Ivy lee biography

This week’s #MarkerMonday recognizes National Publicist Day on October 30, with the Ivy Ledbetter Lee, Founder of Modern Public Relations 1877-1934, historical marker. On October 28, 1906, a three-car train with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company ran off a trestle into a lake killing 50 people. Lee immediately started working with the company—he sent out a formal statement to the press on its behalf and organized a train to take reporters to the scene of the incident. The New York Times printed the “Statement from the Road” two days later. This was one of many railway accidents and the Company was receiving backlash from the public. Their newfound need to sway public opinion inspired a long-term focus on safety.

Ivy Lee was born near Cedartown, Georgia, in Polk County on July 16, 1877. After attending Emory College for two years, he transferred to Princeton where he graduated in 1898. Lee eventually moved to New York to work as a reporter before ultimately going to work as a political and corporate publicist. In 1905, while representing the coal industry, Lee successfully persuaded the industry insiders to offer honest and full transparency through a factual accounting of their practices regarding a coal strike to the press. This led to Lee’s famous “Declaration of Principles” that focused on open and honest dialogue with the public and the media and offered assistance to any journalist to verify any statements of fact.

Recognizing that better understanding and factual reporting would result in broader good will from the public, Lee further revolutionized the Public Relations industry by reversing the policy of secrecy surrounding industrial accidents by taking reporters directly to the scene of a railroad accident. It was during this time that on October 28, 1906, Ivy Lee issued the first press release detailing the incident. The contents of t

November 2019 marked the 85th anniversary of the death of the father of PR, Ivy Ledbetter Lee (1877-1934). Far from an obscure historical figure, Mr. Lee helped shape the public’s perception of the profession. He also set standards that practitioners continue to follow to this day.

I asked Shelley Spector, co-founder of the Museum of Public Relations, about why Lee still matters.

Jared Meade: What do you think Lee’s most significant contribution to PR was?

Shelley Spector: It was the creation of ethical crisis management practices is his most important contribution. This is all the more remarkable considering that in Lee’s era, the early 1900s, companies would most likely hide an incident from the press, or even lie about it entirely. So Lee, a former newspaper reporter, went on his gut and understood that a company not accepting responsibility or worse, keeping a crisis hidden, would result in bad coverage, thereafter causing distrust between a company and reporters. He counseled his clients on how to turn an unintended crisis into an intentional step toward improving a company’s reputation.

Meade: One of Lee’s most well-known clients was John D. Rockefeller, Senior (PRN, Oct. 2019). It was Lee who transformed the public image of the Rockefellers. Why was Lee so successful? What can we learn from his example?

Spector: When Lee first worked with John D. Rockefeller, Sr., he was known as the richest man in the world and also a very selfish, monopolistic tyrant, who cared little for the masses. This was an age, remember, of robber barons, and a growing distrust of corporations and their management.

But the image the press and the public had of Rockefeller was only partially true. Rockefeller was a major philanthropist, possibly the world’s most generous donor. Typical of the polite behavior of the era, Rockefeller never wanted to talk about his philanthropy, as it would be considered boa

Ivy Ledbetter Lee (1877-1934) is considered by some to be one of the modern founder of modern public relations, along with Edward Bernays.

Lee was born near Cedartown, Georgia on July 16, 1877. The son of a Methodist minister, Lee was a Princeton graduate and worked as a newspaper reporter and stringer at the World newspaper in New York City.

In 1903, he quit his poorly paid job to work in Seth Low's campaign for mayor of New York. The following year, he remained in Democratic politics, helping to handle publicity for Judge Alton B. Parker's unsuccessful presidential race against Theodore Roosevelt.

Following the election, Lee teamed up with former Buffalo newspaperman George F. Parker, with whom he had worked on the presidential campaign, and together they established the nation's third public relations firm, Parker and Lee.

The new agency boasted of "Accuracy, Authenticity, and Interest." Although the Parker and Lee firm dissolved in 1908, the junior partner, Lee, was to become one of the most influential pioneers in public relations.

During the Parker-Lee partnership, Lee represented Pennsylvania Railroad magnate George F. Baer (1842-1914). Following a major rail accident, Lee not only convinced the railroad to distribute a press release to journalists before they heard rumors about what had happened, he also invited reporters and photographers to the scene of the accident, going so far as to provide a special train to get them there.

The moves won praise from newspapers, and elected officials heaped praise on the railroad for their openness and apparent concern for the safety of its passengers.

During a 1906 anthracite coal strike, coal operators hired Lee to represent them. Lee made sure newspapers received daily "handouts" of printed materials containing all pertinent facts of the strike.

But these new "press releases" were met with hostility by newspapers, who called them mere ads and accused Lee of trying to manipuate them.

This ca

American publicist (1877–1934)

This article is about the public relations pioneer. For the Singaporean actress, see Ivy Lee (actress).

Ivy Ledbetter Lee (July 16, 1877 – November 9, 1934) was an American publicity expert and a founder of modern public relations. Lee is best known for his public relations work with the Rockefeller Family.

His first major client was the Pennsylvania Railroad, followed by numerous major railroads such as the New York Central, the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Harriman lines such as the Union Pacific. He established the Association of Railroad Executives, which included providing public relations services to the industry. Lee advised major industrial corporations, including steel, automobile, tobacco, meat packing and rubber, as well as public utilities, banks and foreign governments.

Lee pioneered the use of internal magazines to maintain employee morale, as well as management newsletters, stockholder reports and news releases to the media. He did a great deal of pro bono work, which he knew was important to his own public image. During WWI, he became the publicity director for the American Red Cross.

Early life and career

Lee was born near Cedartown, Georgia, the son of Emma Eufaula (Ledbetter) and a Methodist minister, James Wideman Lee, author of several books and a contributor to John L. Brandt's Anglo-Saxon Supremacy, or, Race Contributions to Civilization (1915); who founded a prominent Atlanta family. Ivy Lee studied at Emory College and then graduated from Princeton. He worked as a newspaper reporter and stringer. He was a journalist at the New York American, the New York Times, and the New York World.

Lee got his first job in 1903 as a publicity manager for the Citizens Union. He authored the book The Best Administration New York City Ever Had (1903). He later took a job with the Democratic National Committee. Lee married Cornelia Bartlett Bigalow i