Our American Stories

On this episode of Our American Stories, Bruce Paddock remembers his life in two chapters: BD and AD, Before Dad and After Dad. When his father died young, the loss reshaped everything, from the way he viewed family and purpose to the path he would eventually take in his own career. In this deeply personal tribute, Bruce reflects on grief, memory, and the enduring influence of a father whose life...

On this episode of Our American Stories, before  It’s a Wonderful Life  and  Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Jimmy Stewart walked away from Hollywood stardom to serve in World War II. Determined to fly despite resistance from studio executives and concerns about his age and weight, Stewart became a U.S. Army Air Forces pilot, flew dangerous bombing missions over Europe, and ros...

On this episode of Our American Stories, the election of 1828 marked a political revolution in America. Andrew Jackson, a hard-driving frontiersman who never forgot his roots, brought a new style of politics to Washington, one built on popular appeal, distrust of elites, and faith in the judgment of ordinary Americans. In this installment of our ongoing  Story of Us—Story of America &nb...

On this episode of Our American Stories, at only hours old, Jackie Darby was abandoned in a garbage dump in Seoul, Korea, where rats were already biting her tiny body when a missionary nurse rescued her. Adopted by an American family, Jackie grew up surrounded by love, but struggled with profound questions about rejection, identity, and her own self-worth. Through faith and family, she' come to se...

On this episode of Our American Stories, the 1896 election made one thing clear: William Jennings Bryan and the Populists had tapped into a growing sense that many Americans were being left behind by a rapidly changing nation. Though Bryan lost, the reformers behind his movement lived on. Soon, a new generation of reformers known as Progressives would seek to modernize government, curb corruption,...

On this episode of Our American Stories, at seven years old, Randy Liberty visited his absent father behind bars at the Maine State Prison, whose imposing walls later helped inspire Stephen King's novel  The Shawshank Redemption . Decades later, he returned to that same prison, not as a visitor but as a corrections officer. Along the way, he charted his own unique path, rose to become the pri...

On this episode of Our American Stories, before he became a familiar face in westerns like  Tales of Wells Fargo  and  Iron Horse , Dale Robertson was fighting in Europe during World War II. Commissioned through Officer Candidate School, he served with the U.S. Army’s 322nd Combat Engineer Battalion of the 97th Infantry Division, was wounded twice, and earned both the Silver S...

On this episode of Our American Stories, decades before Orson Welles’s  War of the Worlds  shocked the nation, a New York newspaper convinced thousands of Americans that the Moon was teeming with life. Beginning on August 25, 1835,  The Sun  published a sensational series claiming that famed English astronomer Sir John Herschel had discovered a lunar civilization populate...

On this episode of Our American Stories, when one of his graduate students challenged a 92 on an assignment, Paul Kotz was frustrated. The student questioned his grading, his judgment, and, for a moment, even his love of teaching. But instead of firing off another email, Kotz picked up the phone. Paul shares the story of the conversation that followed, which had little to do with grades and everyt...

On this episode of Our American Stories, as industrial America surged forward in the late 19th century, millions of farmers and working Americans felt left behind by falling crop prices, mounting debt, and economic upheaval. Into that unrest stepped William Jennings Bryan, a fiery young politician from Nebraska whose famous “Cross of Gold” speech in Chicago transformed him into the lea...

On this episode of Our American Stories, a late-night mistake changed Gwen Boyd-Willis’s life in 2005. After serving her time, she did everything people say you’re supposed to do took responsibility, earned a degree, rebuilt her life, and kept trying to move forward. But every background check brought the same answer: no. In this installment of our  Opportunity America  serie...

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before baseball became America’s pastime, soldiers carried the game with them into war. On the battlefield of Battle of Shiloh, one of the bloodiest clashes of the American Civil War, a forgotten baseball was discovered years later buried amid the history of combat and sacrifice. Our American Stories  regular contributor Ashley Hlebinsky sha...

