Our American Stories

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Our American Stories tells stories that aren’t being told. Positive stories about generosity and courage, resilience and redemption, faith and love. Stories about the past and present. And stories about ordinary Americans who do extraordinary things each and every day. Stories from our listeners about their lives. And their history. In that pursuit, we hope we’ll be a place where listeners can refresh their spirit, and be inspired by our stories.

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318 episodes
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English

Episodes 318

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Yesterday · 31 min
Paralyzed and Broke, John Clay Wolfe Reinvented the Used Car Business
On this episode of Our American Stories, John Clay Wolfe had already built a successful career in the car business when his life began to come apart. His marriage collapsed, a motocross accident left him paralyzed, and then he discovered that millions of dollars had disappeared from his companies while he was unable to keep a close eye on the business. Wolfe, founder of GiveMeTheVin.com and host of The John Clay Wolfe Show, tells how he fought his way back by combining radio with an unusual idea: buying cars sight unseen directly from the public. What began as a workaround for a man who could no longer get to the auctions grew into one of the largest car-wholesale businesses in the world. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Yesterday · 7 min
What Happened When a City Girl Moved to a Mississippi Farm
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Jake Keiser left city life behind and moved to a farm outside Oxford, Mississippi, she was not quite prepared for what came next. One neighbor arrived on a tractor to explain the property lines. Another pulled up on a four-wheeler with a dog and a pie from Piggly Wiggly. Then a third insisted on taking her to dinner because leaving a new neighbor alone on her first night simply would not be neighborly. Keiser, author of Daffodil Hill: Uprooting My Life, Buying a Farm, and Learning to Bloom, shares the funny culture shock story of learning what country life is really all about. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Yesterday · 31 min
Red Cloud’s War: How One Native Leader Defeated the U.S. Army
On this episode of Our American Stories, Red Cloud was born fatherless on the Great Plains in 1821 and rose through courage, intelligence, and skill to become one of the most powerful Oglala leaders of the 19th century. As settlers, miners, and soldiers pushed farther west, he brought together warriors from different Sioux bands and allied tribes to resist the growing American presence in their territory. Authors Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, authors of the New York Times bestseller The Heart of Everything That Is, tell how Red Cloud waged a relentless guerrilla war against the U.S. Army, destroyed Captain William Fetterman’s command, and eventually forced the government to negotiate the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Yesterday · 7 min
Killing Sparrows for Shoes? One Family’s Story from the Great Depression
On this episode of Our American Stories, during the Great Depression, millions of Americans faced hunger, unemployment, and poverty. Families across the United States found inventive ways to survive when jobs disappeared and banks failed. In Iowa, one family turned to canning corn, repairing old shoes, and biking from farm to farm to kill sparrows, a job that paid just enough to get by. Our regular contributor Joy Neal Kidney shares a Depression-era story passed down through her family, offering a glimpse into what life was like in the 1930s. Be sure to check out Joy's great book Leora's Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression for more stories like this one. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Friday · 39 min
Brownie Wise: The Woman Who Made Tupperware a Household Name
On this episode of Our American Stories, Brownie Wise didn't invent Tupperware, but she turned it into an American institution. A single mother with little formal education, Wise discovered a talent for direct sales and eventually convinced inventor Earl Tupper to take his plastic containers out of department stores and sell them through parties held in American homes: Tupperware parties. Mary Lisa Gavenas tells how Wise rose to become Tupperware's vice president of sales, built a nationwide army of mostly female sellers, and transformed the Tupperware party into a cultural phenomenon of 1950s America. But after landing on the cover of Business Week and becoming increasingly identified with the company's success, Wise was abruptly fired in 1958 and largely erased from the history of the business she had helped build. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Friday · 10 min
One of the First Vietnam POWs: Larry Spencer’s Hanoi Hilton Story
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Navy pilot Larry Spencer was captured in North Vietnam, he entered a world that few Americans would ever see. He spent years as a prisoner of war, first in a camp called “The Zoo” and later in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. Survival meant finding strength in small moments and holding on to hope that freedom would come again. Spencer tells his story in his own words, offering a rare and personal account of what it meant to live and survive inside North Vietnam’s most notorious prison. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Friday · 20 min
Dan Sickles: The Civil War General Who Donated His Own Leg to a Museum
