The Proceedings of the International History of Public Relations Conference 2012
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THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL HISTORY OF PUBLIC RELATIONS CONFERENCE 2012 Held at Bournemouth University July 11-12, 2012 Conference Chair: Professor Tom Watson PROCEEDINGS INDEX Author(s) & Affiliation Paper Ed Adams & Brad Rawlins Out of Obscurity: Heber J. Grant’s Public Relations Brigham Young University Efforts to Bring the Mormon Church into a National Positive View Carol Ames Entertainment Public Relations History: Publicity California State University, Pioneers Who Created Today’s Global, Celebrity- Fullerton Obsessed Culture Richard Bailey & Gareth A Case Study of Public Relations Practice in 10 Thompson Downing Street during the Thatcher Government from Leeds Metropolitan University & 1980-1981 London Metropolitan University Bilgen Başal The Past, The Present and The Future of Public Istanbul Bilgi University Relations Activities in Turkish Health Care Sector Banu Bıçakçı & Pelin Hürmeriç The Milestones Influencing Public Relations Yeditepe University Profession in Turkey: Insights from the PR Pioneers Thomas H. Bivins “… an intense scrutiny of his actions”: Edward University of Oregon Bernays and the dilemma of ethics versus opportunity W. Timothy Coombs & Sherry J. The Great Automobile Race of 1908 Holladay University of Central Florida Ramon Girona & Jordi Xifra The Rampart We Watch and the beginnings of PR war University of Girona & Pompeu films in America Fabra University Roger Hayes Public Relations and Public Diplomacy: An Henley Business School Opportunity to broaden the Body of Knowledge in the Globalised World Seiya Ikari, Takashi Kenmochi & A Century of Public Relations in Japanese Koichi Yamamura Corporations Tokyo Keizai University, Nagoya Bunri University & Media Gain Jane Johnston & Jim Macnamara History of public relations’ scholarship in Australia Bond University & University of Technology Sydney Rachel Kovacs From Quiet Philanthropy to Corporate Mantra: A College of Staten Island, CUNY History of IBM's CSR and Public Relations for CSR [Abstract] Michael Kunczik Forgotten roots of International Public Relations: Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Attempts of Czechoslovakia, Germany, Great Britain and Poland to influence the United States during World War 1 Margot Opdycke Lamme Power, Control, and Public Relations: 1920-1935 The University of Alabama Cheryl Ann Lambert & Abra Principles of the public relations profession: The Landau, Boston University enduring relevance of Arthur W. Page Jacquie L’Etang The International Public Relations Association University of Stirling (IPRA): diplomacy, ideologies and politics [Abstract] Fraser Likely, Margaret Rudolf & The Strategic and Professional Evolution of the Jean Valin; Likely Canadian Federal Government’s Communication Communication Strategies Ltd, M Community Over the Last 25 Years Rudolf Associates & Valin Strategic Communications Clila Magen The Israeli Mossad and the media: Historical and Bar-Ilan University theoretical perspectives Janet Rice McCoy & Cheri Cradle-to-Grave Recruitment: The Woman’s Foreign Hampton-Farmer Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church Bowling Green State University & University of Findlay David McKie & Jordi Xifra Re-resourcing PR history’s next stage: New University of Waikato & Pompeu historiography and other relevant stories Fabra University Elina Melgin Early history of PR associations in Finland – Public ProCom & University of Helsinki diplomacy issues on the agenda during the early years Toni Muzi Falconi The rise and fall of Berlusconi’s cuckoo model of Methodos spa & New York public relations 1992-2011 University Paulo Nassar & Mateus Public Relations in Brazil: its history and its Furlanetto challenges University of São Paulo & ABERJE Bonita Dostal Neff A Global Analysis of the Public Relations Body of Valparaiso University Knowledge: A Comparison and Contrast of International Associations Joe Saltzman The Image of the Public Relations Practitioner in University of Southern California Movies and Television, 1901-2011 Andi Stein Promoting the Pleasure Dome: Press Agentry and the California State University, Promotion of Adolph Sutro’s Tropic Baths Fullerton Jessalynn Strauss From the Last Frontier to the New Cosmopolitan: A Xavier University History of Casino Public Relations in Las Vegas Dustin Supa The Influence of Influence: Lobbies and Lobbyists in Boston University the Development of the American Political system Margalit Toledano PR history retrieved: The case for purposive sampling University of Waikato and empathetic interviewing [Abstract] Robert Wakefield Personal Influence and Pre-Industrial United States: Brigham Young University The Early Relationship Model that Needs Resurgence in U.S. Public Relations Tom Watson