FOUNDERS OF MODERN PUBLIC RELATIONS: THE CHRONICLES

The chronicles of the founders of public relations is drawn out of the passion each one of them displayed to have the profession officially recognized world wide. Thomas Jefferson, one of the framers of Americans constitution used the term public relations in his bid to promote is opinion to others. You shall explicitly understand the role each one of them played to birth this discipline which clamors for professionalism in its preeminence dominance of its affairs.

Edward Bernays

He was born in Vienna, Austria in 1891; Edward Bernays was surrounded with very influential and powerful acquaintances, including his family members, which provided him with huge financial, human and material resources and connections from the start. Although, he created an integrity and legacy of his own.

Barnay was known around the world as the father of public relations, taking to this advantage he used Sigmund Freud’s ideas (his uncle) in the commercial realm to control how people behaved and thought. This conditioning experiment enabled him to contribute to the field of psychology. Not only did he coin the term "counsel on public relations", but he was the founder of the first U.S. public relations firm in 1919.

In 1917, while he was in the army serving as a foot soldier in the U.S. Committee on Public Information, he was exposed to the marketing techniques that the CPI was using during the First World War. Techniques and propaganda that portrayed democracy as the preserver of peace and savior of the world.

Having the experience and skills from the CPI and reading every propaganda book he could get his hands on, Bernays set sail to understand what influences the masses. In his words "Doing publicity for other nations, applying my experience to other countries, might be a fascinating, constructive career.”

After awhile, Barnay worked as a journalist briefly, he then moved to press agentry. He did publicity for American Tobacco Company and General Electric Company and he did well. Afterwards he went on to publish dozens of books and articles including his first book on public relations, Crystallizing Public Opinion in1923.

Using modern thinking from psychology, sociology, and market research Bernays formed his own theories and techniques. These are what many public relations specialists practice today. Life magazine named him one of the most influential Americans of the century because of his ideas on marketing to the masses. He tutored presidents, political leaders and companies in the use of mass media and pioneered the field of public relations.

Chester Burger

A pioneer in the field of media consultancy, Chester Burger wrote a report (Telephone News on Television) in 1955, expressing the importance of public relations in television. This guidebook, written to AT&T, observed the potential of television as being a highly marketable medium. He said "A medium as important as television, therefore, should receive important consideration in any public relations program."

He examined the unique communication medium that television had and recommended that shorter "bites" be used instead of the average newspaper story, expressing the need for brevity. He suggested the simplified sentence structure that many newscasters use today, with use of familiar words and casual story telling. He also advised companies that newscaster’s role would become essential in representing the company on television, all of which has proved to be true.

Burger founded a communications management consulting firm in 1964 properly named the Chester Burger Company. Burger, the nation’s first CBS television news reporter (1946), has worked in radio, as a "visualizer" in television news, as a news editor and as national news film manager. Now a retired public relations and advertising executive and Past President of Communications Counselors, a public relations firm, Burger has left his mark on the public relations field in the media.

He received the Gold Anvil in 1987, which is the Public Relations Society of America's highest award, for "unusually significant contributions to the public relations profession." Other awards include the U.S. Information Agency "Award for Outstanding Service," the United Negro College Fund Distinguished Service Citation and Honorary Member of the Telephone Pioneers of America.

Burger wrote the first guidebook on the tactical uses of television as a medium of persuasion. He has written five books on corporate management, namely "The Chief Executive." In addition, he has had several management articles published in the Harvard Business Review and many other publications.

Carl R. Byoir

Carl R. Byoir started up his career in public relations as a teenager, precisely, at the age of 17 as the city editor of the Waterloo Times in Iowa. He then became a circulation manager for all of the Hearst Magazine's publications in 1914. By 1917, Byoir was asked and agreed to be a part of the U.S. Committee on Public Information, a year before Bernays entered the CPI.

Here he learned many strategies and techniques to influence public opinion. He used these skills to create a campaign that targeted draft-eligible non-English speaking Americans. With this campaign he was able to add an additional 75,000 personnel to the U.S. war effort.

The Lithuanian National Council in the U.S. hired Byoir to collect support so that the U.S. Senate would recognize Lithuania as a free and independent nation. Byoir used his techniques from CPI such as print media, prominent local speakers, editorials and telegrams aimed at influential parties to create awareness about the issue. This campaign succeeded in securing Lithuania's future as an ally with the U.S.

In 1921 Byoir tried his hand at sales. Nuxated Iron hired Byoir without pay to design advertisements to sell the products quicker. When he increased sales within a couple of weeks he was hired as vice president and general manager of the company.

Next Byoir leased two small newspapers in Cuba: the Havana Post and the Havana Telegram. Instead of trying to increase sales through marketing he bargained with the Cuban President Gerardo Machado. The agreement was to increase American tourism in exchange that President Machado would sign a five-year contract to hire Carl Byoir and Associates as the public relations office for the Cuban government. It was a $300,000 agreement that many U.S. citizens frowned on, thinking that Byoir was a slave to a dictator.

