relations, edited by Elizabeth L. Toth and Robert L. Heath (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1992), 111–30; Tom Watson, “Let's Get Dangerous—A Review of Current Scholarship in Public Relation History,” Public Relations Review 40, no. 5 (2014):874–77. “Proto-PR” is a commonly used phrase to refer to PR-like practices employed prior to 1900.

3 Bernays; Scott M. Cutlip, The Unseen Power: Public Relations, a History (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1994); James E. Grunig and Todd Hunt, Managing Public Relations (New York: CBS College Publishing, 1984); James E. Grunig, Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1992); Larissa A. Grunig, “Toward a Philosophy of Public Relations,” in Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public Relations, edited by Elizabeth L. Toth and Robert L. Heath (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1992), 65–91. L. A. Grunig sets the timeline rather rigidly, arguing that press agentry emerged in the 1850s, public information in 1900s, two-way asymmetry in 1920s, and two-way symmetry in 1960s.

4 Lamme argues that this picture of Barnum is incomplete, and that to paint him as a huckster represents an overly simplistic view. As she points out in her discussion of Barnum and the “humbug” he promoted: “Harmless humbug, then, was couched in a kind of transparency, of both parties knowing and agreeing to an exchanged from which both would derive value. This often occurred as a kind of conspiratorial hoodwink in which audience members felt they were in on the joke, in cahoots with Barnum at the expense of others.” See Margot Opdycke Lamme, Public Relations and Religion in American History (New York: Routledge, 2014).

5 Edward L. Bernays, “The Marketing of National Policies: A Study of War Propaganda,” Journal of Marketing 6, no. 3 (1942): 236–44. Himself a nephew of Sigmund Freud, it is no surprise that Bernays was intensely interested in psychology and was among the first to employ both psychological and sociological approaches to consumer relations. See Caryl Cooper, “Public Relations, 1800–Present,” in The Age of Mass Communication, edited by William David Sloan (Northport, AL: Vision Press, 2008), 371–90.

6 Contemporaries of Bernays, such as Pendleton Dudley, Arthur W. Page, John W. Hill, and Earl Newsom, shared similar view of public opinion, embracing scientific research of the attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of stakeholders. See Cutlip; Noel L. Griese, “He Walked in the Shadows: Public Relations Counsel Arthur W. Page,” Public Relations Quarterly 21, no. 3 (1976):8–15; “The Employee Communication Philosophy of Arthur W. Page,” Public Relations Quarterly 22, no. 4 (1977):8–12; Robert L. Heath and Shannon A. Bowen, “The Public Relations Philosophy of John W. Hill: Bricks in the Foundation of Issues Management,” Journal of Public Affairs 2, no. 4 (2002):230–46; John W. Hill, “Corporations—the Sitting Ducks,” Public Relations Quarterly 22, no. 2 (1977):8–10.

7 Shannon A. Bowen, “Expansion of Ethics as the Tenth Generic Principle of Public Relations Excellence: A Kantian Theory and Model for Managing Ethical Issues,” Journal of Public Relations Research 16, no. 1 (2004):65–92; “A Practical Model for Ethical Decision Making in Issues Management and Public Relations,” Journal of Public Relations Research 17, no. 3 (2005):191–216; “A State of Neglect: Public Relations as ‘Corporate Conscience’ or Ethics Counsel,” Journal of Public Relations Research 20, no. 3 (2008):271–96; Charles W. Marsh Jr., “Public Relations Ethics: Contrasting Models from the Rhetorics of Plato, Aristotle, and Isocrates,” Journal of Mass Media Ethics 16, nos. 2–3 (2001):78–98.

8 James E. Grunig and Jon White, “The Effect of Worldviews on Public Relations Theory and Practice,” in Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management, edited by James E. Grunig (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1992),31–64; L'Etang. For an overview of excellence theory, see J. E. Grunig; Nicholas Browning, “Beyond Excellence Theory: A Critical Examination of the Grunigian Model” (University of Georgia, 2010). (Thesis/dissertation archive: http://www.libs.uga.edu/etd/).

