Public Relations History

From the 17th to the 20th Century: The Antecedents

Scott M. Cutlip

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136688522
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Public Relations
• Index: Business

This important volume documents events and routines defined as public relations practice, and serves as a companion work to the author's The Unseen Power: Public Relations which tells the history of public relations as revealed in the work and personalities of the pioneer agencies. This history opens with the 17th Century efforts of land promoters and colonists to lure settlers from Europe -- mainly England -- to this primitive land along the Atlantic Coast. They used publicity, tracts, sermons, and letters to disseminate rosy, glowing accounts of life and opportunity in the new land. The volume closes with a description of the public relations efforts of colleges and other non-profit agencies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, thus providing a bridge across the century line. This study of the origins of public relations provides helpful insight into its functions, its strengths and weaknesses, and its profound though often unseen impact on our society. Public relations or its equivalents -- propaganda, publicity, public information -- began when mankind started to live together in tribal camps where one's survival depended upon others of the tribe. To function, civilization requires communication, conciliation, consensus, and cooperation -- the bedrock fundamentals of the public relations function. This volume is filled with robust public struggles -- the struggles of which history is made and a nation built:
* the work of the Revolutionaries, led by the indomitable Sam Adams, to bring on the War of Independence that gave birth to a New Nation;
* the propaganda of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay in the Federalist papers to win ratification of the U.S. Constitution -- prevailing against the propaganda of the AntiFederalists led by Richard Henry Lee;
* the battle between the forces of President Andrew Jackson, led by Amos Kendall, and those of Nicholas Biddle and his Bank of the United States which presaged corporate versus government campaigns common today:
* the classic presidential campaign of 1896 which pitted pro-Big Business candidate William McKinley against the Populist orator of the Platte, William Jennings Bryan. This book details the antecedents of today's flourishing, influential vocation of public relations whose practitioners -- some 150, 000 professionals -- make their case for their clients or their employers in the highly competitive public opinion marketplace.

CHAPTER ONE

Hype for Colonies, Colleges,
and the Frontier

Utilization of publicity and press agentry to promote causes, tout land ventures, and raise funds is older than the nation itself. In fact, the U.S. talent for promotion can be traced back to the first settlements on the East Coast in the 16th century.

The exaggerated claims that often characterize publicity began with Sir Walter Raleigh’s ill-fated effort to settle Roanoke Island off the Virginia coast. When Captain Arthur Bariowe returned to England in 1584 from that desolate, swampy area, he reported to Raleigh: “The soile is the most plentiful, sweete, fruitful and wholesome of all the worlde . . . they have those Okes that we have, but farre greater and better, the highest and reddest Cedars of the world and a great abundance of Tine or Pitch Trees.’” He even described the Indians as “most gentle, loving, and faithfull, voide of all guile or treason.”¹

Even more glowing was the description of Raleigh’s “lieutenant governor.” Writing from Virginia in 1585, Ralph Lane trumpeted that the mainland had “the goodliest (s)oyle under the cope of heaven,” and that “what commodities soever” France, Spain, Italy, or the East produced, “these parts doe abound with the growth of them all.”

Contrary to the accounts of bolder settlers eagerly flocking to the newly discovered America given in grade school histories, it would appear that many came from Europe to the new land in response to exaggerated publicity claims. Lefler observed:² “The glorified advertising of every colony was the chief means of procuring money and men. The degree of success varied considerably from time to time and from place to place.”

