ABSTRACT
Between 1890 and World War I, as we have seen, colleges throughout the country began teaching public persuasion. Although these courses emerged from reform initiatives, they began to involve proponents of business growth as well as business oversight, of states’ rights and other political agenda as well as of a stronger democracy. As increasing numbers of teachers studied mass persuasion, its potential for controlling public opinion became increasingly clear, beginning during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, whose rhetoric was shaped with direct help from the advanced curriculum’s originators, Bob La Follette and Charles Van Hise. Business and scientific leaders also began taking advantage of the media’s new potential, with guidance from college teachers and graduates. Then the great power of the persuasion professions was thoroughly demonstrated by World War I, a war sold to a skeptical American public through words. Advanced writing courses developed within this circularity of influence: The media’s goals, techniques, and ethics both shaped college courses and were shaped by them.