9 Lamme, 4.

10 Thomas H. Bivins, “A Golden Opportunity?: Edward Bernays and the Dilemma of Ethics,” American Journalism 30, no. 4 (2013):496–519; Karla Gower, “US Corporate Public Relations in the Progressive Era,” Journal of Communication Management 12, no. 4 (2008):305–18; Lamme; Margot Opdycke Lamme, Jacquie L'Etang, and Burton St. John III, “The State of Public Relations History,” American Journalism 26, no. 1 (2009):156–59; Margot Opdycke Lamme and Karen Miller Russell, “Removing the Spin: Toward a New Theory of Public Relations History,” Journalism & Communication Monographs 11, no. 4 (2009):280–362; Karen Miller Russell and Carl O. Bishop, “Understanding Ivy Lee's Declaration of Principles: US Newspaper and Magazine Coverage of Publicity and Press Agentry, 1865–1904,” Public Relations Review 35, no. 2 (2009):91–101; Cayce Myers, “Early US Corporate Public Relations: Understanding the ‘Publicity Agent’ in American Corporate Communications, 1902–1918,” American Journalism 32, no. 4 (2015):412–33.

11 Lamme, x; Bivins.

12 Gower, 307.

13 Myers, advancing Gower's implications, argues that Bernays's attempt to advance his self-interest, along with his inexperience as a historian, ultimately led to this “untrue linear narrative of PR development.” See Cayce Myers, “Reconsidering Propaganda in US Public Relations History: Ananalysis of Propaganda in the Popular Press 1810–1918,” Public Relations Review 41, no. 4 (2015):551–61.

14 Carl Berger, Broadsides and Bayonets: The Propoganda War of the American Revolution (San Rafael, CA: Presido Press, 1976); Patricia Bradley, “The Boston Gazette and Slavery as Revolutionary Propaganda,” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 72, no. 3 (1995):581–96; Scott M. Cutlip, “Public Relations and the American Revolution,” Public Relations Review 2, no. 4 (1976):1–24; Philip Davidson, Propaganda and the American Revolution, 1763–1783 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1941); Robert W. Smith, “The Boston Massacre: A Study in Public Relations,” Public Relations Review 2, no. 4 (1976):25–33.

15 Lamme, 14–18.

16 Ruth Bordin, Frances Willard: A Biography (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989); Carolyn De Swarte Gifford, ed., Writing out My Heart: Selections from the Journal of Frances E. Willard, 1855–1896 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995); Lamme.

17 Perhaps the railroad and utilities companies of the mid- to late 1800s present the most illustrative microcosm of the wide range of public relations activities employed at the time. See Marvin N. Olasky, “The Development of Corporate Public Relations, 1850–1930,” Journalism Monographs, no. 102 (1987):1–44. Kevin Stoker and Brad Rawlins, “The ‘Light’ of Publicity in the Progressive Era: From Searchlight to Flashlight,” Journalism History 30, no. 4 (2005):177–88.

18 For instance, scholars have pointed to Page's consumer relations efforts or Thompson Products Co. President Frederick Crawford's open-door policy for employees as embodying two-way principles as early as the 1920s. See Griese, “He Walked in the Shadows”; C. Cooper; Tedlow.

19 Interpreting Marvin Olasky's work, Pearson (p. 124) suggests that “an honest reading of public relations' history… reveals no evidence that public relations practitioners are becoming more ethical.”

20 J. E. Grunig; Larissa A. Grunig, James E. Grunig, and David M. Dozier, Excellent Public Relations and Effective Organizations (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2002); James E. Grunig, “Furnishing the Edifice: Ongoing Research on Public Relations as a Strategic Management Function,” Journal of Public Relations Research 18, no. 2 (2006):151–76. Larissa A. Grunig, and Elizabeth L. Toth. “The Ethics of Communicating with and About Difference in a Changing Society,” in Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy, edited by Kathy Fitzpatrick and Carolyn Bronstein. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006), 39–52.

21 Deontological ethics focuses on intent and duty, asking autonomous moral agents to follow prescriptive rules for acting in various scenarios with little or no accounting for outcomes. For a more complete overview of deontology. See Thomas H. Bivins, Mixed Media: Moral Distinctions in Advertising, Public Relations, and Journalism, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2009); Nicholas Browning, “The Ethics of Two-way Symmetry and the Dilemmas of Dialogic Kantianism,” Journal of Mass Media Ethics 30, no. 3 (2015); Immanuel Kant, “Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals,” in Ethical Philosophy (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1785/1994), 1–69; Bowen, “Expansion of Ethics as the Tenth Generic Principle of Public Relations Excellence”; “A Practical Model for Ethical Decision Making”; “A State of Neglect”; J. E. Grunig, “Furnishing the Edifice.”