The first eyewitness description of the present United States, Thomas Hariot’s A Brief True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, was printed by Sir Walter Raleigh to aid in raising funds and men for another expedition before his charter expired. Publicity to lure settlers to Virginia was stepped up with the chartering of the London Company of Virginia in 1606. Lefler noted: “Virginia had the largest amount, the widest variety, the most exaggerated and perhaps the most effective of the promotional tracts of any colony. “³ The publicity placed much emphasis on moral sanction, missionary zeal, and imperialism in addition to greatly exaggerated claims about the resources of Virginia. Shortly after the founding of Jamestown, the Company started circulating publicity to encourage emigration, and the next several years “produced the largest crop of promotional tracts in Virginia’s history.” One of the first, A true Declaration of the estate of the Colonie in Virginia, with a confutation of such scandalous reports as have tended to the disgrace of so worthy an enterprise, was aimed at scotching reports of the hardships in the colony. The pamphlet’s anonymous author argued that all the accusations against the colony were false. In a day of religiosity, it was inevitable that the clergy would be enlisted in these promotional efforts. These early promoters sensed the importance of credibility in communication. One, a Reverend Daniel Price, compared Virginia with distant lands, saying that Virginia was “not unlike to equalize Tyrus for colours, Basan for woods, Persia for oils, Arabia for spices, Spain for silks, Narsis for shipping, Netherlands for fish, Pomona for fruit, and tillage, Babylon for corn.” Another clergyman, the Reverend William Cranshaw, denounced Virginia’s critics by asserting that the enterprise to colonize the new land “hath only three enemies: 1. The Divell, 2. The Papists, and 3. The Players.”⁴

Although it is not possible to assess the effectiveness of this promotional material, Lefler reported that a tract published by a layman, Robert Johnson, entitled, Nova Brittania: Offering Most Excellente Fruites by Planting in Virginia, published in 1609, did produce “a great increase in investments in the Company and in the number of people migrating to Virginia.”⁵ After the crisis caused by the Indian Massacre of 1622, there was another spate of publications intended to reassure prospective settlers. Then, “with the royalization of Virginia in 1624, the slow recovery from the Indian Massacre, and the gradual spread of population and of tobacco culture, publication of promotional literature came to an abrupt halt.”⁶

MARYLAND

Virginia’s early promotional efforts were matched in varying degrees by the later colonies of the South Atlantic region. When the settlement of Maryland was being planned, the imagination of Europe was not yet fired up with the vision of a new land rich with opportunity and romance. The Charles I edition of the “Charter of Maryland,” printed in 1622, was the first promotional tract for that colony. Another tract, Objections Answered Concerning Maryland, appeared in 1663. A Declaration of the Lord Baltimore’s Plantation in Maryland is dated February 10, 1633. Wroth wrote:⁷ “There has always existed a conception of the Maryland settlements as the result of a dark and secret flight to sanctuary of persecuted Catholics. The mere fact of the appearance in print of a prospectus in 1633, however, shows that Lord Baltimore went about the recruiting of his expedition in the manner of colony promoters of all time, and in the note appended to the Declaration date and the port of departure of the ‘Arke of Maryland’ was advertised for all men to read.”

Wroth thought, a tract, A Relation of Maryland of 1635, “is one of the most elaborate publications issued in the promotion of any English American colony.” In addition to the brief account of the successful settlement of the year before, it contained a full description of the country and a prognostication of its certain reward to industry, the outline of a generous policy toward the Indian inhabitants, the conditions of land tenure, and detailed instructions taken almost verbatim from John Smith’s General Historie. Smith instructed the new settlers on the matters of seed, blotching, arms, tools, and agricultural implements needed in the new land. Historians consider Smith a self-serving propagandist.

A decade after the 1635 pamphlet, another promotional tract was issued entitled, A Moderate and Safe Investment. This was an appeal to stave off repeal of the Maryland Charter by the House of Lords “until the yearly ship from Maryland, expected before June, could bring the information needed in the defense of Lord Calvert.” It was, Wroth wrote, among other things, a plea to make the emigration of Catholics to Maryland easier. The Charter was heard no more of in Parliament. Wroth noted: “With this exceptionally interesting writing, political documents such as the colonization tract, the promotional literature of Maryland comes to an end.”

In Lefler’s opinion, “The Maryland proprietary had less promotional literature than other Southern colony, and, with one notable exception, such material was less exaggerated and more specific in its appeals.”

