Dates

• Existence: 1891-1971

Biography

Born on a farm in Dallas County, Iowa, on March 23, 1891, Conger Reynolds grew up in the small town of Dexter, Iowa. At seventeen he received a scholarship to attend Drake University. After his freshman year, he transferred to the University of Iowa where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1912. His first job after graduation was with the Des Moines Registerand Leader as a political reporter. In 1915, he returned the University of Iowa to serve as publicity director and to teach journalism as a assistant professor of English. When World War I began, Reynolds left the University and enlisted. He was assigned to military intelligence in France and later worked with the press section. After the war, Reynolds remained in France as the managing editor of the Paris edition of the Chicago Tribune. In 1922, he began another phase of his career. He was assigned vice-consul to Halifax, Nova Scotia where he served for two years. His next assignment was vice-consul and later consul in Stuttgart, Germany. While at the consulates he specialized in trade promotion. This led to another career change, in 1929, Reynolds became the director of public relations for the Standard Oil Company (Indiana). While there he participated in and helped found many professional organizations, including the Public Relations Society of America. Conger Reynolds remained with Standard Oil until his retirement in 1955. This, however, did not mark the end of his public career. Moving to Washington, DC, he joined the US Information Agency. He was the director of the Office of Private Cooperation. There he worked with the Eisenhower administration to launch the People-to-People program which was designed to promote international understanding. He worked in this capacity until 1961, when he finally did in fact retire. Conger Reynolds died in 1971.

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