22 Bowen, “A Practical Model for Ethical Decision Making” and “A State of Neglect”; Browning, “The Ethics of Two-way Symmetry and the Dilemmas of Dialogic Kantianism”; Amanda Cancel et al., “It Depends: A Contingency Theory of Accommodation in Public Relations,” Journal of Public Relations Research 9, no. 1 (1997):31–63; Amanda Cancel, Michael A. Mitrook, and Glen T. Cameron, “Testing the Contingency Theory of Accommodation in Public Relations,” Public Relations Review 25, no. 2 (1999):171–97; Greg Leichty and Jeff Springston, “Reconsidering Public Relations Models,” ibid., 19, no. 4 (1993):327–39; Greg Leichty, “The Limits of Collaboration,” ibid., 23, no. 1 (1997):47–55; Juliet Roper, “Symmetrical Communication: Excellent Public Relations of a Strategy for Hegemony?,” Journal of Public Relations Research 17, no. 1 (2005):69–86; Kevin L. Stoker and Kati Tusinski Berg, “Reconsidering Public Relations' Infatuation with Dialogue: Why Engagement and Reconciliation Can Be More Ethical Than Symmetry and Reciprocity,” Journal of Mass Media Ethics 21, nos. 2–3 (2006):156–76.

23 Miller Russell and Bishop.

24 Bivins, “A Golden Opportunity?: Edward Bernays and the Dilemma of Ethics,” 501. Cooper would echo this sentiment, adding that the interwar years marked a time of institutionalizing and legitimizing the public relations profession. Tedlow (p. 120) sees this profession-laying groundwork taking even deeper roots through public relations forums during World War II, the first occurring at the NAM's 1942 annual Congress of American Industry, during which attendees discussed “Industry's Public Relations.”

25 David W. Guth and Charles Marsh, Public Relations: A Values-driven Approach (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000).

26 Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1922). For more information on the powerful media effects model (a.k.a. the magic bullet model or hypodermic needle model), see Em Griffin, A First Look at Communication Theory, 8th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012).

27 Bernays would continue to use propaganda as a synonym for shaping public opinion into the 1930s. See Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda (Brooklyn, NY: Ig Publishing, 1928); “Freedom of Propaganda: The Constructive Forming of Public Opinion,” Vital Speeches of the Day 2, no. 24 (1936):744–46.

28 By 1930, the term's ominous undertones were well established in the United States. See George Seldes, You Can't Print That!: The Truth behind the News, 1918–1928 (Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing, 1929); “Propaganda,” in Oxford English Dictionary (2007). Myers's analysis of popular press mentions of propaganda throughout the 1800s suggests that propaganda was often associated with deception throughout the nineteenth century as well. He therefore places a great deal of blame on Bernays's reliance on the word for the subsequent, synonymous associations between propaganda and public relations. See Myers, “Reconsidering Propaganda in US Public Relations History.”

29 Bivins, “A Golden Opportunity? Edward Bernays and the Dilemma of Ethics,” 498.

30 Ibid. While the legal and medical professions serve as high measuring sticks, they are not particularly useful ones. Few professions meet such sanctioned approval, particularly in the communication field. Public relations' sister professions (marketing, advertising, and journalism) may be more realistic points for comparison, against which public relations practitioners stack up well. See Renita Coleman and Lee Wilkins, “The Moral Development of Public Relations Practitioners: A Comparison with Other Professions and Influences on Higher Quality Ethical Reasoning,” Journal of Public Relations Research 23, no. 3 (2009):318–40.

31 Lamme, 122–23.

32 McBride.

33 Ibid.; J. E. Grunig; Parkinson.

34 Cutlip, The Unseen Power; Marsh; McBride.

35 Thomas Daly, “Publishers' Announcement,” Vital Speeches of the Day 1, no. 1 (1934): 1. Vital Speeches is still in print today but changed to a monthly periodical in 2006 and 2007. Many of its published speeches are now available at www.vsotd.com.

36 Lamme, L'Etang, and St. John III, 158.

37 EBSCOhost History Reference Center database houses the full text of every speech published in Vital Speeches, so it was queried to define this study's sample. Please note: For simplicity, in citations subsequent to footnote 38, Vital Speeches of the Day will be abbreviated VS.

