Tapping into War: Leveraging World War I in the Drive for a Dry Nation
Abstract This study examines the communication efforts of the Anti-Saloon League of America in the years leading up to National Prohibition. The ASLA has been studied in the context of the Progressive Era, but it has not been examined in the context of its role in public relations history even though its efforts, along with those of the suffrage movement, have been said to have contributed to the postwar boom in publicity/public relations firms. Thus, it will be shown that the ASLA employed a multitiered approach in its own fight for a dry nation via national legislation and congressional hearings, its publishing partner, the Scientific Temperance Federation, and its own American Issue. And that it did so by weaving elements of emotion and cognition through messages arising from war-related issues such as anti-German sentiment, patriotism, and rationing. Such an approach might not be so unusual today, nor were elements of its efforts new to advocacy groups at the time, but the League demonstrated that, for better or worse, a Midwest, church-based social reform movement grounded in the Progressive Era could successfully harness persuasive strategies and tactics to fulfill its agenda for a dry nation.
Reconsidering early U.S. public relations institutions: An analysis of publicity and information bureaux 1891–1918
Abstract This paper examines the United States popular press’ representation of publicity and information bureaux from 1891 to 1918. Specifically this study discusses these bureaux’ relationship with the press, use by governments, role in political campaigns, and function within non-profit organizations. Publicity and information bureaux are an important part of public relations history and identity because they represent the departmentalization of PR within organizations. Implications for PR historiography are discussed.
Between the times : the travail of the Protestant establishment in America, 1900-1960
Preface: from Protestant to pluralist America Part I. Introduction: 1. Protestantism as establishment William R. Hutchison Part II. The Protestant Agenda: Old Business: 2. The pulpit and the pews Edwin S. Gaustad 3. Ministry on the margin: Protestants and education Dorothy C. Bass 4. Reaching out: mainline protestantism and the media Dennis N. Voskuil Part III. The Protestant Agenda: Matters Arising: 5. Voice of many waters: church federation in the twentieth century Robert A. Schneider 6. The reform establishment and the ambiguities of influence William McGuire King Part IV. Outsiders and 'Junior Partners': 7. United and slighted: women as subordinated insiders Virginia Lieson Brereton 8. An enduring distance: Black Americans and the establishment David W. Wills 9. A wary collaboration: Jews, Catholics, and the Protestant Goodwill movement Benny Kraut Part V. External Challenges: 10. Secularization: religion and the social sciences R. Laurence Moore 11. A plural world: the Protestant awakening to world religions Grant Wacker 12. The rise of the 'New Evangelicalism': shock and adjustment Mark Silk Part VI. Conclusion: 13. Discovering America William R. Hutchison Index.