Bernays, Edward L.

(born Nov. 22, 1891, Vienna, Austria—died March 9, 1995, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.) U.S. publicist, the “father of public relations.” A nephew of Sigmund Freud, he was born in Austria but was brought up in New York. In organizing endorsements for a play on the taboo subject of venereal disease, he found his calling as a publicist. His early clients included the U.S. War Department and the Lithuanian government. He edited The Engineering of Consent (1955), whose title is his often-quoted definition of public relations. He died at the age of 103.

Bernays, Edward L. (1891– ) public relations executive; born in Vienna, Austria (nephew of Sigmund Freud). He was brought to the U.S.A. in 1892. After creating U.S. World War I propaganda, he founded the country's first public relations firm (1919). He and his future wife, Doris E. Fleischman, coined the term "counsel on public relations" for this firm. He was still counseling industrial and government clients after his hundredth birthday. Known as the father of public relations, he pioneered public relations based on social science and market research. He wrote numerous books and articles, including the first book on public relations, Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923).