Our American Stories

How Gettysburg and Abraham Lincoln Inspired Dwight D. Eisenhower

17 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Dwight D. Eisenhower carried many influences into his role as Supreme Allied Commander, but none mattered mor...

How Goats Became San Francisco’s Unlikely Landscaping Crew

17 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, City Grazing started with a simple idea: goats are natural landscapers. Today, the San Francisco non-profit p...

Ray Caldwell: The MLB Pitcher Struck by Lightning Who Finished the Game

17 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, on August 24, 1919, Cleveland Indians pitcher Ray Caldwell made his debut at League Park before a crowd of 20...

The First B-17 to Bomb Berlin in World War II

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, it was never supposed to be their mission. But in March 1944, through a twist of circumstance, Lt. Bill Owen&...

The Flushing Remonstrance and America’s First Fight for Freedom

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before the Bill of Rights was drafted, a group of ordinary citizens in Queens, New York, made a bold sta...

Mike Leven: The Bigger the Bureaucracy, the Smaller the Customer

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Mike Leven spent decades at the top of the hotel world, rising to President and COO of Las Vegas Sands Corp. ...

What an Old Piano Remembered

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, it was scratched, heavy, and imperfect, but to Joy Neal Kidney, the old upright piano her mother left behind ...

How Vanderbilt Rose From Poverty to Become the Richest Man in History

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, few figures embody the rise of America’s economy in the nineteenth century more than Cornelius Vanderbi...

The Hidden Work Behind Every Horse

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Bill Bryk has spent years in the saddle, but in this story, he takes us to a place most riders overlook: the ...

Spearhead: An American Tank Gunner’s Story in WWII

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Clarence Smoyer, a gunner in the U.S. Army’s 3rd Armored Division—“Spearhead”—b...

I Found Out I was Adopted At 30!

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Skip Reeves grew up in a military family, traveling the world, making music, and building a life surrounded b...

"No! No! No! Who the Hell Boos Santa Claus?!" The Story of the Time Eagles Fans Pelted Santa with Snowballs

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in December 1968, 19-year-old Frank Olivo showed up at a Philadelphia Eagles game in a Santa suit, hoping to ...

The Opera Singer Who Left Her Husband One Last Song

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Tom and Lillian Lyons married in 1946 and spent a lifetime together on the south side of Chicago. Lillian&rsq...

The Story Behind the World’s Most Recorded Gospel Song

12 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Albert E. Brumley, the son of Oklahoma sharecroppers, wrote “I’ll Fly Away,” the most recor...

A Mother’s Reflections on Her Kids and a Baby Eagle

12 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Our American Stories regular contributor Leslie Leyland Fields shares a heartwarming story about what she lea...

How Cancer From Ground Zero United Two Unlikely New Yorkers

12 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, on September 11, 2001, firefighter Niels Jorgensen ran toward the collapsing Twin Towers as part of the FDNY ...

How George Washington's Bible Survived 9/11

12 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when George Washington took the oath of office in 1789, his hand rested on a Bible that would become one of A...

The Alien and Sedition Acts and the Battle Over Free Speech

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1798, President John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts, laws meant to protect the young nation duri...

Frank Capra: The American Dream Personified

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, few filmmakers embody the American dream as vividly as Frank Capra. Born in Sicily in 1897, he carried the me...

Goodbye, Old House: Thank You for the Double Spoon

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Bonnie Brown Rowcliffe prepared to sell her childhood home, she dreaded the moment she would walk throug...

What Dr. Seuss Really Meant With The Lorax and The Grinch

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, created some of the most famous children’s books of the 20th...

FDNY Fireboats and the Largest Water Evacuation in History

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, as Lower Manhattan filled with smoke and chaos on September 11, 2001, escape routes vanished. Bridges and tun...

Cantor Fitzgerald’s CEO Remembers 9/11 and the Brother He Lost

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when the planes struck the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Cantor Fitzgerald was left devastated. T...

An Appeal to Heaven: The Forgotten Flag of George Washington’s Navy

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before the Stars and Stripes became the national banner, another symbol of liberty flew over American ships. ...

