Fleischman, Doris Elsa

Doris Elsa Fleischman Bernays was born in New York on July 18, 1891, and died July 10, 1980, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Along with her husband, Edward L. Bernays, she was an important contributor to the founding of public relations in the early 20th century and a prominent feminist.

Doris Fleischman was born to Samuel Fleischman and Harriet Rosenthal. Her father was an attorney and, much to her benefit, believed that women should be educated and useful. She was educated at Barnard College and graduated in 1913, having studied English, philosophy, psychology and music. After completing her bachelor's degree, she began work at the New York Tribune as a reporter and editor for the women's pages and the Sunday edition. She gained notoriety at the Tribune as the first newspaperwoman to report a prizefight. An active feminist throughout her life, Fleischman was a member of the Lucy Stone League, the Woman Pays Club, and Women in Communications, and she “participated in the first Women's Peace Parade in New York in 1917” (Mayeux, 1999, p. 691). In 1919, she joined Edward Bernays in the practice of what Bernays had called “public relations counsel.” Three years later, in 1922, the couple wed.

Fleischman kept her maiden name and caused quite a media spectacle when she and Bernays convinced the desk clerk at the Waldorf-Astoria to allow her to sign the guest register as “Doris Fleischman” instead of Mrs. Edward Bernays. The couple were well-known members of the Lucy Stone League, an organization committed to preserving women's right to keep their birth name after marriage. Bernays and Fleischman achieved [Page 329]more notoriety when Fleischman became the first married woman in the United States to hold a passport in her own name. Fleischman made the headlines again in 1929 when she and Bernays convinced the New York Department of Health to allow her to put her name, Doris E. Fleischman, on the birth certificate of their daughter. Fleischman and Bernays would eventually have two daughters, Doris and Anne.

After their marriage, Doris and Eddie (as only Doris called Edward) became equal partners in his business and signed legal documents to that effect. Bernays worked for years to be labeled the “Father of Public Relations.” Whether he is the originator of the profession is a point of contention; however, Bernays is the originator of the term public relations and was the first to use the word publics to describe those who have an interest in an issue. Though Bernays garnered almost all of the glory and fame from public relations, Fleischman was instrumental to the foundation of public relations. Her counsel with Bernays and her work behind the scenes helped public relations become a well-known word and won legitimacy for their firm. Fleischman and Bernays depended on one another professionally, personally, and intellectually. Fleischman most often was a mitigating influence on Bernays's grand schemes, and Bernays was Fleischman's public voice. Larry Tye believed that Fleischman's “most valuable contribution to the practice was in the brilliant way she compensated for Eddie's shortcomings” (1998, p. 125).

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