THE CAROLINAS

In Lefler’s opinion, Carolina’s publicity did not match Virginia in a variety of appeals or in media used. “There were no poems or officially inspired sermons, few broadsides, and only a minimum of prospectuses.” Yet when the English settled Charles Town in 1670, they were encouraged by accounts of the country written by explorers such as William Hilton—for whom Hilton Head Island is named—and Robert Sandford. These explorations were made after King Charles II granted a charter to eight of his supporters in 1663. The accounts of these voyages are now Carolina classics—and as one writer noted, “classics in public relations history.” The account was written by Robert Horne in 1664 and starts out: “Carolina is a fair and spacious province.” His narrative told what wildlife and vegetation was to be found, what the lands and waterways looked like. All was laudatory with the consequence many settlers came to Carolina believing what they had read, but very quickly learning that they had been gulled, as would other colonists. The settlers’ letters back home were filled with complaints about the fevers, the heat, the insects, the wild animals, and the rankness of the vegetation. As a writer for the Charleston News and Courier observed recently: “Far from being a land of milk and honey, they reported, the country was strange, unlike anything in England and France.” The settlers, instead, found the Carolinas to be “a land of toil and tribulation, sickness and terror.”

Nonetheless the proprietors continued to control the general public’s perceptions of Carolina by publishing a steady stream of promotional literature. For example, T. A. and Samuel Wilson authored a pamphlet, The Discourses of Many Ingenious Travellers, which opened with this. “The Luxuriant and Indulgent Blessings of Nature (have) justly rendered Carolina Famous.” The Wilson brothers wrote. “The coastal Indians way of life was being changed through prolonged contact with the English colonists.” T. S. Wilson concluded his description by observing “that the Neighboring Indians are very kind and serviceable, doing our Nation such Civilities and Good Turns as lie within their power.” No Indian scalpings here!

Beyond these narratives, there were four promotional efforts on behalf of Carolina from 1649 to 1651—an anonymous two-page article in a London newspaper, a pamphlet about Virginia that included a description of the Chowan River area, a book about Virginia that included a glowing account of “a long neglected Virgin,” the Carolina section, and a brochure to lure settlers to “Carolina.” Over the next two decades, the Proprietors left the promotion of Carolina to their London agents.

GEORGIA

Georgia was unlike any other of the thirteen colonies—it was a colony for the settlement of the poor, the exiled, and outcast of England and Europe, financed by private donations and Parliamentary appropriations. Georgia’s founders, led by Lord Oglethorpe, were motivated by the ideals of humanity, charity, and unselfish devotion by helping the less fortunate build new lives in America. Because of its dependence on charity and Parliamentary appropriations, the Georgia colony mounted an intensive, broad-scale campaign of promotion and persuasion that was not matched by any other colony. The trustees’ promotional activities parallel many of present-day methods. Components of a modern promotional campaign for a non-profit organization such as fundraising, publicity, symbols, special events, and use of influential leaders all have counterparts in the Georgia campaign of the 1730s, 1740s, and early 1750s. Like many other such campaign, the exaggerations and high expectations raised in this campaign brought disillusionment and failure to the Georgia promotion. Exaggeration was the common trait of all colonial hype.

Lord Oglethorpe’s effort to found the Georgia colony was not the first. Scottish baronet Sir Robert Montgomery launched in 1717 the first major attempt to establish another Southern colony. The rudiments of Georgia promotional literature lie in Montgomery’s pamphlets boasting the exaggerated virtues of his proposed colony, “Margravate of Azila.” Montgomery’s effort prompted his published A Discourse Concerning the design’d Establishment of a New Colony to the South of Carolina in the Most Delightful Country of the Universe to entice prospective settlers and investors. Montgomery was seeking settlement by the landed gentry. He met with no success and his grant expired in 1720.⁸

Concurrently, Oglethorpe, a young member of Parliament, became concerned with the conditions of English prisons. McLarty wrote: “Oglethorpe’s concern for the less fortunate as well as his awareness of the Spanish threat to Florida stirred his interest in the settlement of a new colony to meet both needs.” He and a few associates petitioned King George II for a charter that was granted on June 9, 1732. The trustees saw that they had two publics to persuade for support of this settlement—the financial supporters of the philanthropic colony and the potential settlers. Georgia was not restricted to charity cases; people could settle in the colony at their own expense. Through the terms of the charter, no trustee could receive a salary or own land in Georgia, therefore their duties lay in raising money for the colony and accepting applicants as settlers. Contrary to a historical myth, no debtors in prison were actually released to be sent to Georgia. The settlers sent at the trustees’ expense were charity cases although some may have spent time in prisons for debt.