On this episode of Our American Stories, before becoming television’s legendary Marshal Matt Dillon on  Gunsmoke , James Arness was a towering young infantryman fighting through some of the fiercest combat of World War II. Wounded during the brutal fighting at Battle of Anzio, Arness nearly lost his leg and spent almost a year recovering in military hospitals before earning a Bronze Sta...

On this episode of Our American Stories, minister, newspaper editor, and abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy believed the Bible demanded opposition to slavery, and he was unwilling to stay silent about it. Through his anti-slavery newspaper, Lovejoy condemned slavery’s brutality, defended freedom of the press, and challenged a nation increasingly divided over one of its greatest injustices. In this...

On this episode of Our American Stories, on November 5, 2021, a funeral service was held for Colin Powell at Washington National Cathedral. Powell died at age 84 from complications related to COVID-19 while undergoing treatment for cancer. In this moving tribute, his son, Michael Powell, shares heartfelt reflections on his father’s life, character, and legacy. Support the show ( https://www....

On this episode of Our American Stories, former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick entered the NFL as the No. 1 overall draft pick and quickly became one of football’s biggest stars, redefining the quarterback position with his speed, athleticism, and electrifying style of play. But after his involvement in a dogfighting operation led to prison time and public disgrace, Vick was forced...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Ian Rowe grew up in a Jamaican immigrant family that believed deeply in education, hard work, and the promise of America. So when his Queens junior high school rapidly became all black after white families pulled their children out, his parents assumed the better opportunity lay elsewhere. But twelve-year-old Ian disagreed, and refused to accept the idea th...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Nile Kinnick transformed a struggling Iowa Hawkeyes football program through sheer grit, leadership, and one extraordinary season that earned him college football’s highest honor, the Heisman Trophy. But after becoming one of the biggest stars in American sports, Kinnick turned away from professional football, pursued law, and ultimately answered the...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Colonel David Hackworth was a soldier’s soldier. He fought in the Korean War, commanded troops in the Vietnam War, and earned more than 90 awards for valor, making him one of the most decorated military figures in American history. But his legacy extends beyond medals and citations. In Vietnam, Hackworth became known for his bold leadership, unconvent...

On this episode of Our American Stories, retired U.S. Navy Captain Mike McDaniel takes us back to the day he was a third-grade boy sitting on his bed when his mother told him his father had been shot down during the Vietnam War. His father was Eugene “Red” McDaniel, the famed Navy pilot who disappeared on his 81st combat mission and would spend nearly six years as a prisoner of war in...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Tim Harford, author of the bestselling book  Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy , shares the stories behind three transformative innovations: concrete, the LLC (limited liability company), and the index fund. From the concrete that built our cities, to the LLC that revolutionized business ownership, to the index fund that reshaped investin...

On this episode of Our American Stories, George Washington is correctly remembered as America’s first  real  president, but under the nation’s original government, another man held the title years earlier: John Hanson. Historian, bestselling author, and  Our American Stories  regular contributor Christopher Klein shares the surprising story of the forgotten Maryland...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Jeremy Lott never got the chance to hear his daughter cry, watch her crawl, or hold her for the life he and his wife had imagined. Diagnosed in the womb with a rare fatal condition, their daughter, Cecelia, was stillborn in July 2017. Yet during her short life before birth, she danced to Irish music, responded to familiar voices, and left an unforgettable m...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Vince Lombardi transformed the Green Bay Packers into a dynasty and helped turn football into a symbol of discipline, leadership, and the American experience. But behind the championships, the famous speeches, and the legendary Green Bay sweep was a far more complicated man shaped by faith, family, ambition, and struggle. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist D...

On this episode of Our American Stories, after leaving  Lonestar , John Rich found himself back in Nashville trying to rebuild his country music career from scratch. The future Big & Rich star kept writing songs, navigating the highs and lows of the Nashville music scene, and slowly discovered the sound that would help make him one of country music’s most recognizable voices. Rich s...