IV.3.1. Milestones in the History of Public Relations (timeline)

• Because public relations did not just begin at any point in history, scholars and practitionershave chronicled some of the most important and identifiable moments in the history that led up to the start of public relations by that name. The key moments indicate those communicative events that peceded and fostered the today’s public relations. This history shows the enduring efforts of some person or organization to communicate with others. At times, the efforts of public relations are geared to serve the larger interest of the community. At other times they are narrowly applied to serve the interest of some leader or organization. The folloing list is illustrative. No one should think that it is exhaustive. Nevertheless, it demonstrates how public relations, for better or worse, is a vital part of the enduring fabric of human society in its many facets.

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1800 B.C. – In Sumeria, a farm bulletin telling farmers how to grow crops is one of the earliest examples of mass distribution of educariuonal material.

100 B.C. – A signal of the rise in importance of public opinion, the Romans coin the phrase ‘Vox populi; vox Dei’ – ‘The voice of the people is the Voice of God.’

52 B.C. –Julius Caesar sends reports, including “Caesar’ Gallic Wars”, to the Romans in preparation for his crossing the Rubicon River to invade Italy in 49 B.C.

A.D. 1215 – Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, mobilizes a disgruntled group of barons who confront King John with ultimatums that eventually mature into the Magna Carta.

A.D. 1315 – John Wycliffe calls

for reforms by the Catholic Church, including the publication of the Bible into the vernacular.

1500s – In the wake of the invention of printing with movable type by Johann Gutenberg in 1446, handbills and broadsides are used to promote various causes.

1517 – Martin Luter starts the Reformation when he nails 95 theses proclaiming wrongdoings of the Roman Catholic Church to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany.

1622 – Pope Gregory XV creates the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (College for Propagating the Faith), an effort by the Roman Catholic Church to retain followers and solicit converts in the aftermath of the Reformation. This was the origin of the term propaganda.

1641 – Harvard College launches first systematic fundraising effort in the United States, sending students door-to-door to raise money.

1748 – The first news release to solicit press coverage is sent by King’s College (now Columbia University) in New York.

1773 – Sixty colonists dressed as Mohawk Indians demonstrait rising dissatisfaction with British tax policies by staging the Boston Tea Party, dumping 342 chests of tea valued at 10,000 pounds into Boston Harbor.

1787 – The Federalist Papers, a series of 85 pamphlets that were also reprinted as articles in newspapers, were produced to generate support for the formal creation of the United States and passage of its Constitution.

1807 – Thomas Jefferson, third president ot the United States, combined public with relations in a statement about the obligation of government to the governed.

1829 – Amos Kendall serves as the first presidential press secretary as a member of Andrew Jackson’s “kitchen cabinet.” In 1829, he was appointed fourth auditor of the Treasury, in addition to writing speeches, state papers, and news releases, conducting opinion polls, and developing the administration’s own newspaper.

1840s – P.T. Barnum becomes the first press agent, promoting local appearances by his touring circus.

1850s – American railroads use publicity, advertising, and printed materials to attract tourists and settlers to the American West.

1882 – Attorney Dorman Eaton first uses the term public relations, referring to an organization’s role in service to the public welfare, in an address Yale Law School graduates on “The Public Relations and Duties of the Legal Profession.”

1888 – Mutual Life Insurance Company creates a “species of literary bureau” to coordinate advertising and publicity.

1889 – The first corporate public relations department is established by Westinghouse. Westinghouse ultima-tely prevailed in the ensuring “battle of the currents” to promote the benefits of alternating current (AC) versus the direct current (DC) invented earlier by Thomas Edison and the General Electric Company.

1895 – Ford Motor Company pioneers press product previews for product promotion.

1896 – The use of modern publicity in political campaigns begins with the presidential election between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan when both candidates establish campaign headquarters in Chicago.

1897 – General Electric creates a publicity department.

1900 – The first public relations firm, Publicity Bureau of Boston, is rstablished by George Michaelis, Herbert Small, and Thomas O. Marvin.

1902 – H.S. Adams’s article, “What Is Publicity?” is published in the American Review. It is believed to be the first magazine article about PR.

1903 – 1. Ford Motor Company uses auto races for product promotion; 2. Chicago Edison, under the direction of Oresident Samuel Insull, does the same via an external magazine.

1906 – Ivy Ledbetter Lee is hired to represent the coal industry in the anthracite coal miners’ strike. Lee issues his “Declaration of Principles,” considered the birth of modern public relations counseling.

1909 – 1. Chicago Edison uses films for product promotion. 2. Pendleton Dudley opens his public relations agency on Wall Street, a firm (Dudley-Anderson-Yutzy) that was sold to Ogilvy & Mother in 1983.

1912 – Chicago Edison uses stuffers inserted in customer bills for promotional purposes.

