Pendleton Dudley
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Pendleton Dudley | |
|---|---|
 Pendleton Dudley pictured in 1947 | |
| Born | September 8, 1876 |
| Died | December 10, 1966 (aged 90) |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | Columbia University (BA) |
| Occupation | public relations |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2, including Jane and Margaret. |
| Awards | Gold Anvil Award (1955)[1] |
Pendleton Dudley (September 8, 1876 – December 10, 1966) was an American journalist and public relations executive. Once considered the "dean of public relations", he is best known as the long-time outside publicity counsel to AT&T and as a founder of the predecessor organizations to the Public Relations Society of America and the Institute for Public Relations. He was the father of the choreographer Jane Dudley and composer Margaret Purcell, and was the husband of the motorist Hermine Jahns.
Dudley was born in Troy, Missouri, to Peter Dudley and Cornelia Dudley (née Pendleton). The Dudleys had come to Missouri from Kentucky by wagon a few years before the younger Dudley's birth. Peter Dudley operated a general store in Troy. Pendleton Dudley attended Mexico High School in Mexico, Missouri, for two years before he had to drop-out to assist with the family store due to his father's ill health.[2]
Dudley began working as a part-time reporter and typesetter for the weekly Troy Free Press while still employed at the family store. This eventually led to a job at The Mexico Ledger. In 1898, inspired by an article he had read in the Saturday Evening Post titled "Working Your Way Through College", Dudley began putting-away a portion of his earnings to attend university. In 1899, having saved $100, he moved to New York City and enrolled at Columbia University, graduating in 1906.[3] During his time at Columbia he contributed to the campus humor magazine Jester of Columbia.[2]
Career
After graduating from Columbia Dudley held a variety of odd jobs, including as a retail clerk, a bond salesman, and an occasional stringer for the New York Times. He was eventually hired as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal on the recommendation of his friend Ivy Lee. During his time covering financial news for the Wall Street Journal, Dudley observed that many of the city's most prominent businessmen were essentially "inept" at dealing with the media. In 1909 he left the Wall Street Journal and opened a publicity firm at 34 Pine Street in Manhattan, Pendleton Dudley and Associates.[2] Historically, the firm has been considered the fifth public relations agency established in the United States.[4]
One of Dudley's first large accounts was AT&T, a client he would keep until his death in 1966.[4] Dudley was also retained to mount a campaign to launch the political career of Woodrow Wilson, then president of Princeton University.[2] Dudley's client in this endeavor is unknown and he would carry the details of the assignment to his grave.[2] He last spoke about the Wilson project in 1959 to say only that it was a "highly confidential matter", exposure of which would be "damaging to our profession".[2] Prior to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, Dudley helped organize opposition to the mandatory installation of sprinklers in warehouses at the behest of another client, the Protective League of Property Owners.[5] Following World War II, it was revealed Dudley had worked as a middle-man to funnel payments from DeWitt Wallace to Lawrence Dennis; Wallace had hired Dennis to write "smear pieces" against Henry A. Wallace for Reader's Digest.[6]
In the 1940s, Dudley brought two former newspaper editors on to his firm as partners, changing the company's name to Dudley-Anderson-Yutzy.[2]
Dudley was heavily involved with the Public Relations Society of America, founding one of its predecessor groups and serving as the first chairman of the Foundations for Public Relations Research and Education, forerunner to the Institute for Public Relations.[7][2]
