ELUSIVE PUBLICIST

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 365, 21 June 1946, Page 12

ELUSIVE PUBLICIST

FEW days ago America’s most famous publicity expert was in Wellington. Although the newspapers published the fact that he was connected with Pan-American World Airways, and one published his photograph, nobody recorded the fact that Ivy Lee was the man responsible for giving America-and the world-an_ entirely new conception of the personality of John D. Rockefeller. When we heard about him we immediately sought an interview. But, though Lee — his enemies called him "Poison Ivy"-is the foremost propagandist in the United States, he proved to be singularly elusive. We missed him by five minutes. We first heard about him (appropriately enough) "on the grapevine," but | all we had to go on was the fact that he was in the city. We telephoned a likely hotel. Yes, the telephone operator said, Mr, Lee was at the hotel. She put us through to his room. Mr. Lee was quite prepared to give an interview, and when we met him our opening gambit naturally concerned the Rockefeller legend. A Beat to Leeward "But," said Mr. Lee, "I don’t know anything about that.’’ He looked puzzled. He was in an American uniform, wearing the badges of the American Army Transport. We talked about the science ‘of public relations and propaganda. "I | think you’ve got hold of the wrong | Lee," he said. "My name’s Stewart Lee. 3 have been away from New Zealand 15 years, and I’ve just flown from Tokyo to see my family in Dunedin. This afternoon I go north on my way to rejoin my unit. Sorry you've had this trouble." After telephoning other hotels we found that Ivy Lee-to give him his full

title, Public Relations Manager of PanAmerican Airways for the Pacific and Alaska Divisions-and Harold Gatty, South Pacific Regional Manager for the company, with headquarters at Suva, had just left for Rotorua. Having missed the man we looked for information about him. R. S. Lambert, formerly editor of the BBC Listener, devotes two or three pages to Ivy Lee in his book Propaganda. Here is what he says: "There is a natural ae for propaganda, as it develops in efficiency and elaboration, to become less blatant and more indirect and subtle. This is well illustrated by the modern post-war (1914-18) form of propaganda known as ‘Public Relations.’ It originated in the need felt by ‘big business’ in the U.S.A. to overcome its apparently growing unpopularity, which was reflected in frequent anti-trust laws as well as in strikes, the growth of ‘Socialism and criticism from literary and religious sources. (continued on next page)

"Particularly unpopular 6efore the war was the name of Rockefeller, the family of multi-millionaires whose fortune was founded on oil. In 1914 this unpopularity came to a head. during the terrible scenes witnessed in the breaking of a strike in Colorado, called the ‘Ludlow Massacre.’ It was after this that John D. Rockefeller, waking up to the unpleasantness of the atmosphere surrounding his family and business, decided to try the experiment of hiring a_ wellknown railway publicity agent, Ivy Lee, to sweeten this atmosphere, and to restore the family popularity. "Ivy Lee acted on what was then a more or less new principle-that of ‘taking the public into his confidence.’ He declared that ‘the essential evil of propaganda is failure to disclose the source of information, and arises when ‘the person who utters it is not willing to stand sponsor for it.’ His policy was one of studying public opinion, of supplying its organs with a continual feed of information favourable to his patron, and, most important of all, of ‘shaping the affairs of the corporation (Standard Oil) so that when placed before the public they will be approved,’ e.g., by ameliorating labour conditions. Quick-Change Artist "By persevering in this line of pubTicity, Lee succeeded in replacing the former sinister and unpopular image of Rockefeller by a more benign and popular image in the public eye. The figure of the striding, ruthless monopolist in high hat and long coat, gripping his walking-stick and entering a courthouse, has been replaced by pictures of a frail old man, playing golf with his neighbours, handing out dimes to children, distributing inspiration poems and walking in peace amid his flowers.

"Ivy Lee’s achievement revealed ts American ‘big business’ the possibilities of advertising, not so much the goods which are to be sold, as the reputation of the seller. The new ‘public relations counsel’ who began to be employed by ‘big business’ set himself the task of establishing a goodwill relationship between the consumer and the manufacturer or seller, subordinating purely ‘advertising’ consideration (in the old sense) to this wider end. "After Ivy Lee, the best-known public relations counsel in America is Edward L. Bernays, who (the point is of interest) married a niece of the famous psychologist, Freud."