Edward R. Murrow's This I Believe: Selections from the 1950s Radio Series

by Dan Gediman (Editor), John Gregory (Editor), Mary Jo Gediman (Editor)

An anthology of fifty essays featured in Edward R. Murrow's 1950s This I Believe radio series. Includes such luminaries of the twentieth century as Pearl Buck, Norman Cousins, Margaret Mead, James Michener, Jackie Robinson, and Harry Truman. With an introduction by Edward R. Murrow and a foreword by Dan Gediman, executive producer of the contemporary This I Believe radio broadcasts, heard weekly on public radio.

Genres: Journalism, History

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 14, 2009

About the author

Dan Gediman is a long-time writer, editor, and public radio producer whose work has been heard on All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Marketplace, Jazz Profiles, and This American Life. During his 30-year radio career, he has won many of public broadcasting’s most prestigious awards including the duPont-Columbia Award.

Dan is currently the Executive Director of This I Believe, Inc. (www.thisibelieve.org), a non-profit organization based in Louisville that is dedicated to helping people explore, write about, and share short essays about the core beliefs that guide their daily lives. Over 150,000 people worldwide have submitted these essays, which have been anthologized into several This I Believe books, co-edited by Dan, including the New York Times Bestseller This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women (2006), This I Believe II (2008), This I Believe: On Love (2010), This I Believe: On Fatherhood (2011), This I Believe: Life Lessons (2011), This I Believe: On Motherhood (2012), This I Believe: Kentucky (2013). and their latest book, This I Believe Philadelphia (2015). Dan has also co-edited an anthology of essays from the original 1950s This I Believe radio series entitled Edward R. Murrow's This I Believe (2009).

Dan is currently working on a biography of famed radio icon Norman Corwin, to be published in 2020.

Dan is also an accomplished public speaker who has delivered scores of speeches and training workshops for schools, businesses, and community organizations. For more information or to book Dan as a speaker, please visit www.dangediman.com/public-speaking.

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like books written the year I was born, 1952, and this is one of those. I watched a movie about Murrow under McCarthyism and found this book on my shelf. There's only a few recognizable names. Hellen Keller, Pearl Buck, Norman Cousins, Herbert Hoover, Aldous Huxley, Jackie Robinson, Thomas Mann, Eleanor Roosevelt. Not all famous
The backdrop is the times. Post-war, at the cusp of the Cold War and McCarthyism. The idea of faith seems to be shaken, and the goal seems to be to reaffirm that there are principles that people live by. It's interesting to read what they are. The short essays are not philosophical or religious, but mostly personal, homey, anecdotal.
Another thing included is a short description of the person. Some life history, accomplishments, family and a physical description. Each person gets 2 pages. It's a lovely period piece of who's who and what's what in 1952.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edward R. Murrow was one of the great radio personalities ever. In this book are collected a series of short appearances by various people talking about what they believe. One of the things he said I think resonates even today:

'A lot of us have traded in our beliefs for a bitterness and cynicism, or for a heavy package of despair or even a quivering portion of hysteria.'

Most of the people quoted I wasn't familiar with but some of them I was, including Pearl Buck, Robert Heinlein (his section was excellent), Margaret Mead, Jackie Robinson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

All the views were interesting and well thought out.

[Kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personal credos of several famous people from the 50s. People like Hellen Keller, Truman, Elenor Roosevelt, etc share their core philosophy in less than 500 words. Pretty incredible that people were so hopeful about the future of humanity despite the potential for nuclear doom during the Cold War.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique perspective on mid/late-20th century world politics