Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1989

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Communication

Major Professor

Paul Ashdown

Committee Members

Herbert Howard, James Crook, Ron Taylor, Chris Craig

Abstract

Historical studies of the publicity process are rare, but they are important. This dissertation focused on Albert Einstein's Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists (1946-1951), a campaign of historic international significance. Einstein's use of publicity as an instrument of reform showed the difficulty ideologically governed reformers face when they enter the marketplace of ideas.

The Emergency Committee existed for one reason--to raise funds and publicize the need for civilian control of atomic energy after World War II. After a civilian-controlled Atomic Energy Commission was established, the Committee turned its attention to influencing public opinion on international control of the atom. An extensive documentary record of the Committee is housed at the University of Chicago's Joseph Regenstein Library. Twenty-three boxes of archival material were examined. A personal interview with the fund-raising and publicity consultant for the Committee, Harold L. Oram, also was conducted. A thematic analysis of the Committee's campaign literature and an examination of relevant opinion data allowed an examination of the Emergency Committee's goals, strategies and impact.

The Committee had only limited success on the international control issue because of ideological intransigence and failure to integrate fund-raising and public relations processes.

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