The Engineering of Consent and the Invention of Propaganda - Freud's Nephew Edward Bernays (1891 to 1995)

"The engineering of consent is the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest."

"We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of."

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country."

These quotes are from Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud's nephew. Bernays was the first to apply psychological principles to influence public opinion and market products. He was said to have "invented propaganda" for business and politics in a time of mass media, his life spanning the invention of the radio, the TV, and the internet. Bernays was born in 1891, in Vienna, Austria and died in 1995, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Bernays originally used the term propaganda but once Hitler so openly used propaganda and Bernays' methods, Bernays changed the term to public relations.