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Public Relations
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS IN UNITED STATES
The phrase Public Relations was thought to have been used in 1807 when President Thomas Jefferson,
drafting his “seventh address to congress” in his own hand, scratched out the word state of thought and
replaced it with Public Relations, thus starting the modern development of public relations.
In 1903 Ivy L. Lee, left a poorly paid reporter’s job and started as a press agency. He became a personal
adviser to John D. Rockefeller in December 1914 and he publicly began to use the term Public Relations
in 1919. Lee contributed many of the techniques and principles that characterize today’s modern public
relations. He successfully transformed the public image of John. D. Rockefeller from poor to positive
good image.
The 1914–18 war gave public relations a big impetus in the United State when President Wilson set up
the committee on Public Information in response to a suggestion by a journalist friend, George Creel.
The Creel Committee grew into a big enterprise which demonstrated the strength of organized publicity.
Edward L. Bernays worked in the Creel committee and introduced the term Public Relation Counsel
and published a book in 1923 titled Crystallizing Public Opinion which was the first full length book
dealing with public relations. During this period, public relations grew remarkably in every activity
affecting American life.
DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN
In Britain, public relations first surfaced when the insurance commission in 1911, under the instructions
of Mr. Lloyd George – had a responsibility to organize and explain the National Insurance Act. The
outbreak of war in 1914 led to a rapid expansion of official publicity in Britain and overseas. By early
1918 publicity was conducted by three main organizations:
1) Ministry of Information: responsible for publicity work in the Dominions and in Allied
and Neutral countries;
2) National War Aims Committee: which carried out patriotic propaganda in Britain;
3) Lord Nortcliffe’s Committee which was responsible for propaganda in enemy countries. It
should be noted that work done at that time used public relations and propaganda. Between
1926 and 1931, Sir Stephen Tallents who was reputed to be the first notable practitioner of
public relations in Britain, was employed by the Empire Marketing Board.Sir Stephen Tallents who was founder president of the Institute of Public Relations was employed and
charged with the responsibility of “bringing the Empire alive to the mind of people in Britain”.