38 See Harrison Tweed, “The Bar and the Public: A Good Word on Behalf of Lawyers,” Vital Speeches of the Day (VS) 6, no. 23 (1940):730–32. Vernon A. Langille, “Prejudice—Its Dynamics and Consequences: Effects on Private Citizens and International Relations,” Vital Speeches of the Day 22, no. 7 (1956):214–20. Hiram Johnson, “Propaganda for War: Do Not Let Ourselves Be Frightened,” Vital Speeches of the Day 5, no. 11 (1939): 348–52.

39 A note on presentism: There is no desire here and in the pages that follow to suggest practitioners of this era were engaged in efforts equivalent to modern-day employee relations or corporate social responsibility, for example. However, the roots of these public relations subfields seem to be bubbling to the surface from the 1930s to the 1960s. This organization structure works well as a means of (a) tracing these historical linkages and (b) presenting findings in a manner accessible to twenty-first-century scholars and practitioners.

40 Bronson Batchelor, “New Dimension of Business: There Can Be No Compromise,” Vital Speeches of the Day 4, no. 17 (1938): 522–27; H. A. Batten, “Public Relations,” Vital Speeches of the Day 3, no. 16 (1937): 490–96; James Bryant Conant, “Defenses against Propaganda: History as a Mirror,” Vital Speeches of the Day 4, no. 17 (1938): 542–44; Edward G. Olsen, “P.T.A.—A Link in World Understanding: Education, a Community Responsibility,” Vital Speeches of the Day 13, no. 20 (1947): 629–22; James Duane Squires, “The Problem of Propaganda Today: Credulity or Skepticism,” Vital Speeches of the Day 5, no. 19 (1939): 588–93. Bronson Batchelor was a public relations consultant based in New York City; Edward Olsen served as the director of school and community relations for the Washington State Office of Public Instruction; James Squires was a faculty member in Colby College's department of social studies.

41 Batten, 492; Arthur J. Todd, “A Catechism of So-called Labor Relations: ‘Tomorrow's Labor Problems Will Make Today's Headaches Seem Like Pleasurable Moments,'” Vital Speeches of the Day 11, no. 14 (1945): 444–48.

42 Tedlow.

43 C. Cooper; Cutlip, The Unseen Power; Roland Marchand, Creating the Corporate Soul: The Rise of Public Relations and Corporate Imagery in American Big Business (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998); Karen S. Miller, The Voice of Business: Hill & Knowlton and Postwar Public Relations (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999); “Amplifying the Voice of Business: Hill and Knowlton's Influence on Political, Public, and Media Discourse in Postwar America,” Business and Economic History 24, no. 1 (1995):18–21; Pearson; Tedlow.

44 Miller, Hill & Knowlton and Postwar Public Relations; “Hill and Knowlton's Influence on Political, Public, and Media Discourse.”

45 Cutlip, The Unseen Power, 433.

46 Page was a key transitional figure here. Though a stalwart in corporate public relations, Page relied heavily on synergistic advertising campaigns to boost the sales for and solidify a positive public image of AT&T. See Griese, “He Walked in the Shadows: Public Relations Counsel Arthur W. Page”; “The Employee Communication Philosophy of Arthur W. Page”; Marchand; Karen Miller Russell, “Character and the Practic of Public Relations: Arthur W. Page and John W. Hill,” in Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public Relations, edited by Robert L. Heath, Elizabeth L. Toth, and Damion Waymer (New York: Routledge, 2009), 315–27.

47 Herbert E. Markley, “Positive Employee Relations: An Obligation of Management,” Vital Speeches of the Day 23, no. 17 (1957): 532–36; Wheeler McMillen, “The Miracle of 1948: The President Appropriated Industry's Sales Manual,” Vital Speeches of the Day 15, no. 6 (1949): 181–83.

48 Batten, 492; Gower; Heath and Bowen; Marchand; Tedlow.

49 Harold Brayman, “Formula for Reform: Social Gains Follow Economic Advance,” Vital Speeches of the Day 18, no. 4 (1951): 119–22.

