Edward Bernays

Edward L. Bernays
Bernays in 1917
Born
Eduard Bernays[1]

(1891-11-22)November 22, 1891
Vienna, Austria-Hungary
DiedMarch 9, 1995(1995-03-09) (aged 103)
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationCornell University (BS)
Known for
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1922; died 1980)​
Children
Parents
  • Ely Bernays (father)
  • Anna (Freud) Bernays (mother)
RelativesMartha Bernays (aunt)
Sigmund Freud (uncle)
Isaac Bernays (great-grandfather)
Marc Randolph (great-nephew)
Nicolae Steinhardt (cousin)
Scientific career
FieldsPsychology, sociology
Signature

Edward Louis Bernays (/bɜːrˈneɪz/ bur-NAYZ, German: [bɛʁˈnaɪs]; November 22, 1891 − March 9, 1995) was an American pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda, and referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations".[3] While credited with advancing the profession of public relations, his techniques have been criticized for manipulating public opinion, often in ways that undermined individual autonomy and democratic values.[4][5] His best-known campaigns include a 1929 effort to promote female smoking by branding cigarettes as feminist "Torches of Freedom", and his work for the United Fruit Company in the 1950s, connected with the CIA-orchestrated overthrow of the democratically elected Guatemalan government in 1954. Critics argue that his involvement in Guatemala facilitated U.S. imperialism and contributed to decades of civil unrest and repression, raising ethical concerns about his role in undermining democratic governance.[6][7] He worked for dozens of major American corporations, including Procter & Gamble and General Electric, and for government agencies, politicians, and nonprofit organizations. His uncle was psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.

Of his many books, Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923) and Propaganda (1928) gained special attention as early efforts to define and theorize the field of public relations. Citing works of writers such as Gustave Le Bon, Wilfred Trotter, Walter Lippmann, and Sigmund Freud (his own double uncle), he described the masses as irrational and subject to herd instinct—and he outlined how skilled practitioners could use crowd psychology and psychoanalysis to control them in desired ways.[8][9] Bernays later synthesized many of these ideas in his postwar book, Public Relations (1945), which outlines the science of managing information released to the public by an organization, in a manner most advantageous to the organization. He does this by first providing an overview of the history of public relations, and then provides insight into its application.

Bernays was named one of the 100 most influential Americans of the twentieth century by Life.[10] Despite this recognition, his work has been linked to the rise of modern propaganda techniques that some argue have eroded democratic engagement and suppressed dissent.[11][12] He was the subject of a full-length biography by Larry Tye entitled The Father of Spin (1999) and later an award-winning 2002 documentary for the BBC by Adam Curtis entitled The Century of the Self.

  1. ^ Tye (1998), p. 147. "Feeling he was too short, at 5 feet 4 inches, Eddie seemed determined to make everything else larger than life. He even inflated his name with an L., a middle initial that was not on his birth record in Vienna. It apparently stood for Louis, although even his daughters aren't sure, since he didn't like to talk about it.
  2. ^ "Edward Bernays, 'Father of Public Relations' And Leader in Opinion Making, Dies at 103". The New York Times. 10 March 1995. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  3. ^ "Edward Bernays, 'Father of Public Relations' And Leader in Opinion Making, Dies at 103". The New York Times. March 10, 1995. Archived from the original on January 24, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  4. ^ Chomsky, Noam (1988). Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0375714498.
  5. ^ Adam Curtis (2002). The Century of the Self. BBC. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  6. ^ Tye, Larry (1999). The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of Public Relations. Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 978-0805067897.
  7. ^ St. John, Burton. "CLAIMING JOURNALISTIC TRUTH: US press guardedness toward Edward L. Bernays' conception of the minority voice and the "corroding acid" of propaganda". Journalism Studies. 10 (3): 353–367. doi:10.1080/14616700802580565. ISSN 1461-670X.
  8. ^ Bernays, Edward (1923). Crystallizing Public Opinion. Ig Publishing. ISBN 1-935439-26-X.
  9. ^ Bernays, Edward (1928). Propaganda. Ig Publishing. ISBN 0-9703125-9-8.
  10. ^ Ewen, Stuart (1996). "Visiting Edward Bernays". PR! A Social History Of Spin. Basic Books. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008.
  11. ^ Lears, T.J. Jackson (1994). Fables of Abundance: A Cultural History of Advertising in America. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465090754.
  12. ^ Snow, Nancy (2002). Propaganda, Inc.: Selling America's Culture to the World. Seven Stories Press. ISBN 978-1583225578.