Our American Stories

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She Traded an Apartment for a Sailboat Jul 27, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, when General Motors shifted to remote work in 2020, Emma McCormick realized she could work from anywhere. Instead of renting another apartment, the recent Hillsdale College graduate bought a 25-foot sailboat, moved to a marina in Florida, and made the sea her home.
Emma shares how an Idaho native with no sailing background learned to navigate life afloat, why she embraced an unconventional version of the American Dream, and what it's really like balancing a corporate career with life on a sailboat.

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Mary Kay: The Woman Behind the Pink Cadillac Empire Jul 24, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, before Mary Kay became one of the most recognizable names in American business, she was a divorced mother, a widow, a lifelong saleswoman repeatedly passed over for promotion, and a woman who wasn't even allowed to open a bank account without her husband's permission. At 45, after losing her job and her husband just weeks before launching a new venture, she bet everything she had on a company of her own.
Mary Lisa Gavenas, author of Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay, shares the remarkable story of faith, perseverance, and entrepreneurial vision behind the woman who built one of America's most iconic companies and forever changed opportunities for women in business.

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How One Flying Fortress Accidentally Became the First to Bomb Berlin Jul 24, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in March 1944, Lt. Bill Owen's crew wasn't supposed to make history. Flying one of the Eighth Air Force's secret radar-equipped Pathfinder B-17s, they pressed on toward Berlin after the rest of the bomber stream received a recall order. Through a remarkable twist of circumstance, their Flying Fortress became the first American Flying Fortress to bomb the heart of the Third Reich during WWII.
John O'Neil, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, shares the extraordinary story as first told by his father, John J. O'Neil Jr., the tail and waist gunner aboard that historic mission.

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The Real Chef Boyardee: The Immigrant Who Fed America Jul 24, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, when 16-year-old Hector Boiardi arrived at Ellis Island from Italy in 1914, he couldn't have imagined that his face would one day appear on supermarket shelves across America. After becoming a celebrated chef, he turned his restaurant's most popular takeout meals into one of the country's most recognizable food brands, forever changing the way Americans ate Italian food.
During World War II, Chef Boyardee's factories stopped making food for grocery stores and began producing military rations around the clock, making his company one of the largest suppliers of meals to American and Allied troops. Greg Hengler shares the remarkable story of the real man behind one of America's most familiar brands.

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The Spy Ship North Korea Won't Give Back: USS Pueblo Jul 24, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1968, at the height of the Cold War, the USS Pueblo sat in international waters off the coast of North Korea. Then six North Korean vessels and two MiG fighters closed in. Outgunned and unable to escape, the U.S. Navy intelligence ship was captured, and its crew began eleven months of imprisonment, interrogation, torture, and defiance.
James Duermeyer, author of The Capture of the USS Pueblo shares the remarkable story of one of the Cold War’s most infamous international incidents and explains why the Pueblo remains the only commissioned U.S. Navy ship held by a foreign nation.

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George Mitchell and the 17-Year Gamble That Changed America Forever Jul 23, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in the early 1980s, nearly everyone in the oil and gas industry believed producing natural gas from shale was a waste of time and money. George Mitchell disagreed. For 17 years, he poured hundreds of millions of dollars into an idea that even his own executives wanted to abandon, convinced it would secure America's energy future.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Daniel Yergin, author of The New Map, joins Dan Steward, Kent Bowker, and others to tell the remarkable story of George Mitchell's persistence and the shale revolution it unleashed.

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Nan Aspinwall: The First Woman to Ride Across America Alone Jul 23, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Nan Aspinwall could rope, ride, shoot, and perform alongside the biggest stars of Buffalo Bill's Wild West. But in 1910, she accomplished something no woman had ever done before: she rode alone on horseback from San Francisco to New York, covering nearly 4,500 miles in 180 days.
Our American Stories regular contributor Ashley Hlebinsky shares the remarkable story of "Two-Gun Nan," the highest-paid performer in Buffalo Bill's Wild West, whose grit, determination, and unforgettable cross-country ride made her one of the most extraordinary women of the American West.

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What The Giving Tree Taught Me About Motherhood Jul 23, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, for years, Winter Prosapio couldn't stand The Giving Tree. She saw it as the story of a tree that gave everything to someone who never seemed to appreciate it. Then she became a mother.
In this heartfelt reflection, Winter shares how raising two daughters transformed the way she understood Shel Silverstein's classic. Along the way, she discovered that giving, like gratitude, isn't something we're born knowing. It's something we learn.

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The Runaway Mother Who Helped End the Fugitive Slave Act Jul 23, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, when Catherine Thompson escaped slavery in Maryland, she built a new life in New Jersey and gave birth to a son born free. But after a slave catcher lured her into a trap in Philadelphia, she faced an impossible choice: surrender her child or risk them both being dragged back into slavery. She refused to let go. Her courage exposed the brutal reality of the Fugitive Slave Act.
Elliot Drago of the Jack Miller Center shares the remarkable story of Catherine Thompson, whose ordeal became one of many that awakened Northerners to the human cost of slavery and helped build the movement that ultimately destroyed the Fugitive Slave Act.

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The Story of America: Manifest Destiny [Ep. 26] Jul 23, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in the 1840s, America stretched west at a breathtaking pace. Texas joined the Union, the Mexican-American War added vast new territory, the California Gold Rush transformed the West, and the dream of a nation from sea to shining sea became reality. For our ongoing Story of Us—Story of America series, Dr. Bill McClay, author of Land of Hope, explains how the idea of Manifest Destiny shaped a rapidly growing republic.
But every new mile of American expansion intensified the nation's oldest conflict. As Congress struggled over whether slavery would spread into the new territories, compromises grew increasingly fragile and the path toward the Civil War became harder to avoid.

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