1914 – The “Ludlow (Colorado) Massacre.” State milia kill 20 people – striking Colorado Fuel and Iron Company miners, along with their wives and children – a tragedy that helped establish the value of corporate public relations. Ivy Lee represented Colorado Fuel and Iron owner J.D. Rockefeller’s interests. No perpet-rators are convicted, but many miners and union leaders are fired and blackmailed.

1917 – 1. The Committee on Public Information, a government agency headed by Geoge Creel (and also known as the Creel Committee), promotes public support of American involvement in World War I. 2. Former Atlanta journalist Edward Clarke and ex-madam Bessie Tyler form the Southern Publicity Association to promote World War I fund Drives. After the war, they built up membership in the Ku Klux Klan by offering a $10 induction fee to Klansmen for every new member they signed up.

1923 – Edward L. Bernays publishes Crystallizing Public Opinion, the first book on professional public relations, and teaches the first public relations course at New York University.

1927. – 1. Arthur W. Page is named vice president of public relations at AT&T, accepting the job on the condition that he be allowed to be involved in policy making. Page would distiguish himself as the leading corporate practitioner of the century by emphasizing the importance of cooperation with the public and of disclosure about corporate activities. 2. John W. Hill founds Hill & Knowlton.

1929 – Edward Bernays stages two major public relations events as marches: the “Torches of Freedom” March in New York to promote smoking for women, and the “Golden Jubilee of Light” in Dearborn, Michigan, to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the invention of the electric light bulb.

1931 – Paul Garrett becomes the first public relations director at General Motors, inspiring other large corporations to make similar appointments.

1933 – 1. Campaigns, Inc., the first political campaign firm, is founded by husband and wife ClemWhitaker and Leone Baxter in California. 2. President Delano Roosevelt uses his famous “fire-side chat” to install confidence in the American people. 3. Edward Bernays develops the “Green Ball” campaign for Lucky Strike cigarettes, urging women to (1) wear green clothing as a fashion statement and (2) smoke Lucky Strikes, as the green packaging would mesh with their outfit.

1936 – The first widespread use of public opinion polling, with companies conducting selected consumer interviews. Small-sample Crossley, Gallup, and Elmo Roper polls predict Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidential victory over Alf Landon, while the 2 million-ballot Literary Digest poll predicts a Landon victory, proving that proper sampling is more important than sample size.

1939 – Rex Harlow of Stanford University becomes the first full-time public relations educator.

1941 – The first noncommercial opinion research agency, The National Opinion Recearch Center, is established.

1942 – The Office of War Information, headed by Elmer Davis, promotes public support of and involvement in World War II.

1945 – 1. The Advertising Council (formerly the War Advertising Council) is reorganized to create information campaigns on behalf of various social causes. 2. The United States government announces via press release that an American plane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

1948 – The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is founded.

1950 – The PRSA Code of Profes-sional Standards is adopted.

1953 – The United States Information Agency (USIA) is created by President Dwight Eisenhower to disseminate news and cultural information abroad.

1955 – The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) is founded.

1957 – Anne Williams Wheaton is appointed associate press secretary to President Eisenhower, the first time a woman has held that position.

1960 – In opposition to his earlier pro-smoking campaign, Edward Bernays leads an effort to inform the public about the dangers of smoking.

1963 – John Marston’s four-step management process for public relations, RACE – Research, Action, Communication, Evaluation – is published in his book The Nature of Public Relations.

1965 – PRSA accreditation is established.

1970 – The International Associ-ation of Business Communicators (IABC) is founded.

1973 – Carl Byoir and Associates becomes the first of several large public relations firms to become a subsidiary of an advertising company (Hill & Knowlton).

1980 – Inez Kaizer becomes the first African American female to open a national public relations firm, Inez Kaizer & Associates.

1982 – Six people in a Chicago suburb die of cyanide poisoning from Tylenol capsules they ingested, causing a public relations crisis for McNeil Laboratories and Johnson & Johnson.

1989 – The Exxon Valdez grounds at Bligh Reef, rupturing 8 of its 11 cargo tanks and spewing some 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound. Although the spill is ranked 34^th on a list of the world’s largest oil spills over the previous two decades, the environmental damage makes crises in United States history.

1993 – A Seattle television station reports that a local couple found a syringe in a can of Diet Pepsi, inspiring a host of similar reports across the United States. Pepsi responds by working closely with the Food and Drug Administration to rule out product tampering as the cause. Throwing open their doors to the press, they demonstrate the impossibility of placing an object in a can, and the nationwide “scare” is determined to be a hoax.

1998 – The Council of Public Relations Firms is founded.

1999 – Anheuser-Busch unveils a public-service campaign against driving under the influence of alcohol.

2000 – The PRSA Code of Ethics is revised as a list of “inspirational guidelines”.

2002 – The PRSA promulgates Universal Accreditation as the standard for practice.

(Источник: Encyclopedia of Public Relations, pp. 915-918)

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