This carefully-choreographed exercise public
relations was promoted the electric utilities, who had come
to appreciate the value good image. irked "the old
man" end when letters arrived West Orange addressed to
the "Edison laboratory, Menlo Park. His cavortings
with fellow millionaire industrialists Harvey Firestone and
Henry Ford captured the public's imagination.
However abstract their idea innovation and Edison's
genius, Americans took Edison the man heart. While the ceremonies
at Greenfield Village were underway, the United States Congress
passed resolution expressing the nation's thanks Edison
"whose conquests the realm science have enriched all
. "The Edison laboratories" which were claimed
as the starting point all his products were mysterious as
the process innovation that created the products." The Edison laboratory
existed the minds the public the Home the "Wizard,"
and never did shake this image, still being known the
Wizard Menlo Park until his death. The
climax Edison's popularity came with the Festival Light,
a celebration marking the opening Henry Ford's Greenfield
Village.XIV-18
the general public, who still imagined him working through the
night the small lab rural New Jersey. Here were the
heroes capitalism enjoying the simple life camping and
hiking, and newsreel audiences were led believe that these
great men acted differently from the average American. The fact that moved
from Menlo Park and become great industrialist was lost on
O C
many Americans
