While many American businesses were losing consumer trust during the 1920s and 1930s, American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) maintained a solid reputation. Much of the credit is due to Arthur W. Page, the first vice president of public relations at the mammoth telephone company. Little attention has been paid to the rhetorical strategies Page utilized to construct a compelling image of AT&T in company during that timeframe. In this rhetorical analysis of previously unpublished speeches, we assert that Page shaped company discourse through strategic use of rhetoric. Analysis of his unpublished speeches yielded five themes: conveying company capabilities, embracing societal connectedness, distinguishing AT&T, managing public opinion, and repurposing public relations. Corporate communicators who are currently struggling to gain consumer trust can benefit from understanding the rhetorical strategies that Page employed during a tumultuous time for American business.
BarneyRDBlackJ (1994) Ethics and professional persuasive communications. Public Relations Review20(3): 233–248.
3.
BeasonL (1991) Strategies for establishing an effective persona: An analysis of appeals to ethos in business speeches. Journal of Business Communication28(4): 326–346.
4.
BernaysEL (1937) Recent trends in public relations activities. American Association for Public Opinion Research1(1): 147–151.
BryantDC (1953) Rhetoric: Its functions and its scope. Quarterly Journal of Speech39(4): 401–424.
9.
CabotM (2005) When the trumpet call is unclear: A rhetorical analysis of the speech that launched the Jesus Seminar. Journal of Communication and Religion28: 286–306.
10.
CorbettEPJ (1984) The Rhetoric and Poetics of Aristotle. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
11.
CrableREVibbertSI (1983) Mobil’s epideictic advocacy: ‘Observations’ of Prometheus-bound. Communication Monographs50: 380–394.
12.
CreswellJW (2013) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
13.
CurtinP (2012) Public relations and philosophy: Parsing paradigms. Public Relations Inquiry1(1): 31–47.
14.
CutlipSMCenterAHBroomGM (2000) Effective Public Relations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
15.
CyphertD (2010) The rhetorical analysis of business speech: Unresolved questions. Journal of Business Communication47(3): 346–368.
16.
DaviesGChunRda SilvaRV. (2004) A corporate character scale to assess employee and customer views of organization reputation. Corporate Reputation Review7(2): 125–146.
17.
DaymonCHollowayI (2002) Qualitative Research Methods in Public Relations and Marketing Communications. New York: Routledge.
GrieseNL (1976) He walked in the shadows: Public relations counsel Arthur W. Page. Public Relations Quarterly21: 8–15.
23.
GrieseNL (1977) The employee communication philosophy of Arthur W. Page. Public Relations Quarterly22: 8–12.
24.
GrieseNL (2001) Arthur W. Page: Publisher, Public Relations Pioneer, Patriot. Tucker, GA: Anvil Publishers.
25.
GriswoldGJr (1967) How AT&T public relations policies developed. Public Relations Quarterly12: 7–16.
26.
KielbowiczRB (2009) AT&T’s antigovernment lesson-drawing in the political economy of networks, 1905–20. History of Political Economy41(4): 673–708.
27.
KovacicWEShapiroC (1999) Antitrust policy: A century of economic and legal thinking. Berkeley, CA: Institute of Business and Economic Research, University of California. Available at: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/5zb4g387 (accessed 5 May 2012).
28.
LeachJ (2000) Qualitative Researching with Text, Image and Sound: A Practical Handbook. London: Sage.
29.
LindlofTRTaylorBC (2002) Qualitative Communication Research Methods (2nd edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
30.
LiveseySM (2002) Global warming wars: Rhetorical and discourse analytic approaches to ExxonMobil’s corporate public discourse. Journal of Business Communication39(1): 117–148.
31.
McCrackenG (1988) Nine key issues: Issue 4: Investigator as instrument. In: McCrackenG (eds) The Long Interview (ed MillerMLVan MaanenJManningPK Qualitative Research Methods, Series 13). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, p.20.
32.
MarshCWJr (2001) Public relations ethics: Contrasting models from the rhetorics of Plato, Aristotle, and Isocrates. Journal of Mass Media Ethics16(2 & 3): 78–98.
33.
MedhurstMJ (2001) The contemporary study of public address: Renewal, recovery, and reconfiguration. Rhetoric & Public Affairs4(3): 495–522.
34.
MoloneyK (2005) Trust and public relations: Center and edge. Public Relations Review31: 550–555.
35.
MurphyJJKatulaRAHoppmannM (2014) A Synoptic History of Classical Rhetoric. New York: Routledge.
36.
OlaskyMN (1987) Corporate Public Relations: A New Historical Perspective. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
RemundDL (2010, July8) The world’s work: Arthur W. Page and the movement toward social responsibility in corporate communications, 1913–1927. Paper presented at the international history of public relations conference, Dorset, UK.
69.
RiessmanCK (2005) Narrative analysis. In: Narrative Memory & Everyday Life. Huddersfield: University of Huddersfield, pp.1–7. Available at: http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/4920/ (accessed 5 May 2012).
70.
SprouleJM (2001) Authorships and origins of the seven propaganda devices: A research note. Rhetoric & Public Affairs4(1): 135–143.
71.
TedlowRS (1976) The national association of manufacturers and public relations during the new deal. The Business History Review50(1): 25–45.
