Reading Questions
Ewen, PR

1. What effect did war mobilization have on relations between the Roosevelt administration and big business?
2. What was the CED? What was the historical context of its origins, and what were its goals and strategies?
3. What happened at the Westchester Country Club in 1945?
4. Who were George Roper, Earl Newsome and Robert Haslam? Compare and contrast the advice they gave to Standard Oil of NJ execs.
5. Recall Ivy Lee's ideals on the role of the PR counselor in a corporation (p. 84-5). Find evidence in this chapter that these ideals were becoming more of a reality in post WWII USA.
6. Ewen cites General Foods' PR head, Howard Chase, as arguing that businessmen must reclaim their "liberal roots" (p. 361). What did he mean by this?
7. How did the Cold War contribute to a redefinition of the relationship between public authority and private economic enterprise? How was it used by corporations to develop to shifts in public opinion regarding capitalism (find examples)?
8. What was the nature of the "permanent revolution" that Fortune magazine claimed had occurred in 1951, and what economic conditions contributed to it?