As you’re celebrating the 237th birthday of the United States of America today with barbecues, parades, baseball games, ice cream and apple pie, I wanted to take a moment for a brief history lesson.

Public relations history dates back to ancient times, but some of America’s first PR practices occurred during the Revolutionary War. Samuel Adams used rhetoric, such as “No taxation without representation,” and images, such as the Liberty Tree, to brand the cause of the Patriots. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet series “The Crisis” was a rallying cry in internal communications to keep Washington’s troops encouraged through the long and difficult winter campaign ahead. James Madison, writing under the pseudonym “Publius”, published several essays (what we would call white papers today) to instruct others on why declaring independence was so important and how people could support the cause.

PR has been a vital practice for centuries, and its importance continues to grow. Have a happy and safe Fourth of July, and see what PR lessons you can learn during the holiday. As always, don’t forget to thank our brave current and veteran service men and women for ensuring we can celebrate this wonderful occasion.

Going on holiday

I will soon be making the move from Switzerland to China with some extensive off-the-grid travel in between. As I go off line for the next few weeks for a volunteer trip to Morocco, I encourage you to keep your PR skills sharp with blog reading, writing and practice. When I return Aug. 15 with a post about PR in Morocco, I would love to hear how all of you have been doing. Take care and stay safe and PR savvy!