How the Lobotomy Changed Modern Brain Science

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the mid-20th century, families desperate for answers turned to a radical procedure known as the lobotomy. ...

The Small Act of Courage That Led to 50 Years of Marriage

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Lori Coan was on her second date with a boy she wasn’t sure about when something happened that changed ...

How Four Chaplains of Different Faiths Became Immortal Heroes in World War II

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, on the frigid night of February 3, 1943, the troop ship USS Dorchester was struck by a German torpedo. W...

John Humphrey’s Heart and the Power of a Community

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when John Humphrey was born with a rare heart condition, his family’s world changed overnight. In West ...

The Confederate Hunley and the First Submarine Attack in Naval History

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1864, Charleston Harbor became the site of a world first. The Confederate submarine CSS Hunley a...

James Madison: The Quiet Founder Who Built a Nation

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, James Madison rarely chased the spotlight, and he knew his character flaws. He was short, balding, awkward, a...

The Real Winnie the Pooh: A.A. Milne’s Story Behind the Bear

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Winnie the Pooh became a Disney character, he was the creation of A.A. Milne, first brought to life in...

The Debate Over Slavery That Changed John Quincy Adams

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1819, as the Missouri Crisis stirred national debate over slavery and westward expansion, a private conver...

The German Immigrant Behind Coors Banquet Beer

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before it became one of America’s most recognizable beer brands, Coors was the dream of Adolph Coors, a...

What Really Happened During the Kentucky Meat Shower of 1876

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, on a March day in 1876, residents of Bath County, Kentucky, looked up to find chunks of raw meat falling from...

The Dog That Helped a Family Heal During Cancer

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Doris was diagnosed with cancer, her world changed, and so did her family’s. In the middle of unce...

The $15 Million Bet That Doubled the Country

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1803, the United States made a deal with France that would double the size of the young nation. Known as t...

The Inventor of the Machine Gun Went Deaf—So His Son Invented the Silencer

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Hiram Percy Maxim grew up in the shadow of firepower. His father invented the machine gun, a weapon that chan...

When No One Could Diagnose Him, Faith and Family Got Him Through

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Cliff Shiepe was working his dream job on the backlot of Disney when his body began to fail. A series of unex...

The Ghost Army and the Inflatable Tanks That Changed World War II

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1943, the U.S. Army created a top-secret unit unlike any other. Known as the Ghost Army, it was made up of...

How Rod Serling Changed TV with The Twilight Zone

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when The Twilight Zone premiered in 1959, audiences saw television in a new way. At its center was Rod S...

The Story of America’s Most Famous Metaphor: John Winthrop’s “City Upon a Hill

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, if you want to know about the history of America, you must know the role the Bible played in shaping our coun...

The True Story of Father Stu, the Boxer Who Became a Priest

05 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before he was known as Father Stu, Stuart Long was a Golden Gloves boxing champion with dreams of fame. A nea...

What Exactly Is Bubblegum Flavor — and Why Pink?

05 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, we all know the look and taste of bubblegum, but few people know where it came from. The first bubblegum was ...

Robert Heft Got a B-Minus for Designing the U.S. Flag

05 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, The American flag that flies over every state capitol, school, and battlefield began as a high school assignm...

Slavery Slayer: The Story of William Wilberforce

05 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, William Wilberforce was not a soldier, but he fought one of history’s fiercest battles. From the floor ...

Bat Masterson: The Lawman, Gambler, and Gunfighter Who Redefined the Wild West

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Bat Masterson’s name still echoes through Wild West history, but unlike most gunfighters, he didn&rsquo...

Merian C. Cooper Went to War Before He Brought King Kong to Life

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Merian C. Cooper never settled for an ordinary life. Before he created King Kong, he was chasing stories...

"Dark Horse & Dead Ringer" and the Wonderful Origins of Everyday Expressions

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Andrew Thompson shares another slice of his guide to understanding the baffling mini-mysteries of the English...

What David McCullough Wanted Congress to Hear About History

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, on March 2, 1989, David McCullough stood before a joint session of Congress with a simple message: the past m...

The Death Sentence That Turned Into One of Lincoln’s Most Famous Pardons

03 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, during the Civil War, falling asleep on guard duty was a crime punishable by death. That was the fate awaitin...