Advertising Value Equivalence – PR’s orphan metric Bournemouth University Debbie Yi-Chen Wu Historical Development of Public Relations Industry in Fu Jen Catholic University Taiwan: 1950s-Present Heather M.L. Yaxley Life on Mars: Career experiences of women in British Bournemouth University public relations (1970-1989) Out of Obscurity: Heber J. Grant’s Public Relations Efforts to Bring the Mormon Church into a National Positive View Prof Ed Adams Department of Communications 360 BRMB Brigham Young University +1 801-422-1221 Email: [email protected] Dr. Brad L. Rawlins, Chair and Associate Professor Department of Communications 360 BRMB +1 801-422-1697 Email: [email protected] Abstract In what is being called the “Mormon Moment” (The Guardian, The New York Times), there is a lot of recent media attention on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With two U.S. presidential candidates, a Broadway play, and cover articles in Time and Newsweek, the church’s exposure has reached a zenith. However, it’s not the first time the church has been in the national and international spotlight. The beginning of the 20th century brought national press coverage and political pressure upon the Mormon Church. The election of Reed Smoot to the U.S. Senate prompted controversy because of his association with the church as an Apostle, one of the governing bodies of the church. The Smoot hearings lasted from January 1904 to February 1907, after which the Senate allowed him to take his seat. During 1910 and 1911, Muckraking magazines such as Pearson’s, Colliers, Cosmopolitan, and McClure's published vicious anti-Mormon articles. The movie industry added to the anti-Mormon stereotype with the release of A Mormon Maid in 1917. This article examines Heber J. Grant’s ability as a public communicator and his role in trying to change national public perception about the church. Grant served as church president from 1918 to 1945. During the first decade of his administration he extended outreach efforts to change U.S. national public opinion after decades of scrutiny over the issue of polygamy. The onset of the 1920s changed the geographical isolation of Utah and the Latter-day Saints. Technological and manufacturing advances during the 1920s would bring many people to Utah by new modes of transportation and communications. Mass production of automobiles and federal-aid highway construction in 11 western states made it viable to travel to Utah by car by the mid-to-late 1920s. The creation of Zion National Park and Grand Canyon National Park in neighboring Arizona in 1919 created a new tourism industry in Utah. The completion of Woodward Field in Salt Lake in December 1920 created a hub for air mail and commercial flight. Radio stations popped up all over 1 the country in the 1920s, including in Salt Lake. Phone lines ran through Salt Lake in 1916, but the invention of the rotary phone in late 1919 made telephony commercially viable. While the church was still largely located to the Intermountain West, it was growing outside of Utah. On November 23, 1918, Heber J. Grant was sustained as president of the LDS Church. He proved to have an innate sense for communications and public relations. Some of his efforts included touring the country with speaking engagements. He spoke to industrialists in Detroit and met with Henry Ford. He also invited prominent guests to visit Utah. The Mormon Tabernacle hosted prominent national politicians such as Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, William H. Taft and James M. Cox. Grant promoted national tours by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and worked toward national radio syndication. Today the Choir is noted as having the longest continual broadcast on American radio. The production of pro-LDS Hollywood films such as Union Pacific and Brigham Young was partly due to his quiet influence. He golfed with President Warren G. Harding, and then they both rode by horseback through Zion National Park during Harding’s 1923 Utah tour. Time Magazine even gave President Grant cover treatment. Grant would eventually go on to establish the Radio, Publicity and Missionary Literature Committee of the church and hire future church president Gordon B. Hinckley as the first executive secretary of the committee. Lamme and Russell (2010) have made the case that public relations history in the United States has been framed as a linear progression shaped by key individuals. Certainly Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays contributed much to the practice and application of public relations, but they didn’t invent all of its practices. Lamme and Russell identify legitimate forerunners and peers who applied their own skills and abilities to accomplish the same outcomes. This paper looks at another figure who applied effective communications and public relations skills to help shape public opinion.