50 Gower; Marchand; Pearson; Tedlow; Carl W. Ackerman, “Public Opinion and the Press: In Politics, Economics, and Science,” Vital Speeches of the Day 3, no. 17 (1937): 521–24; Batchelor, 522; Brayman, 119; Glen Perry, “The Responsibility of the Businessman: A Positive Program That Will Produce Results,” Vital Speeches of the Day 26, no. 15 (1960): 458–61; E. W. Pryor, “Human Relations in Industry: Ten Basic Areas for Development,” Vital Speeches of the Day 15, no. 16 (1949): 509–12. E. W. Pryor was president of Public Relations, Inc.

51 Ed Lipscomb, “The Fight for Public Opinion,” Vital Speeches of the Day 18, no. 14 (1952): 434–37.

52 Ibid. Ward B. Stevenson, “Why You May Lose Money in the 1960's: Three Major Threats That Loom on Business Horizon,” VS 25, no. 22 (1959): 699–701.

53 Bernays, “Freedom of Propaganda” 746.

54 Carl W. Ackerman, “War Propaganda: The Battle of Public Opinion,” Vital Speeches of the Day 6, no. 20 (1940): 636–38. Carl W. Ackerman served as the first dean of Columbia University's School of Journalism and held that post from 1931 to 1954.

55 George Gordon Battle, “Propaganda in America: Is the American Public a Slave of Propaganda?,” Vital Speeches of the Day 5, no. 3 (1938): 96; Kent Cooper, “A Free Press in a Free World: A Check upon Government Propaganda,” Vital Speeches of the Day 11, no. 7 (1945): 209–11; Gerald P. Nye, “War Propaganda: Our Madness Increases as Our Emergency Shrinks,” Vital Speeches of the Day 7, no. 23 (1941): 720–23. George Battle was a US attorney; Kent Cooper was the executive director of the Associated Press; Gerald Nye served as a US senator from North Dakota.

56 Conant, 543.

57 Carl W. Ackerman, “War Propaganda”; James Duane Squires, “The Problem of Propaganda Today: Credulity or Skepticism,” VS 5, no. 19 (1939): 588.

58 Charles Grandison Finney, Lectures on Religious Revivals (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1960).

59 Charles R. Hook, “Agriculture, Industry, and Labor: We Will Look Back on These Days as Historic,” VS 5, no. 11 (1939): 344–47; Todd, 447. Charles R. Hook served as NAM chairman and president of the American Rolling Mill Company.

60 Franklin D. Roosevelt, “New Instruments of Public Power: Annual Message to Congress,” Vital Speeches of the Day 2, no. 8 (1936): 218–21. K. Cooper (p. 210) would echo FDR's concerns over civil liberties nearly a decade later.

61 R. R. de la Cruz, “America and Americans: A Foreigner's Impressions,” Vital Speeches of the Day 15, no. 1 (1948): 30–32. R. R. de la Cruz was the director of public relations and fundraising for the Philippine National Red Cross. Again, pointing to Griffin's text on communication theory, the falling out of favor seen from powerful effects models of media indicate that this level of gullibility probably does not exist.

62 Edward L. Bernays, “Psychological Barriers in Health Education: Everyone Should Receive Adequate Health Education,” Vital Speeches of the Day 8, no. 6 (1942): 188–92.

63 Fred Eldean, “Today's Challenge to the Lawyer: No Longer a Spokesman for Freedom,” Vital Speeches of the Day 16, no. 4 (1949): 121–25.

64 Fred Smith, “Industry, Government and Labor: Where Do They Go from Here?,” Vital Speeches of the Day 11, no. 22 (1945): 689–93.

65 Robert van Riper, “‘Some Things That Worry Me about Public Relations’: Pandering to Public Opinion,” VS 29, no. 12 (1963): 379–81. Similar arguments concerning employee relations were made by Guy L. Brown, “A Challenge for the 1960's: Better Labor–Management Relations in the Railroad Industry,” Vital Speeches of the Day 26, no. 16 (1960): 500–04. Excellence theory would later categorize such “company knows best” approaches as paternalistic. Grunig and White (p. 40), for example, would see this as a presupposition that “the organization knows best and that publics benefit from ‘cooperating’ with it.” See also James E. Grunig, “Symmetrical Presuppositions as a Framework for Public Relations Theory,” in Public Relations Theory, edited by C. H. Botan and V. Hazelton Jr. (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1989):17–44.

