February 23, 2009 Dan Gediman, executive producer of NPR's This I Believe, explores the archives of the original series hosted by Edward R. Murrow in the 1950s. He says the essays shed light on the realities of segregation at the dawn of the civil rights movement.
February 8, 2009 In an essay from 1951 for the original This I Believe series, Margaret Mead says she can't separate the beliefs she has as a person from the beliefs she has as an anthropologist. She says that humans have a responsibility for the entire planet.
February 1, 2009 In an essay from 1953 for the original This I Believe series, Sir Charles Galton Darwin, the grandson of naturalist Charles Darwin, drew on his study of science to say he believed the future of humanity depended on the practice of eugenics.
October 15, 2008 In 1953 at the height of McCarthyism, Sen. Margaret Chase Smith recorded a statement for Edward R. Murrow's This I Believe program. Her essay expressed her belief in freedom of speech and warned against demagogues who threatened American security.
January 11, 2006 From 1951, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas encourages a return to the faith of his father's generation. He believes spiritual values, not material ones, can guide America through troubling times.
January 4, 2006 From 1953, legendary choreographer Martha Graham believes that living — like dancing — requires practice to achieve a sense of one's being and a satisfaction of spirit.
May 28, 2005 From 1954, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein finds beauty in life's mysteries, and says the fate of mankind depends on individuals choosing public service over private gain.
May 26, 2005 From circa 1951: Sociologist and educator Charles S. Johnson tells how faith, morality and empathy helped lift his family from slavery and influence his own work for social justice in the United States.
May 19, 2005 From the 1950s series, Marty Mann describes how her battles with alcoholism and depression forced her to open herself up to those around her, and led her to help other people who suffered with addiction.
April 4, 2005 From an essay broadcast in 1953, Katherine Bottigheimer of Louisville, Kentucky, tells how an elderly cousin influenced her to commit her adult life to hard work and public service.