Trader Joe’s Didn’t Try to Be the Biggest. It Became the Most Beloved

03 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before it became a national name, Trader Joe’s was just a small Los Angeles shop with a big idea. Found...

The Story of Black Sam Bellamy, the Richest Pirate in History

03 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, few figures loomed larger on the seas than Black Sam Bellamy. He was young, charismatic, and ruthless enough ...

David McCullough on the Life and Legacy of John Adams

03 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, John Adams carried the weight of a nation that was still fragile and untested. He was the second president of...

How the Bible Became the Most Influential Book in History

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, The Bible is the best-selling book in history, but it did not arrive fully formed. It was written over centur...

Why Tim Holt Traded Hollywood for the Cockpit in WWII

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Tim Holt built a career as one of Hollywood’s most familiar Western actors, appearing in 149 films...

50 Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy: The iPhone, Radar, and TV Dinners

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, did you know “radar” is actually an acronym? It stands for Radio Detection and Ranging — a ...

The Life and Legacy of Hairstylist Jay Sebring Before the Manson Murders

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories Jay Sebring was Hollywood’s most sought-after men’s hairstylist. At his Fairfax Avenue salon,...

Why a Family Chose Forgiveness After a Fatal Drunk Driving Crash

01 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Laura Treppendahl was only beginning her adult life when it ended in a drunk driving crash. Her family’...

What It Was Like to Stand in the Shadow of an Atomic Blast

01 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, from 1945 to 1992, the United States conducted more than a thousand nuclear weapons tests. Many took place in...

The WWII Pilot Who Survived a Shootdown and Joined the Resistance

01 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Lt. Howard Snyder’s B-17 Susan Ruth was shot down over Belgium in February 1944, he could hav...

Esther de Berdt Reed and the Revolution That Women Raised

01 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Esther de Berdt Reed wasn’t content to sit on the sidelines during the Revolutionary War. While the fig...

The Land Rover Case That Changed the Eighth Amendment

29 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 2013, Tyson Timbs had his $42,000 Land Rover seized by the state of Indiana after a low-level drug offense...

A Couple's Story of Addiction, Redemption, and a New Mission

29 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, John and Ashley Marsh once stood on the edge of collapse. Addiction, infidelity, and financial ruin had left ...

Buying America’s First Faith-Based Automobile

29 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before mass production and freeways, the automobile was an invention still finding its way. The Duryea b...

A Story of Survival, Faith, and Divine Intervention in WWII

29 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when a young Iowa farmer named Cecil Wax was drafted into World War II, he never imagined his survival would ...

Hedy Lamarr: The Hollywood Star Who Helped Create WiFi

29 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, she was called the most beautiful woman in the world, yet Hedy Lamarr’s greatest gift had little to do ...

Aron Marquez and the American Dream

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Aron Marquez’s American Dream began with dirt under his fingernails and sweat in the fields. The work w...

My Father’s Escape from Castro’s Cuba

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Cuba’s 1959 revolution brought Fidel Castro to power and forced countless families to make an impo...

Nellie Bly’s Race Around the World in Seventy-Two Days

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1890, Nellie Bly set out to do what seemed impossible: circle the globe in less than eighty days. Known to...

 Cecil B. DeMille and the Birth of Hollywood

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Hollywood became the world’s movie capital, one man was already imagining films on a scale no on...

Remembering Erika, the Teacher Who Brought the Cold War to Life

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, for Lawson Bader, one teacher changed everything. Erika, his German instructor, wasn’t content to simpl...

Police Mistook Him for a Fugitive. What Happened Next Changed His Life

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, James King was just a 21-year-old college student walking to work in Grand Rapids when two men suddenly threw...

The Gettysburg Hero Who Waited 151 Years for the Medal of Honor

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Alonzo Cushing was just 22 years old when he fell at Gettysburg, standing firm as Confederate troops charged ...

The Father She Thought Was Dead Lived Just Down the Street

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, for Karen Olson, the ache of missing her father began at a school dance where other girls stood beside their ...

The Mountain Man Who Inspired Robert Redford’s Jeremiah Johnson

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Robert Redford took on the role of Jeremiah Johnson in 1972, audiences fell in love with the image of a ...