66 Bernays, “Freedom of Propaganda,” 744; Battle, 96; Gladstone Murray, “Is the Profit Motive Anti-Social?: Hunger for Individual Recognition Must Be Satisfied,” Vital Speeches of the Day 11, no. 5 (1944): 147–50.

67 Dorothy Thompson, “Stopping Propaganda: The Democracies Have the Jitters,” Vital Speeches of the Day 5, no. 16 (1939): 494–95. Dorothy Thompson was a highly regarded journalist, perhaps best known for her monthly columns in the Ladies' Home Journal, which she wrote from 1937 to 1961. Featured on a 1939 cover of Time magazine, she was lauded as the second most influential woman in America, behind only Eleanor Roosevelt.

68 Lipscomb, “The Fight for Public Opinion,” 437.

69 Ackerman, “Public Opinion and the Press” 521; Batchelor, 526; Bernays, “Freedom of Propaganda” 746; Eldean, “Today's Challenge to the Lawyer,” 122; Donald E. Kramer, “‘The Challenge for Public Relations’: A New Look at Global Problems,” VS 29, no. 1 (1962): 18; Lipscomb, “The Fight for Public Opinion,” 435; James P. Selvage, “Selling the Private Enterprise System: Business Needs to Study Public Relations,” Vital Speeches of the Day 9, no. 5 (1942): 144–47; Thompson, 494. James P. Selvage was a public relations counsel for Lee & Selvage, a New York–based firm.

70 Arguably, the conservative political leanings of pro-business public relations practitioners of the time helped cement this Red Scare, anti-labor strategy. See Cutlip, The Unseen Power; Miller, Hill & Knowlton and Postwar Public Relations; “Hill and Knowlton's Influence on Political, Public, and Media Discourse”; Tedlow.

71 Bernays, “Freedom of Propaganda”; Brayman, 120; Hook, 345; Charles G. Mortimer, “Consumer Persuasion: Black Art or Key to Economic Progress?,” Vital Speeches of the Day 27, no. 1 (1960): 14–18. Charles Mortimer was chairman of General Foods Corporation.

72 Brayman, 120.

73 Fred Eldean, “Advertising Tomorrow: Customers Must Be Persuaded to Buy,” Vital Speeches of the Day 10, no. 11 (1944): 335–37.

74 Batchelor, 523; Battle, 96; Earl Harding, “The Right to Work: We Are Now in the Hands of a Super-Government of Labor Organizations,” Vital Speeches of the Day 7, no. 24 (1941): 756–59; Hook, 345; Stevenson, 700. In his history, Keeping the Corporate Image, Tedlow argues quite convincingly that the growth of public relations during the interwar period resulted largely from big business's desire to combat New Deal policies and the belief that a comprehensive persuasive communication campaign could effectively do so.

75 This power often was seen as unnecessary by industry leaders, who felt business could effectively regulate itself. Brayman (p. 120), for example, cites the emergence of an eight-hour work day before its legal requirement as evidence.

76 Also known as the National Labor Relations Act, the Wagner Act guaranteed the right of workers to unionize, engage in collective bargaining, strike when necessary, and develop closed shops. See US House, 74th Congress, Public Law 74–198, 49 STAT 449, National Labor Relations Act, July 5, 1935; Harding.

77 Forrest H. Kirkpatrick, “As We Look Ahead: Labor–Management Relations,” Vital Speeches of the Day 26, no. 7 (1960): 202–04; Todd, 447–48. Forrest H. Kirkpatrick worked as the assistant to the president and public relations director of Wheeling Steel Corporation.

78 Harding.

79 US House, 86th Congress, Public Law 86–257, 73 STAT 519–546, Labor–Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, September 14, 1959.

80 Brown, 501.

81 Ibid., 503. It appears momentum in the organized labor fight had turned in favor of big business by 1960, when Brown gave this speech. In large part that was due to the strategic communication advantage big business held over labor. See Tedlow, 129–30.

82 Thomas Roy Jones, “Industry Looks at Labor: Asleep Standing Up,” Vital Speeches of the Day 8, no. 6 (1942): 166–69. Thomas Roy Jones also served as president of American Type Founders. While Jones's stance ran counter to much of official NAM policies, it does reflect a respect for the prevailing public opinion at the time. Unions were at their peak popularity during the Depression through the early years of World War II. See Tedlow.

