Edward L. Bernays (1891-1995), nephew of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, was considered the father of the field of public relations. His papers, just recently opened, contain a wealth of information on the founding of the field in the twenties. In fact, Bernays' The Biography of an Idea: Memoirs of Public Relations Counsel Edward L. Bernays (1965) contains one of the very best overviews of the decade. Many of the essays selected for the Coolidge-Consumerism collection from the Bernays Papers were written as early drafts for The Biography of an Idea.
Bernays, who pursued his calling in New York City 1919-1963, styled himself a "Public Relations Counsel." He had very pronounced views on the differences between what he did and what advertising men did (INTRO NOTE Advertising). A pivotal figure in the orchestration of elaborate corporate advertising campaigns and multi-media consumer spectacles, he nevertheless is among those listed in the Acknowledgments section of the seminal government social science study Recent Social Trends in the United States (1933). (DETAIL NOTE Recent Social Trends)
A corporate booster who espoused a strong code of professional ethics, he emphasized the importance of doing nothing that would harm the social fabric. In addition to famous corporate clients, such as the Dodge Brothers, Proctor & Gamble, the American Tobacco Company, Cartier, Inc., Best Foods, Knox-Gelatin, and innumerable other big names, Bernays also worked on behalf of many civic-minded and non-profit institutions and organization. These included, to name just a few, the Committee on Publicity Methods in Social Work (1926-1927), the Jewish Mental Health Society (1928), the Book Publishers Research Institute (1930-1931), the New York Infirmary for Women and Children (1933), the Committee for Consumer Legislation (1934), the Friends of Danish Freedom and Democracy (1940), the Citywide Citizens' Committee on Harlem (1942), and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (1954-1961). For the U.S. Government, he worked for the President's Emergency Committee on Employment (1930-1932).
The amusing Bernays Typescript on Public Relations Work and Politics, 1924: "Breakfast with Coolidge" shows that President Coolidge too was among his clients. Bernays was hired to improve Coolidge's image before the 1924 presidential election.
Another selection from his papers, the Typescript on Publicizing the Physical Culture Industry, 1927: "Bernarr Macfadden", reveals Bernays' opinion of the leader of the physical culture movement. Yet another client, department store visionary Edward A. Filene, was the subject of the Typescript on a Boston Department Store Magnate. Bernays' Typescript on the Importance of Samuel Strauss: "1924 - Private Life" shows that the public relations counsel and his wife were fans of consumerism critic Samuel Strauss.