Prospects of Mankind

Eleanor Roosevelt sitting and laughing with a group of men in chairs

Eleanor Roosevelt's final program, Prospects of Mankind, was also her only program on National Education Television (NET). The program aired in three seasons, one from 11 October 1959 through 5 June 1960, the second between 25 September 1960 and 26 May 1961, and the final season between 17 September 1961 and 23 May 1962.

The ERPP is currently finalizing some transcripts and hopes to have them available soon.

Season 1

Episode 1: October 11, 1959. In the first episode, ER and her guests discuss the possibility of co-existence of the US and the USSR. Guests include V. K. Krishna Menon, Harrison Salisbury, and Robert R. Bowie.

Episode 2: November 15, 1959. ER discusses the hope of nuclear disarmament with Jules Much, Saville Davis, and Trevor Gardner.

Episode 3: December 5, 1959. ER and her guests discuss US foreign aid and economic policy. Guests include Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, John Kenneth Galbraith, and Arthur Lewis.

Episode 4: January 3, 1960. ER discusses the Cold War with John F. Kennedy, Erwin Canham, and Paul Rosenstein-Rodin.

Episode 5: February 14, 1960. ER and her guests discuss US relations with Latin America. Guests include Nelson Rockefeller, Munos-Martin, Benjamin Cohen, and Saville Davis.

Episode 6: March 13, 1960. ER discusses Africa and the prospects for decolonization with Julius Nyerere, Barbara Ward, Ralph Bunche, and Saville Davis.

Episode 7: April 17, 1960. ER discusses the image of America overseas with Denis Brogan, Santha Ramu Rau, Saville Davis, and Harlan Cleveland.

Episode 8: May 15, 1960. ER discusses China with her guests, Charles O. Porter, Blair Frazier, Z. K. Brzezinski, and Saville Davis.

Episode 9: June 5, 1960. ER discusses the future of democracy overseas with Adlai Stevenson, Mohammed Hatta, and Henry Kissinger.

Season 2

Episode 10: September 25, 1960. ER and her guests, Hugh Gaitskell, Bertrand Russell, Robert Boothby, and Robert MacKenzie, discuss Great Britain and its relationship with the United States.

Episode 11: October 23, 1960. ER, Dennis Healey, Maurice Schumann, and Anthony Nutting discuss the prospects for European unity.

Episode 12: November 20, 1960. In an episode on the changing shape of the United Nations, ER converses with Mike Mansfield, Carlos Romulo, Raymond Aron, and Laurence Fuchs.

Episode 13: December 18, 1960. In this episode, ER discusses the place of scientists in world politics with her guests.

Episode 14: January 15, 1961. ER, General Alfred M. Gruenther, Professor Hans Morgenthau, Richard Crossman, and M.P., Saville Davis discuss American alliances.

Episode 15: February 12, 1961. On arms control and the nuclear test ban, ER interviews Hans A. Bethe, Chet Holifield, Henry Kissinger, and Laurence Martin.

Episode 16: March 12, 1961. ER discusses the Peace Corps with John F. Kennedy, Sargent Shriver, Hubert Humphrey, Senteza Kajubi, and Samuel Hayes.

Episode 17: April 9, 1961. ER and her guests, Adlai Stevenson, G. Mennen Williams, Rajeshwar Dayal, Jaja Wachuku, William Frye, discuss the Congo and the United Nations.

Episode 18: May 7, 1961. With Chester Bowles, Braj Kumar Nehru, Max Milikan, Paul Hoffman, and Barbara Ward, ER discusses foreign aid policy.

Episode 19: May 26, 1961. In the final episode of the season, ER and her guests, Edward R. Murrow, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Chancal Sarkar, and Roscoe Drummond, discuss American propaganda.

Season 3

Episode 20: September 17, 1961. In ER's absence, Erwin Canham, Victor Reuther, Eric A. Johnston, Paul A. Samuelson, and Robert McKenzie discuss American capitalism.

Episode 21: October 15, 1961. The topic of conversation is Berlin, as ER interviews Dean Rusk, Paul Tillich, Henry Kissinger, James Reston, and Max Freedman.

Episode 22: November 12, 1961. ER, Harlan Cleveland, C. S. Jha, Stanley Hoffman, and William Frye discuss the future of the United Nations.

Episode 23: December 10, 1961. Crises in South-east Asia are the topic for ER, Jacob Javits, Vu Van Thai, Lep Cherne, and Peggy Durdin.

Episode 24: January 14, 1962. ER, Adlai Stevenson, Roberto Campos, Theodore Draper, Tad Szulc, and Richard Godwin discuss Cuba.

Episode 25: February 11, 1962. ER and her guests, Allen Dulles, Reinhold Niebuhr, Seymore Freidin, Marshall Shulman, and Lord Lindsay of Birker, discuss the China-Soviet rift.

Episode 26: February 25, 1962. ER, Maurice Schumann, Raymond Aron, Stephanie Hessel, and Alfred Grosser talk about the future of France.

Episode 27: April 8, 1962. The Common Market and Europe are the topic of conversation for ER, George Ball, Robert Marjolin, Edwin Dale, and others.

Episode 28: May 6, 1962. ER and her guests, Newton Minnow, Marya Mannes, John F. White, and Irving Gitlin, discuss the future of television.

Episode 29: June 3, 1962. In a program about the status of women, ER opens with a ten-minute interview of President John F. Kennedy. She then hosts her usual round-table discussion with guests ER, Arthur Goldberg, Agda Rossel, Thomas Mendenhall, and Mirra Komarovsky.