Public Relations Review, 22( 1): 81-94 Copyright CC 1996 by JAI Press Inc.

ISSN: 0363-8111 All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

Book Reviews

Mark E. Byrnes

Politics and Space: Imag M&kin, by ii?ASA

Westport, CT: Praeger, 212 pp., 1994

This book examines how and why bureaucratic agencies “change over time the images they project in trying to build political support.” Byrnes, a political science professor, offers a case study of NASA’s image making efforts from 1958 to 1990. The text adds to the growing literature that examines how bureaucratic agencies try to manage their images.

The study discovers that NASA used three images-nationalism, romanticism, and pragmatism-to build support for its programs. NASA used all three images to varying degrees from 1958 to 1990, but it emphasized certain images at cer- tain times. Byrnes proposes that during the Mercury era (1958-1963), NASA relied on nationalism to sell itself, focusing on a number of major themes: national pride, national prestige, national strength, and international peace and cooperation. During the Apollo era (1964-1972), NASA emphasized romanti- cism, using major themes of exploration, heroism, emotional rewards, and curi- osity. NASA changed its emphasis during the Shuttle era (1973-1990), focusing on pragmatism, with major themes of technological stimulus, spin-offs, satellites, economic returns, science education, and space transportation.

Byrnes argues that NASA, “seeking to maximize its political support, has altered its use of images as the agency’s political environment has changed.” The author uses exhaustive research to demonstrate how and why NASA altered its image and that of its staffed space flight programs in response to changing politi- cal and economic climates. For example, the book discusses why NASA empha- sized romanticism to sell the manned moon mission in the 196Os, but altered its image to focus on pragmatism when justifying the Shuttle in the early 1970s. As

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Byrnes points out, “agencies must respond to the political changes around them

if they are to survive and prosper.” The text also devotes a chapter to the strategies and tactics NASA employed to

transmit its images to the public. The author proposes that NASA establish a

good rapport with the media, sought to protect the content of its images by con- trolling the information it released to the public, used the astronauts as spokes- persons, and emphasized spectacular programs to attract public attention. Byrnes demonstrates that NASA was extremely sensitive about the image it projected and labored to insure the public viewed the agency positively.

Politics and Space is a valuable, scholarly study of the images NASA has pro-

jected to justify its programs and why the agency altered its image at given times and with given programs to meet changing political and economic circumstances. The study would have been even more valuable if it had examined the effects of NASA’s rhetoric on its audience: Congress and the American public. The author cites a few opinion polls that demonstrate the basis upon which Americans sup- ported certain space projects. However, the author does not examine congres- sional deliberations to determine the basis upon which Congress accepted or rejected NASA’s programs and whether NASA’s image making influenced Con- gress. In short, the author does an outstanding job of identifying the rhetorical

motifs NASA advanced, but offers little about the effects of those motifs on the agency’s audience.

James Kauffman Indiana University Southeast

Thomas Bivins Handbook of Public Relations Writ&g, Lincolnwood (Chicago), IL, NTC Business Books, Third Edition, 1995,344 pp., $39.95

To be accomplished at public relations writing you need to be able to turn out press releases, features, speeches, backgrounders, and fact

sheets, PLUS you have to possess media relations and article placement skills, as well as understand focus groups, survey techniques, and the legal aspects of pub- lic relations writing. The preceding is quite a mouthful, and it’s all true. What I question is how all these topics can be covered well in a mere 72 pages.

In the Third Edition of his writing book, Thomas Bivins provides us with a good overview of the different types of public relations writing and how they are accomplished. As indicated above, however, the coverage of topics is sometimes a

bit light on depth. This could prove a problem for some classroom applications, because students have a tendency to question the why and how of what they read and often do not want to wait until the next class meeting to find out. Those of you who are educators will understand what I mean.

This same reservation about the book would not necessarily hold for practitio-

ners, and it is well written in a friendly, straightforward manner, making it an enjoyable text.

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