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Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-91) American showman and promoter P.T. Barnum was born in Bethel, Conn. His career in show business took off in 1841 when he placed the midget Gen. Tom Thumb on exhibit in his American Museum in New York City. Also in his show were the original Siamese twins Chang and Eng. In 1850 he promoted a concert tour for Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. The tour was a great financial success. After serving several terms as a Connecticut state legislator, he returned to promotion. In 1871, he launched a mobile circus on the outskirts of Brooklyn, N.Y. The circus featured Jumbo the elephant and side shows containing many freaks. Barnum described it in ads as "The Greatest Show on Earth." The organization merged in 1881 with the circus of another American showman, James Anthony Bailey, and became Barnum and Bailey's Circus. In Public Relations History from the 17th to the 20th Century, author Scott M. Cutlip wrote:
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Ivy Ledbetter Lee, public relations expert, author, lecturer, and philanthropist, was born in Georgia and attended Princeton University, where he earned his degree in 1898. An aspiring journalist, he paid his way through college by writing articles for various newspapers. In January 1899, he moved to New York City and found steady work as a reporter. Lee believed that big business needed better public relations. He left newspapers and opened a PR counseling office and by 1915 had started a lifetime association with John D. Rockefeller. Lee was especially successful in helping to change the public's perception of Rockefeller as a penny pincher. Among Lee's other clients were the Pennsylvania Railroad and Bethlehem Steel, as well as numerous charities and churches to which he donated his services. Lee described himself as a "physician to corporate bodies," and believed that corporations should not conceal the truth from the press and that business leaders should not shun publicity. His principles helped to make American business more public-spirited and humanitarian.
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Edward L. Bernays (1891 - 1995) A nephew of the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud, Edward Bernays is sometimes called "The Father of Spin." His cultured upbringing exposed him to the enormous power of ideas, as well as the privileges and creature comforts of a wealthy family. 36 Bernays was a pioneer of modern propaganda and applied the theories of mass psychology and persuasion to the needs of corporate and political organizations. During World War I, Bernays served on the U.S. Committee on Public Information, a vast American propaganda machine set up to package, advertise and sell the war as one that would "make the world safe for democracy." The committee would establish the mold in which marketing strategies for future wars would be shaped. In the 1920s, Bernays pioneered the practice of linking corporate sales campaigns with popular social causes. While working for the American Tobacco Company he persuaded women's rights marchers in New York City to hold up Lucky Strike cigarettes as symbolic "Torches of Freedom." In 1929 Bernays organized the first global media event when he dreamed up "Light's Golden Jubilee" a worldwide celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of the electric light bulb for General Electric.
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American journalist and statesman Amos Kendall helped Andrew Jackson win the presidency of the United States. In 1829 he was appointed auditor of the National Treasury. His real importance to the Jackson administration was an intimate advisor to President Andrew Jackson. He helped draft many of Jackson's more important state papers and vigorously defended administration policies in the newspapers.
He was later appointed U.S. Postmaster General by Jackson, and remained at the post under President Van Buren. In 1845 he was hired by Samuel F. B. Morse and played an important role in the development of telegraph service. Kendall opposed secession and urged vigorous prosecution of the war against the South, although he was often critical of President Lincoln.
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George Creel was influential in molding public opinion on the eve of America's entry into World War I. Creel often styled himself "the original Wilson man." He had tried to persuade Woodrow Wilson to run for president as early as 1905, when Wilson was still president of Princeton University. When conflict with Germany became imminent in 1917, Wilson, just re-elected by a whisker for a second term, was uneasy about the reaction of the American public to war. He leaned toward accepting the proposals of his admirals and generals for a censorship law that would give him control of the unruly American press. Creel convinced Wilson that the country needed to develop a coherent pro-war policy instead. He warned Wilson that American opinion about the war was "muddled" by the barrages of German and Allied propaganda. Creel persuaded the president to launch the Committee on Public Information. In his memoirs, Creel described what he set out to do with the Committee on Public Information. The goal was the creation of "a passionate belief in the justice of America's cause that would weld the American people into one white hot mass instinct with fraternity, devotion, courage and deathless determination." 39 Creel's achievement was remarkable. The propaganda genius from Missouri mobilized the spirit of a reluctant nation to win a victory that changed history.
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From the Great Depression through the Eisenhower years, Arthur W. Page's thoughts, philosophies, principles and, most importantly, his words would change public relations from "press agentry" into an integral function of American corporations. Page spent his early years with publishing house Doubleday, Page and Co., where from 1905 to 1927 he served as editor of the World's Work and later as vice president. Later, he was employed by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T).
In 1947, he retired from AT&T and set up shop as a consultant where he had an impact on government programs after the war. Page's contributions included the promotion of the Marshall Plan and Radio Free Europe His years in publishing perfected his writing skills, his time as vice president of American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) shaped a profession, and his later involvement in World War II would have a profound effect on the world.
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Carl Byoir's contributions to the field of public relations are rarely noted in textbooks, even though practitioners use his tools to build some of today's most successful campaigns. A lifetime wrought with prestige and controversy, Carl Byoir may not have moved mountains, but he definitely made a career of motivating people to do it for him. 41 He spent his early days as a newspaper editor and later as a close personal advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt. In the Roosevelt White House he planned a number of successful charity balls that eventually led to the development of the March of Dimes. Byoir constantly looked for what drove public opinion to support his clients' objectives. His time spent with the Committee on Public Information during World War I proved invaluable to his success and armed him with techniques that eventually would lead to his place in public relations history. In a fabled public relations campaign for the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P) supermarket chain, Byoir pioneered the use of newspaper advertising to sway opinion. In a later statement about the practice, he said:
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