CBS series (1951–1955)
The original five-minute series began at WCAU in Philadelphia and was aired over the CBS Radio Network and 196 affiliated stations between 1951 and 1955. The Program Director was Edward P. Morgan who told potential contributors that This I Believe was a "non-religious" program and that it was not a forum for one contributor to attack the beliefs of another contributor. The actual time allotted to each contributor in order to allow for the introduction, closing and sponsorship of the program, was three and a half minutes. Novelist Kathleen Norris refused to participate on the grounds that "It's either a mawkish sermon, or it's indecent exposure."[4]
This I Believe was also relayed by U.S. government funding over the Voice of America and the U.S. Armed Forces Network to listeners in 97 foreign countries. The BBC World Service, funded by the British Foreign Office, relayed the program to Australia.
A print version of the show appeared in 85 U.S. newspapers where contributors were asked to submit essays containing no more than 600 words. The U.S. State Department offered these editions to foreign newspapers in 97 nations with which the USA had diplomatic relations.
In 1952 Simon & Schuster published This I Believe: Written for, and with a foreword by Edward R. Murrow and edited by Edward P. Morgan. Its cover stated that it contained: ...the personal philosophies of one hundred thoughtful men and women.
A cover description of its contents stated that: "'...this book is the further extension of an idea that has already exploded into the most widely listened to radio program in the world. That idea is simple. It is that men and women will live happier and richer lives if they deliberately decide what they want from life—what they want in material things and the relative importance of moral and spiritual things. You, like most people, undoubtedly have certain rules by which you run your life. But, again like most people, you've probably never tried to formulate them, even to yourself. That's where the men and women in this book differ from you. They have at least tried to do so. They have 'looked in their hearts and written,' humbly and hesitantly, upon the invitation of the distinguished radio and television news analyst, Edward R. Murrow. 'After all,' says he, 'the only way of discovering what people believe is to ask them.' What these thoughtful people, in all walks of life, have written is here for you to read and ponder, and perhaps to emulate—in this collection of the 100 of the best of the personal philosophies of life which Mr. Murrow has discovered among the many hundreds contributed to This I Believe—on the air and in newspapers.'"
In this period, the submission from author Robert Heinlein proved not only among the most noteworthy at the time, but of lasting impact. The organization says that it remains the most popular.[5] Called Our Noble, Essential Decency, it broke from standard tropes to talk glowingly about the inherent goodness of Heinlein's friends, local community, country, and humanity of all races and creeds.
