History of Public Relations

The History of Public Relations, by PRDistribution.com CEO, Yan Huang, and former English professor, D. Hendrix,  is the Internet's most comprehensive body of research covering the history of public relations. 

Behind the History of Public Relations

While I was doing research to learn more about the history behind our industry, I was not able to find any single body of research that covered the full spectrum. There were articles online covering specific instances of public relations, or long academic research that were, frankly, not a fun read and still only covered a narrow spectrum of PR case study history. A thought came to mind...

Warren Buffett has a concept called the ovarian lottery. Some of us are more fortunate than others, to be born (or raised) in a society that offers equality of opportunity (not to be confused with equality of outcome), if we are willing to put in the work. He believes in giving back to the society that has given so much to him in terms of opportunity.

I want to share with you, humbly and respectfully, the wisdom and knowledge behind history's greatest public relations case studies. This body of research is our way of giving back - through entrepreneurship. If you like it, please spread the word and it will help us--and we'd greatly appreciate it. (Frankly, we'd get a better ROI writing long form SEO articles.)

Whether you are a marketing or public relations professional; college student majoring in marketing, public relations, advertising or communications; or just somebody curious, we hope this helps you:

• Be better informed as a citizen, understanding how public relations and propaganda is used
• Be a better marketer, with the lessons from history pertaining to PR under your utility belt
• Have a better foundation for your research for school.

Yan Huang
Chief Executive Officer
PRDistribution.com, Inc.

Tables of Contents

• 480 BC—Classical Civic Identity
• 469 BC—Socrates, Plato & Aristotle
• 204 BC—The Rosetta Stone
• 59 BC—Caesar’s Acta Diurna
• 1500—Opinion & Renaissance Men
• 1517—Reformation & Counter-Reformation
• 1700—Revolutionary Press Agency
  • The Press Agent
• 1800—Defining an Industry
• 1830—The Industrial Revolution
• 1870—Edison versus Westinghouse
• 1893—Evolving PR Associations
• 1900—Managing Public Opinion
• 1920—Swastikas & PR
• 1929—Early Feminist PR
• 1930—The DeBeer’s Campaign
  • Post-Depression PR
  • PR versus Propaganda
  • A Public Trust
• 1940—Sociological Methods
  • A Two-way Discourse
• 1945—PR’s Rise
  • Post-communist PR
• 1955—Revolutionary PR
• 1960—Fighting the Power
  • United Farmworkers Movement
• 1970—Pre-tech PR
• 1980—PR’s Importance
  • Real World Communication
  • Unethical PR
• 1984—Progressive PR (Live Aid)
• 1989—Mending Walls
• 1990—PR Strategies
  • Business EQ
  • Progressive PR (Sweatshops)
  • Tech-Boom Technology
  • Crisis Management
• 1995—A PR Throwback
• 2000—Marketing & PR Tools
  • Social Media Monsters
  • Oprah Effect
  • King of PR
• 2005—Focusing on Education
• 2010—It Gets Better
• 2011—Critical Mass Demonstrations
  • Fashionable PR
  • Health & Wellness
• 2016—PR’s Cultural Nuances
• 2018—PR Gone Global
  • Branding Music
  • PR’s Future

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