On this episode of Our American Stories, Dan Sickles lived the kind of life that sounds almost invented. The New York politician murdered his wife’s lover, Philip Barton Key, just blocks from the White House and then became the first defendant in American history to successfully use a temporary-insanity defense. A few years later, the Civil War gave the disgraced congressman an unlikely second act. Gettysburg National Military Park Ranger Matt Atkinson tells how Sickles raised a brigade for the Union, rose to major general, lost his right leg at Gettysburg, and donated the amputated limb to the Army Medical Museum. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Friday · 7 min
An Iowa Waitress, a Pilot, and a Family at War
On this episode of Our American Stories, Doris Wilson was working as a waitress in Perry, Iowa, when news of the attack on Pearl Harbor interrupted the music playing in the restaurant. Before long, all five of her brothers were serving in the military, and the young Iowa woman found herself headed to Texas after marrying Warren Neal, a farmer turned Army Air Forces pilot and flight instructor. Their new life at the Marfa Army Air Base brought crowded wartime housing, officers’ luncheons, long hours, and one aqua formal gown that made Doris feel like Cinderella at the opening of the Officers Club. But behind the dances and letters home was a family paying an enormous price for the war. Our regular contributor Joy Neal Kidney shares her mother’s story. Joy is the author of Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Thursday · 10 min
The First Man to Die in a Plane Crash
On this episode of Our American Stories, before air travel became routine, flight was a dangerous experiment. In 1908, Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge climbed into a fragile biplane beside Orville Wright, ready to test the limits of a new invention that had barely left the ground. When a propeller snapped midair, the airplane crashed near Fort Myer, Virginia. Wright survived with severe injuries; Selfridge did not, becoming the first man to die in a plane crash and marking the beginning of a new chapter in the history of aviation. His sacrifice helped shape the safety standards that would guide every flight thereafter. Craig Du Mez of the Grateful Nation Project shares the story that defined the earliest days of the sky. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Thursday · 20 min
The German Immigrant Who Became New York’s Queen of Thieves
On this episode of Our American Stories, Frederica Mandelbaum arrived in New York from Germany in 1850 with her husband, infant daughter, and very little money. She began by selling lace door-to-door on the Lower East Side, but poverty and limited opportunities soon pushed the ambitious immigrant toward a very different kind of business: buying stolen goods and reselling them for a profit. Marguerite Fox, former New York Times obituary writer and author of The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum, shares how Frederica built one of the most powerful criminal networks of Gilded Age New York before one tiny strip of stolen silk finally brought her empire crashing down. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Thursday · 7 min
I Picked Up “Tex” Watson Hitchhiking AFTER the Manson Murders
On this episode of Our American Stories, after the Tate–LaBianca murders, Charles “Tex” Watson vanished—just not right away. For nearly two months, he remained in Los Angeles as the city searched for those responsible. That’s where this story begins. Our American Stories listener Patty Kingsbaker recounts the day she unknowingly gave a ride to Manson’s most loyal killer, unaware she was sitting just feet from one of the most wanted men in the country. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Thursday · 39 min
The 14-Year-Old Farm Boy Who Invented Television
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1921, 14-year-old Philo Farnsworth was working a field on his family’s farm in Idaho when the neat rows stretching out behind him gave him an idea. What if a picture could be broken into lines, transmitted electronically, and reassembled somewhere else? The farm boy had begun imagining the technology that would become electronic television. Daniel Stashower, author of The Boy Genius and the Mogul: The Untold Story of Television, shares the story of how Farnsworth pursued that idea from rural Idaho to laboratories in California, eventually finding himself in a patent battle with David Sarnoff and the enormous Radio Corporation of America. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Wednesday · 38 min
Annie Oakley: Sharpshooter, Showwoman, American Legend
On this episode of Our American Stories, Annie Oakley was still a child when she began hunting to help feed her struggling family in Ohio. Before long, her extraordinary skill with a gun was helping pay off the family mortgage, winning her shooting contests, and eventually leading her to defeat professional marksman Frank Butler, the man she would later marry. Our American Stories contributor Faith Buchanan and others tell the story of how Oakley rose from poverty to top billing in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, performing before packed crowds in New York, London, and Paris and becoming one of the most famous women of her time. Along the way, she built a career in a world dominated by men, maintained a remarkable partnership with Butler, and taught thousands of women that they could handle a firearm just as confidently as any man. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Wednesday · 10 min
When One Man’s Faith Helped Free 33 Trapped Chilean Miners
On this episode of Our American Stories, Greg Hall wasn’t looking for fame when Chile’s government asked for help rescuing 33 trapped miners. A businessman and Catholic deacon from Texas, he simply believed he could make a difference. Over 69 tense days, Hall and his team drilled through solid rock to reach the men the world feared were lost. He later said it was God who guided every turn of the drill. While the film The 33 told the story, Hall’s name was left out, which suited him just fine. For him, the miracle wasn’t the credit. It was that all 33 men saw daylight again. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Wednesday · 9 min
