Person
Edward L. Bernays
Vienna-born American (1891–1995). In 1928 he wrote the book “Propaganda” and defended “public relations counsel” as a profession.
Biography
Edward Louis Bernays was born in Vienna on 22 November 1891 and died on 9 March 1995. His mother was Sigmund Freud’s sister, and his father’s sister Martha was Freud’s wife, so Freud was both his uncle and his uncle by marriage. The family moved to the United States while he was still a child; Bernays grew up in New York, graduated in 1912 after studying agriculture, and turned to journalism and publicity work.
When America entered the war he offered his services to the government’s propaganda agency; sources say he worked with the Committee on Public Information during the war years. After the war, in 1919, he opened his own consultancy in New York.
What makes him interesting for this course is his 1928 book Propaganda. In it he does two things at once: he defends the word propaganda, even quoting a magazine that calls it a “fine old word”, and he also puts forward “public relations counsel” as the name of the profession. He defines modern propaganda as a consistent, enduring effort to create or shape events so as to influence the public’s relations to an enterprise, idea or group. Some sources say Bernays noticed the negative associations of the word propaganda and used the name “public relations” instead; in the book itself the two words stand side by side.
This page contains only professional facts that can be verified; personal details are left out on purpose.
In this course
See A History of Propaganda: the loss of standing of the word propaganda after the war and the rise of “public relations”.
Key works
- Bernays, Edward L. (1928). Propaganda. New York: Horace Liveright. — The 1928 book that defends propaganda and describes the profession of “public relations counsel”.