Born in 1890, and reared on a farm in Indiana, John Wiley Hill obtained his
first job when he graduated from high school and became a reporter for his
hometown paper, the Shelbyville Republican. The following year
Shelbyville's Democrat enticed him away from its rival with a pay
increase of two dollars per week; but he soon left to enroll at the University
of Indiana, where he wished to study journalism.
On leaving the university in his sophomore year, Hill worked for an Akron
paper a short while; then went to Chicago in 1913 where he helped introduce a
paper which he and his partner called the Chicago Daily Digest. When financial backing for this “first tabloid to see the light of
day in Chicago” failed, he returned to Akron to become a reporter for the
Press and the Times. By 1915 he had settled in
Cleveland, where he joined the staff of the Cleveland News. Two
years later he became financial editor for the Daily Metal Trade, a trade paper put out by the Penton Publishing Company. This led to his
introducing, in 1920, the Cleveland Trust Business Bulletin in
behalf of The Cleveland Trust Company. Although the Bulletin's
publication was soon taken over by an economist, Mr. Hill continued as
consultant for several years, while also writing a weekly business column for
syndication among the clients of the Newspaper Enterprise Association.
In 1927 the Union Trust Company of Cleveland offered him $500 a month to act as its public relations counselor. Since he did not believe this was sufficient
inducement to establish a public relations office, he countered with an offer to
represent the bank provided its chairman helped secure additional clients. The
bank's chairman immediately recommended him to influential men in industry and
business, and John W. Hill was launched on a career that was to see him become
head of one of the nation's largest public relations firms, an organization
referred to by Irwin Ross in The Image Merchants as “Hill
and Knowlton: PR Factory.”
The name of Hill and Knowlton came into being in 1933 when Donald Knowlton, advertising manager for the Union Trust Company, joined Mr. Hill in establishing a partnership. In that year also the American Iron and Steel Institute retained the firm as its public relations counsel, and Mr. Hill moved to New York to
establish an office. While serving his growing number of clients with astute
success and a reputation for integrity, he also expanded his firm's activities.
In 1947 Don Knowlton took over direction of Hill and Knowlton of Cleveland, and
Mr. Hill turned his entire attention to Hill and Knowlton, Inc. in New York City. In the ensuing years the New York firm branched out to Washington, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Cleveland, and Los Angeles. Contacts were begun with foreign public relations counselors in 1953, and by 1958 Hill and Knowlton International was well established, maintaining offices in Dusseldorf, The Hague, and Sydney, and associates in as many as eight other foreign cities.
Hill took great pride in the fact that Hill & Knowlton, Inc. never
solicited clients. Nevertheless, it represented some of the nation's largest
industrial associations and companies in the fields of aircraft, agricultural
equipment, automobiles, petroleum, food, electrical appliances, chemicals,
licensed beverages, and tobacco. Among its clients were the American Iron and
Steel Institute, the American Butter Institute, the Retail Drygoods Association,
the Tobacco Industry Research Council, Aircraft Industries Association, the
Licensed Beverage Industries, Manufacturing Chemists Association, AVCO
Manufacturing Corporation, Texaco, Procter and Gamble, Standard Oil of Ohio, and the
Brussels Worlds Fair of 1958.
John Hill brought into his organization experienced staff with talents
sufficiently diverse to meet the needs of the clients. From the small
partnership of 1933 the number of employees in the Hill organization grew to
seventy by 1945 and to approximately 250 by the early 1960s. The firm's
technical services and facilities included personnel trained in community
relations, educational research, publicity and promotion, public speaking,
publications, financial relations, and art. Over the years its strength was
augmented by the acquisition of other firms such as Edward W. Barrett and
Associates, Robinson-Hannagan Associates, and Group Attitudes, Inc. By 1960
Printers Ink reported that the firm was rated by its colleagues
as the best such agency in the nation. At the time its annual gross billing was
said to exceed three and one half million dollars.
For many years Hill served as member and chairman of the Board of Visitors of the School of Public Relations and Communications at Boston University, and in 1950 the John W. Hill Chair of Economic Communications was established there.
Throughout his career Hill wrote and spoke widely on the subject of public relations and he was the author of two books, Corporate Public Relations (1958) and The Making of a Public Relations Man (1963).
After his retirement as president of the company Hill maintained his position
as chairman of the board. In addition, he spent a great deal of time in Europe
working in behalf of Hill & Knowlton, International. Hill died in 1977.