83 Bernays, “Freedom of Propaganda,” 744.

84 Ed Lipscomb, “Let's Get Lost: So Shall We Find Ourselves,” Vital Speeches of the Day 19, no. 5 (1952): 147–50.

85 Gladstone Murray, “Canada a Century Hence: The High Destiny of Canada,” Vital Speeches of the Day 13, no. 7 (1947): 213–16.

86 C. J. Dover, “‘Silence—an Employee Relations Pitfall': By Our Silence We Too Often Stand Convicted as Charged,” Vital Speeches of the Day 23, no. 8 (1957): 249–52.

87 The importance of reputation management and garnering positive public images runs as a consistent thread through this era, from the Page years at AT&T to the mid-century strategies of Hill & Knowlton. See Griese, “He Walked in the Shadows”; Heath and Bowen; John W. Hill, Corporate Public Relations: Arm of Modern Management (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958); The Making of a Public Relations Man (New York: David McKay Company, 1963); Marchand.

88 Eldean, “Today's Challenge to the Lawyer,” 121.

89 Batten, 493, emphasis in original.

90 Eldean, “Today's Challenge to the Lawyer,” 122.

91 Myles J. Lane, “Insuring Man's Right to Knowledge: The Colleges Must Combat the Menace of Communism,” Vital Speeches of the Day 20, no. 20 (1954): 635–38.

92 Mortimer, 14.

93 Kirkpatrick, 203; F. Smith, 690; Walter H. Wheeler Jr., “Realism in Public Relations: Profit Sharing Creates ‘Real Partnership,’” Vital Speeches of the Day 15, no. 20 (1949): 637–40.

94 Edward Littlejohn, “The Heirs of the Robber Barons: The Changing Face of America,” Vital Speeches of the Day 24, no. 13 (1958): 409–16. Edward Littlejohn served as the director of public relations for the Borroughs Corporation.

95 F. Smith, 693.

96 Lane, 636.

97 SWOT analysis refers to assessing organizational strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) as well as potential opportunities (O) and threats (T). Its development is credited to Albert S. Humphrey, who devised the process while working at the Stanford Research Institute during the 1960s. (See Alfred S. Humphrey, “Swot Analysis for Management Consulting,” SRI Alumni Association Newsletter, December 2005:7–8.) MBO, or management by objectives, is also a strategic planning tool that focuses on setting goals, determining the resources necessary to achieve those goals, and implementing realistic and measurable plans of action to achieve them. See Peter F. Drucker, The Practice of Management (New York: Harper, 1954).

98 Bernays, “Psychological Barriers in Health Educations.”

99 James A. Farley, “Reaching the Hearts and Minds of Men: The Path to Success,” Vital Speeches of the Day 17, no. 18 (1951): 566–68. When James A. Farley made this speech, he was acting chairman of the board for Coca-Cola. From 1933 to 1940, he also served as the US Postmaster General.

100 McMillen, 181–82.

101 William G. Werner, “A Businessman Looks at the Schoolmaster's Publics: To Face Facts about Public Attitudes Is Indispensable,” Vital Speeches of the Day 26, no. 16 (1960): 507–11. William G. Werner was in charge of special services at Proctor & Gamble.

102 Perry,” 460. See also Ackerman, “Public Opinion and the Press,” 523; Batten, 494.

103 Ackerman, “Public Opinion and the Press,” 523.

104 George Gallup, “Why We Are Doing So Badly in the Ideological War: Russia's Impressive Conquest in the War of Ideas,” Vital Speeches of the Day 18, no. 16 (1952): 501–04.

105 Farley, “Reaching the Hearts and Minds of Men,” 566–68; Gallup, “Why We Are Doing So Badly in the Ideological War,” 503; Markley, 534.

106 Myers argues that the evolution from “press agent” to “publicity man” in the 1900s was little more than a name change. The subsequent change from “publicity man” to “public relations counsel” likely has similar undertones, though the changes in practice appear more substantial. See Myers, “Early US Corporate Public Relations: Understanding the ‘Publicity Agent,’ 1902–1918.”

107 Gallup, 503.

108 Batten, 495.

109 Ibid.

110 Brien McMahon, “Atomic Energy Publicity: Paradoxes Which Secrecy Creates,” VS 15, no. 9 (1949): 263–65. Brien McMahon served as a US senator from Connecticut.