Other projects included working with President Hoover and Roosevelt, the Freeport Sulfur Company and Eastern Railroads. Throughout his various ventures, controversy stirred about Nazi collusion for representing the German Tourist Information Office in the 1930's, which he was exonerated from, and violating antitrust laws with the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, which he was convicted of. Either way Byoir lived a full life.

Moss Kendrix

The first African-American to acquire a major corporate marketing account from Coca-Cola. Moss Kendrix was a huge influence for minorities in the advertising and public relations field.

While attending college at Morehouse in Atlanta, Georgia, Kendrix became the editor of the schools' newspaper The Maroon Tiger. He also co-founded an African-American journalism society, the Phi Delta Journalism Society. Shortly after graduating he created National Negro Newspaper Week and then went to work to gain experience. In 1941 he was drafted and served for the Treasury Department in the War and Finance Office, promoting war bonds and talking on CBS radio shows.

In 1944 he became the Republic of Liberia's Centennial Celebration director of public relations. Later that year he established his own public relations firm, The Moss Kendrix Organization based out of Washington, D.C. It was devoted to target African-American consumers. The firm acquired clients such as the Coca-Cola Company, Carnation, the National Dental Association, the National Educational Association and Ford Motor Company.

Kendrix informed his corporate clients about the vast purchasing power of the African-American communities and consumers. He also designed many advertisements and public relations campaigns that encouraged African-American exposure to products and services. He also designed promotional ads and worked with celebrities from sports and entertainment.

In 1953, Kendrix created The National Association of Market Developers at Tennessee State University, which acted as a support group for minorities in the field of public relations. Kendrix continued to work for Coca-Cola into the 1970's.

Arthur W. Page

Following in the footsteps of his father as a journalist, Arthur W. Page would pave the way for the field of public relations. Walter Hines Page, Arthur's father, was an excellent journalist, editor and business man. He was a founder of Doubleday Page publishing company, advisor to Woodrow Wilson and the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain during WWI.

In 1905, at the age of 22, Arthur Page started to work at Doubleday Page and would end up working for the company for 22 years. He was promoted to vice president of the company's magazine department, where he found a special interest for a magazine called The World's Work. He wrote strong editorial articles about the responsibilities and duties of U.S. corporations to its consumers.

In 1927 Walter Gifford, CEO of the AT&T company, inquired whether Page would like to put his ideas into practice for AT&T and he accepted. This would lead to be corporate America's first public relations position and create a framework for the field, still being used today. He spent 19 years as a vice-president for AT&T and unknowingly established a public relations protocol.

Through his speeches, presentations, letters and advice Page formed the model of the public relations specialist. He stressed, to his public relations staff, that survey research must be an integral part of their profession. He also emphasized that anticipating problems that their clients might face is critical.

His accomplishments include writing President Truman’s announcement of the use of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima; he was a consultant to U.S. Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Dwight Eisenhower and served as a member of the boards of directors of the Chase Bank, Westinghouse, Kennecott Copper and Continental Oil.

Ivy Led Better Lee

Ivy Lee brought the term Public relations to lime light. While attending Princeton University, Ivy Lee participated in the school newspaper. Using these skills as a journalist he found his way into newspaper writing, as most public relations specialists first do.

He worked for the New York American, the New York Times and the New York World writing mostly about financial and business issues. In 1903 he took his first step toward public relations by landing a job as publicity manager for the Citizens' Union. He authored a textbook entitled The Best Administration New York City Ever Had and then accepted a press job with the Democratic National Committee.

In 1905 partnering with a colleague from the DNC, George Parker, they agreed to form their own public relations firm, Parker and Lee. He then published his "Declaration of Principles," which focused on giving factual information to the public. Then in 1906 he came to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad company, which at that time was under public scrutiny for denying information and interviews to reporters.

At once, Lee decided to update reporters on business matters and take them to the accident sites. Later he became the executive assistant to the president of Pennsylvania Railroad, which gave him notoriety. From this exposure John D. Rockefeller, Jr. asked for Lee's help in controlling the media during the strikes at the Colorado Fuel and Oil Company. Shortly thereafter he accepted a position on the personal advisory staff of John D. Rockefeller, Sr in 1915.

With a longtime interest in Russia, Lee decided to use his skills to campaign for the Soviet Union. He thought that if he could establish a commercial trade link between the U.S. and Soviet Union that it would open the lines of communication and squash its turmoil. This only created accusations of Lee being a Russian propagandist, which never proved to be true. Other controversy stirred when he did consulting work for I.G. Farben Industries of Germany and was accused of being a Nazi advocate.

Lee started a revolution to inform the public on private interests by providing facts so the public could better understand the policies and routines of American corporations. "You suddenly find you are not running a private business, but you are running a business of which the public itself is taking complete supervision," said Lee.