John W. Hill: Founder of Hill and Knowlton (1890-1977)

John Wiley Hill (1890-1977) founded the public relations firm that became Hill & Knowlton in Cleveland in 1927, after 18 years as a reporter, editor and financial columnist. With partner Donald Knowlton he built it into what became the world's largest PR firm, and his 1958 book Corporate Public Relations argued that PR is a management function. Hill died in New York City on March 17, 1977, aged 86.

Originally published July 4, 2026. Updated November 4, 2026.

Key takeaways

• Hill opened his Cleveland practice in 1927 and brought in Donald Knowlton in 1933, creating Hill & Knowlton.
• His model sold counsel to industry groups and corporate management instead of product-by-product publicity.
• The firm's 1953 work for the Tobacco Industry Research Committee is the most debated engagement of his career.
• Hill & Knowlton passed from JWT Group (1980) to WPP (1987), and since July 2024 its brand operates inside Burson.
• Sources differ on the date of the New York move and the end of the Hill and Knowlton partnership, and this page shows both versions.

Who was John W. Hill?

John W. Hill was an American public relations counselor and the principal founder of Hill & Knowlton. He was born on November 26, 1890, near Shelbyville, Indiana, and died in New York City on March 17, 1977, according to Wikipedia and a New York Times obituary dated March 18, 1977.

How did Hill & Knowlton begin in Cleveland?

Hill & Knowlton began as a one-man corporate publicity office that Hill opened in Cleveland in April 1927, according to the SAGE Encyclopedia of Public Relations. Hill's first two clients were the Union Trust Company and the Otis Steel Company, per Wikipedia.

When Union Trust closed during the Depression, Hill brought in its former publicity director, Donald Knowlton, and the two formed Hill & Knowlton in 1933. Knowlton, born in Cleveland in 1892, stayed in Ohio and ran the original office, and he died on July 27, 1976, according to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.

When did Hill & Knowlton move to New York?

Hill moved to New York City to open a new Hill & Knowlton office in 1934, according to Wikipedia and a Corporate Watch company file, which say the move put him closer to his client the American Iron and Steel Institute. A Prabook biography dates the New York branch to 1938, so sources differ on the exact year.

The partners later separated, with Hill running the New York firm and Knowlton heading the Cleveland firm. Sources differ on the year: Prabook says 1947, while a Wikipedia-derived entry on Knowlton says 1946. Wikipedia says Knowlton stayed in Cleveland until his retirement, with the original office closing after it.

What was Hill's corporate PR model?

Hill's corporate PR model treated public relations as a management function reporting to the chief executive, not a publicity function inside marketing. He set this out in Corporate Public Relations (1958) and in his memoir The Making of a Public Relations Man (1963).

The model rests on four ideas that still shape corporate communications departments.

1. A company's most consequential audiences include employees, investors, regulators, legislators and the press that covers them, not only consumers.
2. Counsel is sold on retainer to trade associations and corporate management, not campaign by campaign.
3. Government, financial and media relations are run under one strategy.
4. Advising management before a decision becomes news is the measure of the work.

The firm's tradition of industry-group counsel is traced in the profile of Hill's contemporary Harold Burson, who founded Burson-Marsteller, and in the profile of Daniel J. Edelman, whose firm grew into the largest independent PR agency.

Why is Hill & Knowlton's tobacco work debated?

Hill & Knowlton's tobacco work is debated because the firm represented the Tobacco Industry Research Committee from 1953, when medical evidence was linking smoking to lung cancer. Researchers at the University of Bath's Tobacco Control Research Group document the firm's role in their TobaccoTactics profile.

Hill discussed the engagement in his memoir and argued that the firm's role was to call for more scientific research and represent manufacturers in the public debate. Later historical analysis, informed by industry documents released in litigation, reached a different assessment. Both records are now part of the case history of the profession, and the question of what a PR firm owes when a client's product is later shown to cause serious harm traces back to it.

What happened to Hill & Knowlton after Hill?

Hill & Knowlton changed owners twice after Hill's retirement and now operates inside Burson. Hill served as chairman and chief executive until 1962 and remained on the firm's policy committee afterward, according to Wikipedia. When he died in 1977 the firm had 560 employees, with 36 offices in the United States and 18 abroad, per the same source. JWT Group acquired the firm in 1980, and it passed to WPP when WPP bought JWT in 1987.

WPP announced on January 25, 2024, that it would merge Hill & Knowlton and BCW into a single agency called Burson, operational from July 1, 2024. WPP said the Hill & Knowlton brand would continue within Burson for a select group of clients, and that the new agency would have more than 6,000 employees in 43 markets. The name honors Harold Burson.

What can communicators learn from John W. Hill?

Communicators can learn that a communications function earns influence by advising management before decisions become news. Hill's design of a CEO-level counsel role, with investor, government and media work under one strategy, is the structure that large companies still use.

The same argument applies to search and AI answers, where a company's public record is read by engines as well as people. Hill's two books remain a primary source for how corporate PR became a management discipline. For a modern application of crisis counsel, see Hill+Knowlton PR: Have a Crisis Preparedness Program in Place.

The EPR In Memoriam canonical record. Related: Daniel J. Edelman (1920-2013) · Ivy Lee (1877-1934) · Carl Byoir (1888-1957) · Harold Burson (1921-2020) · Jack O'Dwyer (1933-2018).