Her Mother Always Told Her She Was Strong... But Strength Isn't Always Enough

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Edie Hand remembers an Alabama childhood filled with mud pies, Shetland ponies, and afternoons in the barn wh...

We're Holding Our Own: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, on November 10, 1975, the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald vanished beneath the stormy waters of Lake Su...

George Washington’s Letter That Defined Religious Freedom in America

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1790, George Washington answered a letter from the Hebrew congregation in Newport, Rhode Island. His reply...

How Panama’s Dictator Manuel Noriega Found God in the Unlikeliest Place

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the late 1980s, Panama was at the center of global attention as strongman Manuel Noriega tightened his gri...

From Sandlots to Super Bowls: The Birth of the NFL

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before billion-dollar stadiums and television contracts, professional football was played on dirt lots b...

How a Gravedigger Became a Hero: King Solomon and the 1833 Cholera Epidemic

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the summer of 1833, Lexington, Kentucky, was brought to its knees by a cholera outbreak. Entire families w...

Mary Surratt: The Woman at the Center of the Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the weeks after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, authorities hunted not only John Wilkes Booth but a...

The Woman Who Convinced Lincoln to Make Thanksgiving a Holiday

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before it became the fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving was just one of many autumn celebrations scatt...

Greg LeMond’s Stunning Tour de France Comeback

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before 1987, Greg LeMond was already a champion. After 1987, no one expected him to race again. A near-fatal ...

How a Fugitive Slave’s Jailbreak Fueled the Rise of the Republican Party

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the tense years before the Civil War, Joshua Glover — a man who had escaped slavery — was capt...

The 1926 Race to the North Pole and the Explorers Who Risked Everything to Get There

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1926, two men set their sights on the same prize: the North Pole. Roald Amundsen took to the air in the No...

Why Vietnam Vets Trusted the Writer of "Braveheart" With "We Were Soldiers"

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, We Were Soldiers is a motion picture about the Vietnam War, written and directed by Randall Wallace and ...

The Real Wild Bill Hickok and the Life Behind the Legend

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Wild Bill Hickok’s life was built on bold choices and bigger risks. As a U.S. Marshal and sheriff, he k...

How Oskar Schindler Risked Everything to Save Lives in WWII

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before the war, Oskar Schindler was a businessman chasing opportunity, even if it meant joining the Nazi Part...

Why the Allies Invaded Italy Before D-Day

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1943, the Allied victory in North Africa opened the door to the next move against the Axis. American and B...

The Truth About Michael Jackson’s Changing Skin Color

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Michael Jackson’s career made him one of the most recognizable and most scrutinized people on the plane...

Could Pearl Harbor Have Been Prevented?: 12 Days to Infamy

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Pearl Harbor marked America’s entry into World War II, but the road to that day was lined with war...

The God and Divinity Roots of America’s Most Famous College: Harvard

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Harvard became a global symbol of academic achievement, it began as a school to train Puritan min...

How Ellen and William Craft Outsmarted Slavery

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1848, William and Ellen Craft were enslaved in Georgia and knew they could not start a family until they w...

"Fair Game" and the Wonderful Origins of Everyday Expressions

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Andrew Thompson shares another slice of his guide to understanding the baffling mini-mysteries of the English...

The First Martyr of the Abolition Movement: Elisha Lovejoy

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, if you want to know about the history of America, it is imperative that you know the role that the Bible play...

A Survivor’s Story of Healing Through Faith in Christ

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Valerie’s life was marked by the trauma of abuse, but her story didn't end there. Through her faith in ...

234 Marines Against 10,000 Chinese Soldiers: Fox Company’s Fight for Survival

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, at the height of the Korean War, Fox Company was cut off in the mountains and outnumbered almost fifty to one...

The Day Rick Monday Made One of Baseball’s Most Patriotic Plays

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Rick Monday’s career spanned more than a decade in Major League Baseball, but one defining moment had n...

The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of Floyd Landis, Tour de France Winner

19 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Floyd Landis’s story is one of extremes. Raised in a quiet Mennonite community in Pennsylvania, he...