No doubt there were others, but Bernays is I think pretty much credited with being the mover and shaker of the industry. We're the ravenous brainless maws that we are today because of Bernays. Ironically, if you read the review, Bernays was the PR force behind Freud's reputation, not to mention the horrific conflicts in Central America. He was quite the dangerous man. It's strange how so few people can have such huge consequences.. --- On Mon, 8/25/08, John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Edward Bernays and Goebbels To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Monday, August 25, 2008, 2:12 AM You might want to have a look at SPIN: The history of PR by Steward Ewen, a marvelous account of how ideas developed by social scientists were absorbed and applied by the emerging PR industry. John On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 10:50 AM, Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: I did a quick search for Ed Bernays Goebbels. Here's a quotation from a short book review of "The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and The Birth of PR". Below are excerpts: http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/1999Q2/bernays.html "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society," Bernays argued. "Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. . . .. In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons . . . who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind." [...] "During Bernays' lifetime and since, propaganda has usually had dirty connotations, loaded and identified with the evils of Nazi PR genius Joseph Goebbels, or the oafish efforts of the Soviet Communists. In his memoirs, Bernays wrote that he was "shocked" to discover that Goebbels kept copies of Bernays' writings in his own personal library, and that his theories were therefore helping to "engineer" the rise of the Third Reich." -- John McCreery The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN Tel. +81-45-314-9324 http://www.wordworks.jp/