Weapons of WWII With Stephen Ambrose: Jeeps, Trucks, Horses, and Poison Gas
On this episode of Our American Stories, World War II is remembered for its tanks, bombers, and revolutionary weapons, but much of the fighting still depended on railroads, trucks, and even horses. Historian Stephen Ambrose explains how America's remarkable ability to move men and supplies helped give the Allies a decisive advantage. From the rugged Jeep and the workhorse “deuce and a half” truck to the amphibious DUKW, American vehicles transformed the way armies fought and moved. Meanwhile, despite the fearsome reputation of Germany's mechanized forces, German and Soviet armies still relied heavily on horses to carry the burdens of war. Ambrose also explores one weapon that cast a terrifying shadow over World War II but was largely absent from Europe's battlefields: poison gas. The horrors of chemical warfare in World War I were still fresh in the minds of soldiers and commanders. Although the major powers stockpiled enormous quantities of chemical weapons, the fear of retaliation helped keep them from being unleashed. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Wednesday · 17 min
Lava Girl Returns: Why Taylor Dooley Left Hollywood and Came Back 15 Years Later
On this episode of Our American Stories, at just 13 years old, Taylor Dooley became a familiar face to millions of children when she starred as Lava Girl in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. But behind the excitement of Hollywood came an endless cycle of auditions, rejection, and the mounting pressures of growing up in the movie business. Watching their daughter struggle, Taylor's parents made a decision she couldn't understand at the time. They pulled her out of acting and sent her back to an ordinary high school, bringing her Hollywood career to an abrupt halt. Fifteen years later, Taylor Dooley shares why she now considers that decision one of the greatest blessings of her life. Away from the cameras, she found her faith, went to college, got married, became a mother, and discovered a life far richer than the one she had imagined for herself as a child star. And just when she thought Hollywood was behind her, director Robert Rodriguez came calling with an unexpected invitation: reprise her childhood role as Lava Girl in Netflix's We Can Be Heroes. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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November 3 · 10 min
Before He Became an Antiwar Candidate, George McGovern Flew 35 Combat Missions
On this episode of Our American Stories, on a bombing mission over Austria during World War II, George McGovern faced a moment that would haunt him for the next 40 years. His battered B-24 was struggling home when his crew was forced to release a bomb stuck in the bomb bay. McGovern watched helplessly as it fell onto a farmhouse below, never knowing what became of the people inside. It was one of 35 combat missions he flew as a young pilot, earning him the Distinguished Flying Cross. That same day, thousands of miles away, his first daughter was born. Historian Stephen Ambrose, author of The Wild Blue, shares the remarkable story of McGovern's wartime service and the astonishing discovery he made four decades later. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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November 3 · 19 min
The Story of America: The Most Divided Election in American History [Ep. 16]
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1800, the United States faced one of the most uncertain moments in its early history. Tensions that had been building since the 1796 presidential race came to a head as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson battled for the future of the country. There’s a reason it is considered one of the most divisive elections in American history. Tensions ran so high that many feared the republic might split apart. When Thomas Jefferson ultimately emerged as the winner of the election of 1800, the nation witnessed something rare in history: a peaceful transfer of power. As part of our ongoing Story of Us—Story of America series, Dr. Bill McClay, author of Land of Hope, shares the story of this defining election. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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November 3 · 7 min
How the Senate Candy Desk Became a Capitol Hill Tradition
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1965, California Senator George Murphy started a sweet tradition, literally. He began stocking his desk on the Senate floor with candy to share with his colleagues. That desk, now known as the “Senate Candy Desk,” remains a Capitol Hill tradition to this day. Jesse Edwards shares the history, mystery, and origins behind one of the Senate’s most interesting traditions. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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November 3 · 10 min
The Time FDR Tried to Change the Date of Thanksgiving
On this episode of Our American Stories, most Americans grew up thinking Thanksgiving had always fallen on the same Thursday in November. In Lincoln’s time, it was set on the last Thursday of November, and that practice settled in for generations. Then Franklin D. Roosevelt shifted the holiday earlier, hoping a longer shopping season would lift a struggling Depression-era economy. The change split the country, with some governors following FDR and others keeping the old date. For a few years, families marked Thanksgiving on different Thursdays depending on where they lived. Melanie Kirkpatrick walks us through why FDR and Thanksgiving became linked in a calendar fight and how Congress finally fixed the holiday on the fourth Thursday of November. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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