Media Mastery as Operational Tool

"Kaiser did not need any professionals because he had a natural sense of public relations. Kaiser had made himself a builder, but he had been born a promoter."

"Kaiser's enthusiastic cooperation with the media's and the public's insa- Page 8 tiable appetite for American heroes he was, in Morris Udall's phrase, "unavoidable for comment" helped forestall the need to develop an extensive public relations function within his organization."

"Kaiser also established an experimental laboratory in 1943 to pursue ideas that came from both within and outside the organization. Kaiser was deluged with fan mail by this point, much of which included ideas for inventions. The role of the "hobby lobby" was to turn these dreams into reality. According to popular belief, only an innocent would invite the public to contribute; jaded eastern business was too set in its ways to listen to the common sense of the man in the street."