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The Anti-Saloon League of America was a Midwestern, church-based, social reform group founded in 1895, whose drive for national prohibition played a major role in the ratification and subsequent enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment. The purpose of this article is to expand the current model of public relations history by examining the ideas and methods that the League established in its first fifteen years to generate public sentiment for a dry, saloonless nation. Many of these concepts not only echo what are considered today to be basic principles of public relations, but they were conceived and implemented at the turn of the century by two Ohio men who did not define themselves in terms of public relations and publicity practitioners but in their roles as ministers in fulfilling what they considered to be their religious duty of eliminating liquor in the U.S. The article concludes that while there is still much to learn about public relations from those already labeled as 'pioneers,' such as Edward Bernays or John Hill, there is even more to mine from those people or organizations who sought to influence public opinion and generate change in the pursuit of a cause or an idea.

The period following World War II was one significant growth in the consumer economy. As the demand for consumer goods grew, so did the demand for freight transportation, leading to a battle between the railroads and the trucking industry. To fight the competition, the railroads lobbied government for trucking regulations. In Pennsylvania, the truckers answered the railroads with an anti-trust lawsuit, which essentially put public relations tactics on trial. This article examines the case, Noerr Motor Freight v. Eastern Railroad Presidents Conference, from its 1956 trial through the U.S. Supreme Court's 1961 decision. This provides an opportunity to look at the ethical practice of public relations at a time when the industry was attempting to define itself and set standards for its practitioners' conduct and illustrates the level of misunderstanding of the profession that existed on the part of at least a portion of society.

Purpose – The aim of this work is to explore Edward L. Bernays' early evolution in thought concerning the rationale for public relations and to briefly discuss how these emergent ideological concepts have proven foundational for contemporary public relations. Design/methodology/approach – Bernays' ideological development in the decade after the First World War is traced through: his very early tactical work; his exposure to significant writings concerning the use of persuasion to manage the masses; and his own writings. Findings – Bernays, widely considered a pioneer in the field of public relations, exhibited a somewhat halting evolution in thought concerning the role of the new public relations professional. From 1920 through 1927, he normally described the public relations counsel as using propaganda to move masses toward the acceptance of good causes. However, by the end of the decade, his concept of the public relations person shifted toward emphasizing using propaganda as a pro-social mechanism to convey the ideas of minority voices to targeted audiences. The latter view is a precursor to modern-day understandings of public relations as an endeavor that attempts to build mutually beneficial relationships between a client and its relevant audiences. Originality/value – This paper offers a distinctive look at how, during a crucial decade, a pathfinder in US public relations developed rationales for the emergent field. The exploration of his evolving ideology provides a deeper view of how Bernays contributed to enduring concepts of a socially constructive practice of public relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to add insight into the historical relationship between journalism and public relations by asking how professional publications "taught" news release writing to public relations professionals between 1945, when journalism and public relations entered the postwar years confronted by challenges to their credibility, and 2000, when the Internet, the World Wide Web and, later, social media, began changing the tools and trade of journalism and public relations. The authors found that through trade and scholarly publications, the field of public relations maintained a lively conversation about writing during this period, with a focus on six overarching themes: matching angles with editors; the importance of structure; the importance of style; the importance of facts, honesty, and credibility; the importance of press relationships; and the importance of strategy. Overall, the discussions on basic writing angles, structure, and style remained consistent and in line with traditional journalism standards. Generally, however, the articles examined for this study failed to make a connection between good news release writing in the broader context of effective public relations strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a history of public relations. It focuses on the development of public relations functions prior to the 20th century in diverse fields such as politics, religion and business. A critique is offered of the standard historical narrative, which is said to overemphasize the 20th century and present public relations as progressively evolving in an increasingly ethical direction. Public relations is distinguished from journalism, and its relevance to scholarly research on mass communication and social history is noted.

The article discusses the Internet research tool PRimary Source and its possible uses for public relations historians and other professionals of the discipline. The research tool, started in 2007, will be available for testing by historians, students, and other scholars on the Web site www.prhistorywiki.org in October 2008. PRimary Source aids researchers in collecting and locating archive materials and manuscript collections which are specific to the field of public relations and is being funded by The Plant Center for Leadership in Public Relations.