A Biography Of The Founding Father Of Public Relations

Born in Vienna in 1891, Edward Louis Bernays was instantly a part of a family that

included a person who was to become one of the most important people of the world, particularly in regards to psychology psychoanalysis. The nephew of Sigmund Freud, Bernays relationship with his uncle is said to have played a considerable part in his development of public relations, with many of the initial basic principles being related to many of Freuds theories.

Whilst Bernays was born in Vienna, he emigrated to New York City when he was only one year old with his mother and father and after attending Cornell University, he graduated in 1912 (albeit with a completely unrelated degree, agriculture) to pursue a career in journalism.

Marrying his wife, Doris E. Fleischman ten years later in 1922, within this decade Bernays had catapulted himself from a graduate with an aspiration to be a journalist to a person who not only worked with the President of the United States of America at the time, Woodrow Wilson, but also established the very first public relations company in 1919 and only a year later released his massively popular publication, Crystallizing Public Opinion, in 1923.

Bernays involvement with the US President came during World War 1 in 1917, when the President put into motion plans to gather a greater amount of support for the country in the war and put together Committee of Public Information.

A project that lasted only two years (officially finishing after World War 1 ended), the Committee of Public Information worked all across the country extensively to promote the participation of America in the war. With a large involvement from Bernays (as well as other similar minded professionals, such as Carl Byoir), the Committee of Public Information was seen to have served its purpose, with backing for the country in the war increasing substantially.

Although many of Bernays thoughts were very popular and widely accepted, some were (or are) considered to be unusable or unethical, such as his ideas on audience manipulation via the subconscious, for which there are now strict rules on in regards to advertising.

Living a long and prosperous life, Bernays died in 1995 at the age of 103, long enough to see how his pioneering knowledge and techniques evolved into something far bigger than ever imagined. Throughout his life, PR grew from one set of techniques to industry and business area specific, with a PR agency seemingly being established on a somewhat regular basis for several years.

Without Bernays and his ideas and thoughts in the area of advertising, promotion and to a certain extent, consumer and company manipulation, the current day public relations would not be very different, not as popular nor as in demand as it is and a PR agency would be something entirely different. Utilized by all companies in some way, shape or form, public relations, the processes and techniques pioneered by Edward Louis Bernays can be seen in use all across the world, much to the benefit of the company who is implementing them.

by: Christopher Reinhold

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