Public Relations on Trial

The period following World War II was one of significant growth in the consumer economy. As the demand for consumer goods grew, so did the demand for freight transportation, leading to a battle between the railroads and the trucking industry. To fight the competition, the railroads lobbied government for trucking regulations. In Pennsylvania, the truckers answered the railroads with an anti-trust lawsuit, which essentially put public relations tactics on trial. This article examines the case, Noerr Motor Freight v. Eastern Railroad Presidents Conference, from its 1956 trial through the U. S. Supreme Court's 1961 decision. This provides an opportunity to look at the ethical practice of public relations at a time when the industry was attempting to define itself and set standards for its practitioners’ conduct and illustrates the level of misunderstanding of the profession that existed on the part of at least a portion of society.