Our American Stories

Copyright: 2024 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia

Latest Episodes:

Randall Wallace on the Greatest Man He Ever Knew: His Father Oct 07, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Randall Wallace wrote Braveheart and directed We Were Soldiers, his father, Thurman Wallace, taught him what it meant to keep your word, work hard, and treat everyone with dignity. Thurman had grown up without a father, went to work at 14, and spent his career as a traveling candy salesman who seemed to know everyone he met.
Randall remembers the man he calls "the greatest man I ever knew," from his father's early doubts about a career in writing to his pride after Braveheart. He also shares the final days they spent together on the set of We Were Soldiers and the encounter after his father's death that showed Randall just how deeply his dad had touched the lives of others.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"I Came to New York City Dead": Sarah Gonzalez's Faith Story Oct 06, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Sarah Gonzalez was six years old when her father, a former gang member and addict who became a jail chaplain, suddenly died. His death shattered the joyful childhood she had known and eventually led Sarah to reject the Christian faith in which she had been raised. By her teenage and college years, she was using drugs, drinking heavily, and practicing witchcraft.
Then, during a trip to New York City in 2016, she reached a breaking point. Sarah shares her deeply personal story of how she returned to the faith she had rejected and, years later, found herself continuing the prison ministry her father had begun at Chicago's Cook County Jail.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Magna Carta at Fort Knox: A Forgotten WWII Story Oct 06, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, during World War II, U.S. leaders feared German bombers could strike American soil. To protect the nation’s most important treasures, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and the Magna Carta, Britain’s most important document, which was on loan at the time, were secretly moved to Fort Knox.
Steve Puleo, author of American Treasures, shares the remarkable story of how the documents that shaped freedom in both England and America were safeguarded during one of history’s darkest hours. We'd like to thank the U.S. National Archives for allowing us access to this audio.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steve Jobs and the iPhone That Almost Wasn't Oct 06, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, on January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs stepped onto the stage at Macworld and unveiled a device that would forever change the way we communicate. To the audience, it looked like a flawless presentation. Behind the scenes, however, Apple engineers were bracing for disaster. The iPhone prototype was so fragile that Jobs had to follow a carefully rehearsed sequence of demonstrations, secretly switching between multiple devices to keep the presentation from crashing.
Our own Greg Hengler shares the remarkable story behind one of the greatest product launches in business history.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Life at NASA From the Lunar Rover to the Space Shuttle Oct 06, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Apollo astronauts drove across the Moon, Craig Sumner had already spent years helping make that possible. As a young engineer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, he worked on the Lunar Roving Vehicle, solving the kinds of problems that come with designing a car for a place where no one had ever driven before. He later left NASA to become a military pilot, then returned for Skylab and the Space Shuttle program, eventually serving as deputy project manager for the Shuttle's External Tank.
Sumner shares his personal story of what it was like to build America's space program alongside astronauts such as John Young, Fred Haise, and Alan Shepard.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 5-Foot Bookshelf That Changed How America Thinks About Education Oct 05, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the early 1900s, Harvard President Charles W. Eliot made a remarkable claim: with just 15 minutes of reading a day, a person could give himself the equivalent of a liberal education from a shelf of books only five feet long. Publisher P. F. Collier challenged him to prove it.
Our American Stories regular contributor John Elfner and historian Robert Johnston tell how Eliot's idea became the Harvard Classics, a 50-volume collection that brought Plato, Shakespeare, Saint Augustine, and other great writers into hundreds of thousands of American homes at a time when few Americans could attend college.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Cemetery Is a History Book Written in Stone Oct 05, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, on a summer walk through one of Antrim, New Hampshire's old public cemeteries, Bill Bryk begins reading the stones. A Revolutionary War militiaman rests near a Civil War cavalryman. Veterans of two world wars lie beneath familiar family names. Some markers tell long stories. Others offer only a few words, including one man's simple epitaph: “an honest man.”
Bill, who helps care for Antrim's four public cemeteries, reflects on the lives gathered there and the small ways a town continues to remember them. A name cut into stone, a flag placed beside a veteran, a relative stopping by years later. The dead may be gone, but in places like these, their stories have not disappeared.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kasserine Pass and the Harsh Reality of America’s First Defeat in WWII Oct 05, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, in February 1943, American soldiers met the German Army at Kasserine Pass in North Africa and discovered just how unprepared they were for the war ahead. Units became separated, communications failed, intelligence broke down, and inexperienced commanders struggled to respond as German forces tore through American positions. The defeat was humiliating, costly, and impossible to ignore.
The late historian Stephen Ambrose shares how the defeat at Kasserine forced Dwight D. Eisenhower to make difficult changes as the Americans learned how to fight a very different kind of war.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How Rodney Dangerfield Finally Got Some Respect Oct 05, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, before he was Rodney Dangerfield, he was Jacob Cohen, then Jack Roy, a struggling comedian who quit show business, sold aluminum siding, raised a family, and spent years filling a duffel bag with jokes. When he returned to the stage in his 40s, a new name, a black suit and red tie, and one unforgettable complaint finally made him a star: "I don't get no respect."
Our American Stories producer Greg Hengler tells the life of Rodney Dangerfield, from a lonely childhood and decades of rejection to Johnny Carson, "Caddyshack," and "Back to School," and how one of America's most beloved comedians used his success to open doors for the next generation of comics.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bass Reeves: The Former Slave Who Tamed the Wild West Oct 02, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Bass Reeves was born into slavery in Arkansas in 1838. During the Civil War, he escaped bondage and made his way to Indian Territory. Years later, he returned there carrying a badge. For more than three decades, Reeves served federal warrants across some of the most dangerous country in the West, tracking fugitives, working in disguise, and earning a reputation so formidable that some outlaws reportedly chose surrender over facing him.
Professor Art T. Burton, author of Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves, shares the story of the man behind the legend. Burton's own search through court records, newspapers, and family history uncovered a career that had nearly slipped from public memory: an escaped slave who became one of the most respected and relentless lawmen of the American frontier.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected