In 1946, the legendary radio dramatist Norman Corwin was named the first recipient of the presitious One World Award. Later recipients would include Albert Einstein and New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. His prize--- 4 month, around-the-world trip in honor of the historic global flight Statesman Wendell Willkie took search of world peace and diplomacy, on behalf of FDR.  Corwin used this global journey to produce a series of thirteen radio documentaries for CBS -- recording over a hundred hours of voices, collected over four months and covering 37,000 miles.  On his One World Flight, armed with a heavy, bulky and temperamental wire recorder he spoke with world leaders, street sweepers, students and housewives and recorded the sounds of their cities.  Corwin recalls “It was a monstrous device, splicing was done by knotting the wires together and fusing them with a lit cigarette.”

Upon his return and through his broadcast, Corwin concluded that despite “the gallant hopes for the future, the One World dream of Wendell Willkie was still as remote as ever.”

Of Corwin's mission, playwright Jerome Lawrence observed, "It was good to send a poet around the world.  He has a way of listening to the rhythms of tomorrow."

In 1999, at age 89, Corwin revisited the global odyssey that took him from a private audience with the Pope, to the coal mines of Prague, over the flooded Ganges to Calcutta, in search of the common ties and positive peace, with award winning producer Mary Beth Kirchner for "Lost & Found Sound," playing excerpts and providing commentary about his CBS programs, which were a personal view of a battle-weary post-war world.  

In 1946, the legendary radio dramatist Norman Corwin was named the first recipient of the presitious One World Award. Later recipients would include Albert Einstein and New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. His prize--- 4 month, around-the-world trip in honor of the historic global flight Statesman Wendell Willkie took search of world peace and diplomacy, on behalf of FDR.  Corwin used this global journey to produce a series of thirteen radio documentaries for CBS -- recording over a hundred hours of voices, collected over four months and covering 37,000 miles.  On his One World Flight, armed with a heavy, bulky and temperamental wire recorder he spoke with world leaders, street sweepers, students and housewives and recorded the sounds of their cities.  Corwin recalls “It was a monstrous device, splicing was done by knotting the wires together and fusing them with a lit cigarette.”

Upon his return and through his broadcast, Corwin concluded that despite “the gallant hopes for the future, the One World dream of Wendell Willkie was still as remote as ever.”

Of Corwin's mission, playwright Jerome Lawrence observed, "It was good to send a poet around the world.  He has a way of listening to the rhythms of tomorrow."

In 1999, at age 89, Corwin revisited the global odyssey that took him from a private audience with the Pope, to the coal mines of Prague, over the flooded Ganges to Calcutta, in search of the common ties and positive peace, with award winning producer Mary Beth Kirchner for "Lost & Found Sound," playing excerpts and providing commentary about his CBS programs, which were a personal view of a battle-weary post-war world.