What were some of the earliest uses of public relations techniques?

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The use of public relations tactics goes back to the dawn of recorded history. Primitive agricultural
extension agents in 1,800 B.C. used public relations tactics to give advice on how to grow better
crops in what is now Iraq. Public relations grew out of Western civilization's first true democracy,
the city-state of Athens (circa 450 B.C.). It was linked to the birth of rhetoric, the study and practice
of influencing public opinion. Although the practice of rhetoric fell into disuse with the fall of
democratic Athens, it reemerged when Roman Republic embraced a philosophy of vox populi, voice
of the people (circa 100 B.C.) What would later be known as public relations techniques were used
to spread Christianity during the Middle Ages. The Roman Catholic Church formalized this process
with the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, in the
1600s.
There are also examples of public relations tactics used in colonial and in the post Revolutionary
United States. The Boston Tea Party was a publicity stunt to protest British taxation policies. Public
relations tactics were used throughout the revolution to buoy the spirits of colonists. The Federalist
Papers, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, led to the ratification of the
U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Amos Kendall became the first presidential press secretary and
a member of Andrew Jackson's "kitchen cabinet." During the Civil War, Jay Cooke headed the first
U.S. fundraising drive. Master showman Phineas T. Barnum perfected the techniques of press
agentry: publicity for publicity's sake. His lack of ethical standards still haunts, and for many
defines, the profession today.