William C. Richardson was president of Johns Hopkins University and professor of health policy and management from 1990-1995. He holds an MBA and PhD in business from the University of Chicago, where he specialized in health care delivery. He also served as graduate dean at the University of Washington and as provost at Pennsylvania State University before being recruited to Johns Hopkins University. Following his presidency, Richardson became the head of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In this oral history, Richardson discusses his tenure as president, including the state of the university's finances and departments at the time of his arrival and throughout his time at the institution. He touches on his first impressions of the university and the strategic decisions he made during his tenure as the university's president. The interview took place over two sessions, both of which are available to access. This oral history is a part of the Mame Warren oral histories series.

The program opens with the announcement that last week in New York City The Johns Hopkins Science Review was awarded its second George Foster Peabody Award for outstanding educational and informational programming. Lynn Poole honors the scientists currently attending the 90th annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), presided over by Johns Hopkins University's president, Detlev Bronk. Poole describes highlights in the history of the organization, such as Congress' legalization of use of the metric system in 1866 and creation of the U.S. Forest Service in 1896, both based on recommendations of NAS. In 1916 NAS established the National Research Council, and through the efforts of its first chairman, George Ellery Hale, and Dr. Robert A. Millikan, President Woodrow Wilson requested NAS to perpetuate the Council. The remainder of the program explains and demonstrates misconceptions about scientific facts: a copper penny can not substitute for a burned out fuse; small flies are not offspring of large flies (houseflies, blow flies, and stable flies are all in their adult stages); spontaneous generation of rags into mice or horse hair into worms does not occur; people can not be hypnotized against their will; frozen body parts should not be rubbed with snow; ice does not make anything near it very cold (as an experiment with liquid nitrogen shows); water will not put out any fire (water on potassium will start a fire); oysters are also edible in months not containing "r"; mentally ill people can be cured; and mothers do not "mark" their babies before birth. Lynn Poole concludes the program by asking viewers to send him their requests for previous programs they would like repeated in June.