PR History and evolution

The way to get at the nature of an institution, as anything else that is alive is to see how it has grown.

A. G. Keller

For a better understanding of public relations' true nature it is very interesting to study their history and to compare their modern presentation with the old practice of this approach. One group of writers state “Public Relations is a twentieth century phenomenon whose roots extend deep into history; in a sense it is as old as human communication itself.” (Caywood 1999:117) As far back as 1800 BC, Persian farmers were being instructed through bulletins how to deal with field mice and how to harvest their crops. They go on to mention people being persuaded to accept the authority of government and religion through techniques that are still used, pointing out, that none of these techniques were called “ public relations ”.

Although the term public relations did not become widely known until 1923, with the introduction of Edward Bernays' course at New York University , several writers mention a number of people and events, which have left their mark. First, there is Samuel Adams, one of the authors of the American Revolution, who set up the “committees of correspondence”; these proved to be a particularly effective and speedy way of spreading messages throughout the colonies, often propagandist ones. Adams succeeded in dramatizing the revolutionaries' mission, for example at the Boston Tea Party, where he was able to exploit the shooting of a number of Boston dockhands by British.

Second, Amos Kendall: although he was a very deft press secretary to President Andrew Jackson, and was considered to be a prime factor in the president's popularity, his approach transcended press relations; he also wrote speeches and state papers.

Third, many writers include Phineas Barnum (and his adviser), and his circus, or rather, the way he publicized it. He was said to be the promoter of publicity for publicity's – and his circus – sake. For example, he organized the marriage of two of his “freaks”, the “thin man” and the “fat lady”, to gain press exposure. Although many might consider him the forerunner of “hype”, some specialists ask whether he was not simply pursuing an objective – to be successful – in a way in which he was an expert.

Last, and perhaps most relevant in terms of public relations in a large commercial enterprise, the name Ivy Lee stands out, perhaps because he is attributed the credit of having given a “human” face to some major American industrialists, at a time when the US was experiencing a high level of industrial growth, due in turn to a large extent to the expansion of the railway network. He is best known for having persuaded John Rockefeller to tour his mines and listen to the miners' complaints. In 1906, he sent a “declaration of principles” to newspaper editors, setting out his philosophy. His main theme was: “The public must be informed”.

The scene was thus set for Edward Bernays, generally recognized as the “grand old man” of public relations, to use the experience he had gained helping to promote the cause of the American government in World War I to write about, and then establish a course on, public relations. In 1920, he changed his own title from that of “publicity director” to ‘counsel in public relations”. In 1923 appeared his first book on public relations, Crystallizing Public Opinion . In it, he stated that the profession of public relations counsel had moved from the status of circus agents' stunts to an important position in the conduct of world's affairs. He concluded that the public relations consultant was destined to create public conscience.

During World War I, Bernays and several other later public relations exponents worked for the US Information Bureau, under the so-called “Creel Committee”, named after its Director, George Creel. This gave the field of public relations a considerable boost: apart from Bernays, ex-Creel Committee Associate Chairman Carl Byoir became particularly active in public relations. In 1930, he founded his own company, Carl Byoir and Associates, which had dominated the public relations market in US for 50 years.

Another relevant name for the evolution of public relations is Rex F. Harlow, who wrote many books on this topic and led different group researches, the most important being the one materialized by adopting a text internationally recognized as a mega definition of public relations. Rex F. Harlow occupies his place in history as founder of public relations research.

To conclude, as a modern business discipline, public relations began in the US, evolving from a press and publicity oriented function, with an element of propaganda (in its modern pejorative sense) to a planned exercise in handling the complex information demands of mass consumerism driven by the market and, therefore, by marketing.

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