Our American Stories

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The Supreme Court Lawyer Who Left Law to Open a Mustard Museum Nov 10, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Barry Levinson was once the head of Wisconsin’s Criminal Appeals Division, arguing cases before the United States Supreme Court. Then the Boston Red Sox lost the 1986 World Series, and a sleepless trip to a grocery store somehow sent his life in an entirely different direction: he started collecting mustard.
Levinson tells how that unlikely obsession eventually became the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wisconsin, home to more than 6,000 mustards from around the world. Along the way, he shares the Supreme Court victory he credits to a jar of mustard in his pocket, the history and variety of one of the world’s oldest condiments, and why he remains perfectly happy spending his days surrounded by mustard.

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The Speech That Gave the Cold War Its “Iron Curtain” Nov 10, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, eight months after British voters turned Winston Churchill out of office, the former prime minister received an unlikely invitation from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. A handwritten note from President Harry Truman offering to introduce him helped seal the deal, and on March 5, 1946, Churchill arrived in America’s heartland as a private citizen with a warning about the world taking shape after World War II.
Dr. Larry P. Arnn, president of Hillsdale College and a leading Churchill scholar, shares the story behind Churchill's all-important Sinews of Peace speech.

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We're Holding Our Own: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Nov 10, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in November 1975 shocked the nation and inspired one of the most haunting songs of the decade. The 729-foot freighter disappeared during a fierce Lake Superior storm, leaving behind questions that still echo through Great Lakes history.
Ric Mixter, a maritime historian and diver who has explored the wreck, shares what made the Edmund Fitzgerald unique and how its story became a part of 1970s American history. Through Mixter’s firsthand perspective, we revisit the night the freighter went down and the legacy it left on the world of shipping and song.

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The Woman the Nazis Called the Most Dangerous Spy in the World Nov 10, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, during the darkest years of World War II, a woman from Baltimore slipped behind enemy lines with a fake passport, a limp, and a mission that would alter the course of the war. Her name was Virginia Hall, and the Gestapo called her “the most dangerous of all Allied spies.” Working for the Office of Strategic Services, she built resistance networks across France, trained fighters, and smuggled intelligence to London while evading capture again and again.
Judy Pearson, author of the bestselling book Wolves at the Door: The True Story Of America's Greatest Female Spy,shares the story of how one woman with a wooden leg and an unbreakable will became a symbol of courage in a world ruled by fear.

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Paralyzed and Broke, John Clay Wolfe Reinvented the Used Car Business Nov 09, 2026

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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.

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What Happened When a City Girl Moved to a Mississippi Farm Nov 09, 2026

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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.

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Red Cloud’s War: How One Native Leader Defeated the U.S. Army Nov 09, 2026

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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.

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Killing Sparrows for Shoes? One Family’s Story from the Great Depression Nov 09, 2026

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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 bookLeora's Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depressionfor more stories like this one.

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Brownie Wise: The Woman Who Made Tupperware a Household Name Nov 06, 2026

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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.

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One of the First Vietnam POWs: Larry Spencer’s Hanoi Hilton Story Nov 06, 2026

Show notes

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.

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