111 Batten, 495; Donald E. Kramer, “‘The Challenge for Public Relations’: A New Look at Global Problems,” Vital Speeches of the Day 29, no. 1 (1962): 17–20.

112 C. Cooper; Gower; Hill, “Corporations—the Sitting Ducks”; Marchand.

113 Paul Garrett, “Public Opinion and the War: Attitude toward American Mass Production Has Changed,” VS 8, no. 22 (1942): 692–93; Theodore G. Joslin, “Today, We Produce to Destroy: Tomorrow We Must Produce to Build,” VS 9, no. 9 (1943): 276–80; Eldean, “Advertising Tomorrow,” 335; F. Smith, 689. Theodore Joslin served as the public relations director for DuPont.

114 Perry, 458–59; Selvage, 147.

115 Hill, “Corporations—the Sitting Ducks,” 10.

116 Harvey C. Jacobs, “The Image of the Image-makers: The Evolution of Public Relations,” Vital Speeches of the Day 27, no. 15 (1961): 459–62. Harvey C. Jacobs served as the undersecretary of Rotary International.

117 Tedlow (p. 196) argues vehemently that the public relations profession “grew as an institutional response to the problem of managing the business reputation.”

118 Murray, “Canada a Century Hence: The High Destiny of Canada,” 215.

119 Brayman, 119.

120 Cutlip, The Unseen Power; Miller, “Hill and Knowlton's Influence on Political, Public, and Media Discourse”; Pearson. Of course, not everyone echoed this reasoning. Dallas Smythe was particularly critical not so much of how big business was presented, but what big business represented—namely, an assault on the working class. See Dallas Walker Smythe, Dependency Road: Communications, Capitalism, Consciousness, and Canada (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1981).

121 Batten, 493; Markley, 536.

122 C. S. Ching, “Responsibilities of Management and Workers,” Vital Speeches of the Day 4 (1938): 540–42. C. S. Ching served as the director of industrial public relations for United States Rubber Products, Inc.

123 Batten, 494; Ching, 541.

124 Markley, 533. Herbert E. Markley worked as an assistant to the president of the Timken Roller Bearing Company.

125 Page's work for AT&T in the 1920s offered an early glimpse of this ideology. Page believed that most customers' opinions of AT&T would be shaped by their interactions with frontline employees, particularly those operating switchboards or those repairing or laying phone lines. See Griese, “The Employee Communication Philosophy of Arthur W. Page.”

126 Markley, 536.

127 Todd, 445.

128 Lane, 636; Lipscomb, “Let's Get Lost: So Shall We Find Ourselves,” 434; Wheeler, ” 639.

129 Perry, 548.

130 Wheeler, 637–38, emphasis original.

131 Pryor, 510.

132 Batten, 493.

133 Ching, 541; Markley, 533.

134 Pryor, 511.

135 Brayman, 120; Stevenson, 700; Wheeler, 638.

136 Murray, “Is the Profit Motive Anti-Social?,” 149. Gladstone Murray served as the first general manager of the Canadian Broadcasting Company as well as a public relations director for the BBC.

137 Pearson, 129.

138 Eldean, “Today's Challenge to the Lawyer,” 122. This advisory role permeated Hill & Knowlton during the period, which employed an attorney adversary model of public relations practice. See Miller Russell.

139 Tedlow, 136.

140 See the PRSA Member Code of Ethics: https://apps.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/CodeEnglish/#.WL7b5RIrLmE.

141 Parkinson, 29.

142 In her analysis of public relations during the progressive era (1900–1917), Gower (p. 315) notes that a minority of business leaders recognized social obligations much earlier.

143 L'Etang, 61.

144 Tedlow (pp. 201–02) summarizes this asymmetric approach nicely: “Public relations has helped to bring business and public closer together, but in many, if not most cases, this rapprochement has been achieved by selling the corporation to the public rather than the other way around.”

145 Hill, “Corporations—the Sitting Ducks,” 10.

146 Hill's own dealings with Big Tobacco illustrate this point. In his 1958 memoir, Hill advocated for transparent dealings with the public; however, he was instrumental in establishing the Tobacco Industry Research Committee (TIRC), whose stated goal was investigating links between smoking and various health risks, but in actuality operated as little more than a front organization used to question the veracity of existing evidence that tobacco use had disastrous health effects. See Corporate Public Relations: Arm of Modern Management, 39; Cutlip, The Unseen Power.