Editing Edward Bernays (section)

===World War I===
After the US entered the war, the [[Committee on Public Information]] (CPI) hired Bernays to work for its Bureau of Latin-American Affairs, based in an office in New York. Bernays, along with Lieutenant F. E. Ackerman, focused on building support for war, domestically and abroad, focusing especially on businesses operating in Latin America.<ref>{{harvnb|Tye|1998|p=18}}: "Finally given his chance to serve, Eddie recruited Ford, International Harvester, and scores of other American firms to distribute literature on U.S. war aims to foreign contacts and post U.S. propaganda on the windows of 650 American offices overseas. He distributed postcards to Italian soldiers at the front so they could boost morale at home, and he planted propaganda behind the German lines to sow dissent. He organized rallies at [[Carnegie Hall]] featuring freedom fighters from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and other states that were anxious to break free of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. And to counter German propaganda he had American propaganda printed in Spanish and Portuguese and inserted into export journals sent across Latin America. <br />"In short, he helped win America over to an unpopular war using precisely the techniques he'd used to promote ''Daddy Long Legs'' and the Ballet Russe."</ref><ref>James R. Mock, "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2506870 The Creel Committee in Latin America] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200502102013/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2506870 |date=2020-05-02 }}", ''The Hispanic American Historical Review'' 22(2), May 1942, p. 276. "Another section of the New York office, however, was especially concerned with publicity channels and publicity for the nations south of us. This was the division known as the Bureau of Latin-American Affairs, with Edward L. Bernays and Lieutenant F. E. Ackerman playing possibly the leading roles. That organization appealed especially to American firms doing business in Latin America, and secured their cooperation. In addition to means already cited, this section utilized various kinds of educators, especially as a medium of distributing pamphlets."</ref> Bernays referred to this work as "[[psychological warfare]]".<ref>{{harvnb|Ewen|1996|pp=162–163}}: "During the war years, Bernays joined the army of publicists rallied under the banner of the CPI and concentrated on propaganda efforts aimed at Latin American business interests. Within this vast campaign of "psychological warfare", as he described it, Bernays—like others of his generation—began to develop an expanded sense of publicity and its practical uses."</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Axelrod |first1=Alan |title=Selling the Great War: The Making of American Propaganda |date=2009 |publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-230-61959-3 |page=200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nEi1RpLqbNQC&pg=PA200 |access-date=May 21, 2020 |language=en |archive-date=May 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508042947/https://books.google.com/books?id=nEi1RpLqbNQC&pg=PA200 |url-status=live }}</ref>

After fighting ended, Bernays was part of a sixteen-person publicity group working for the CPI at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]]. A scandal arose from his reference to propaganda in a press release. As reported by the ''New York World'', the "announced object of the expedition is 'to interpret the work of the Peace Conference by keeping up a worldwide propaganda to disseminate American accomplishments and ideals.'"{{sfn|Tye|1998|p=19}}<ref>{{harvnb|Cutlip|1994|p=165}}: "Bernays' release announced that the Official Press Mission to the Peace Conference was leaving the next day for Paris and instead of the narrow technical press support mission Creel had defined for the group, Bernays inserted this sentence: 'The announced object of the expedition is to interpret the work of the Peace Conference by keeping up a worldwide propaganda to disseminate American accomplishments and ideals.' Two days later, the ''New York World'' headlined the story: 'TO INTERPRET AMERICAN IDEALS.' George Creel was furious; already in a battle with Congress, Creel knew that this would add fat to the fire. He disavowed the story. Nonetheless, it hastened the demise of the CPI."</ref>

Bernays later described a realization that his work for the CPI could also be used in peacetime:
{{blockquote|There was one basic lesson I learned in the CPI—that efforts comparable to those applied by the CPI to affect the attitudes of the enemy, of neutrals, and people of this country could be applied with equal facility to peacetime pursuits. In other words, what could be done for a nation at war could be done for organizations and people in a nation at peace.{{sfn|Cutlip|1994|p=168}}}}