Writing a book is a lonely process. Writing a book about public relations ethics has the added complication of inviting cynical snickers. So the authors are especially grateful for the support of their spouses and a few generous friends who assisted in the research. Among the latter, Harold Burson, Robert Dilenschneider, and Richard Edelman deserve special mention for giving us so much of their valuable time. Mike Paul shared his experience counseling senior executives on ethical issues. Reynold Levy kindly agreed to read an early draft of the book and offered a number of insightful and helpful suggestions.
Tara Craig and Sady Sullivan of the New York Public Library kindly made a transcript of Arthur W. Page’s reminiscences available to us. Shelly and Barry Spector helped us navigate the stacks in the Museum of Public Relations as we explored the careers and ideas of early practitioners like Edward Bernays and Ivy Lee. George Kupczak opened the doors of the AT&T Archives to us so we could plumb the writings of James Drummond Ellsworth and Arthur W. Page. Denise Sevick Bortree, executive director of the Arthur W. Page Center at Penn State University helped us track down speeches given by Arthur Page and Walter Gifford. Paul Lieber generously shared his own research findings on public relations practitioners’ patterns of ethical decision making and led us to even more recent work. And Don Stacks shepherded our manuscript into publication with singular care and attention. Finally, as this book’s bibliography clearly indicates, we benefitted greatly from the prior work of scholars and practitioners across the millennia. Obviously, any errors in interpretation or application are solely ours.