Originating from the United States, Public Relations is the activity whose appearance and first reviews are linked to the conversion of propaganda in historical phenomenon of political and intellectual impact. The article provides some historical information to deep and to clarify this process, yet little noticed among researchers in Communication, at least in Brazil. It places the subject in the context of convergence but also of confrontation between society and propaganda in that country until the early 1940s. The approach follows a historical bias, without sacrificing critical reflection on the materials presented. Highlighting the pioneering work of Noobar Danielian, starting point of the study of political economy of Communication, the paper concludes that Public Relations were transformed in a professional activity as a way of trying to legitimize but also to take the focus of scrutiny and criticism that the phenomenon of propaganda had aroused in vast sectors of American society after World War I.
Public Relations; Theory and criticism; Political and organizational propaganda; History