Given their need to raise money to finance the Georgia colony, the trustees knew that they had to establish a favorable public opinion for their enterprise. These sagacious Trustees realized that they must respond to the public’s self-interest and show how contributions could help the colonists and themselves.

A Broad-Scale Campaign

The decision was made to take the colony’s case to the people of England through advertisements and pamphlets and to avoid negative publicity. The Trustees resolved at their very first meeting:⁹ “that measures be taken to prevent the publishing in the newspapers anything relating to this Society, that shall be disadvantageous to their designs; and that Mr. Oglethorpe be desired to take the said measures to cause such paragraphs to be published in the said newspapers as may be proper for the promoting of the said designs.”

Although Oglethorpe directed the flow of publicity, he apparently wrote none of the pamphlets. Benjamin Martyn, an author and scholar, was chosen as secretary of the Trust and wrote most of the promotional literature. Because no authors were cited on title pages of the pamphlets, many assumed Oglethorpe to be the author. Records later established that Martyn was the author. The first pamphlet written by Martyn, Some Account of the Designs of the Trustees for Establishing the Colony in America, was published in 1732. Its target was potential benefactors. The two folio editions, one containing elaborate engravings and a map, described the plight of the unfortunate and explained the plans for the colony and the ways donations would be handled. The pamphlet stressed that America had so much to offer for the poor of England and the Protestants of Europe if they only had money for their passage. The trustees promised annual reports to the Lord High Chancellor of their receipts and expenditures.

Another promotional pamphlet, A New and Accurate Account of the Provinces of South Carolina and Georgia, published in 1732, lauded the generosity and humanitarianism of the trustees. Several chapters covered various areas about South Carolina and Georgia and was marked by effusive praise—the air described as “always serene, pleasant and temperate, never subject to excessive heat or cold, nor to sudden change.” The pamphlet promised that the poor would not be bound in servitude from donations and would receive only passage fare and supplies to begin new lives in Georgia. That same year Oglethorpe compiled Selected Tracts as a device to use respected sources to endorse and promote the colony. This subtle pamphlet uses the essays to meet the objections some English had concerning the new colony and instead to promote favorable public opinion for the enterprise.

The next year, 1733, Martyn wrote a pamphlet, Reasons for Establishing the Colony of Georgia, detailing the economic benefits to Great Britain and announced establishment of a silk growing industry in Georgia. Thirteen hundred copies of this one were printed and copies were sent to each member of Parliament. Martyn played on the bandwagon technique in this tract. Thus began production of a steady stream of propaganda pamphlets emphasizing the lofty aims of the colony and the attractions of this new promised land.

The Georgia Sermons

A main component of the Georgia publicity—and one of the most profitable—was the anniversary sermons preached by well-known clergymen, including John Wesley. The ministers preached the sermons at the annual meeting of the Georgia trustees. The texts were later published to raise money and advertise Georgia. George Watts’ 1735 sermon appealed for support for relieving the poor of their misery by “turning the wilderness into a fruitful, well-watered habitation for them.” A prescient fear of many English people at the time was that the colony would prosper and then seek its independence of Britain. Watts assured his audience that this would not happen. He may have been a great preacher but he was a poor prophet. He said on this occasion:¹⁰ “[Even] if their affection to the Mother County; if their gratitude, their interest, their love of their present happy Government and fear of change, does not prevent any attempts of this kind, these several Provinces, cannot all be supported to join and assist in one Design.”

The final Georgia sermon, given in 1750 by Rev. Thomas Franklin, manifested the undying optimism the clergy had for success in Georgia although the rosy promises of the propaganda were already turning to disillusionment.

The pamphlets, sermons, and newspaper advertisements apparently were effective; contributions for the first full year were over 3,700 pounds—big m...