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Our American Stories: Daily Summaries Delivered
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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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- 5 days ago20 min
The DiMaggio Brothers: Three Ballplayers, One American Dream
On this episode of Our American Stories, Joe DiMaggio became an American icon, but he was only one of three brothers who made it to the major leagues. Raised in a large Italian immigrant family near San Francisco, Vince, Joe, and Dom DiMaggio each defied their father’s hopes that they would become fishermen and instead chased a future in baseball.Four-time New York Times bestselling author Tom Clavin, author of The DiMaggios: Three Brothers, Their Passion for Baseball, Their Pursuit of the American Dream, shares the story of how Vince opened the door, Joe became a Yankees legend, and Dom carved out an All-Star career with the Boston Red Sox. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- 5 days ago9 min
My Dad Never Made Much Money, But He Was a Very Wealthy Man
On this episode of Our American Stories, Chet Leuliette came home from World War II with little money and no high school diploma, but with a determination to build a better life for his family. He sold potato chips, raised his son in a home where money was often scarce, and quietly spent his life helping the people around him.Former automotive executive Tim Leuliette remembers the father who would give up his own lunch so his son could buy the Weekly Reader, helped a child with birth defects receive treatment at a Shriners hospital, and never believed his own wartime wounds merited a Purple Heart when so many of his fellow soldiers had suffered worse. Chet never made more than $20,000 a year, but to Tim, he was one of the wealthiest men he ever knew. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- 5 days ago7 min
When I First Saw a Satellite Cross the Night Sky
On this episode of Our American Stories, Richard Muniz was not yet five years old when heavy rain stranded his family overnight at an old railroad station in the mountains of northern New Mexico. When the storm finally cleared, everyone stepped outside beneath a sky crowded with stars to watch for Echo, one of America’s earliest communications satellites.Richard remembers seeing that tiny point of light move silently across the heavens, while his father explained that some of the starlight above them had begun its journey before Richard was born. In that moment, a little boy’s world suddenly became much bigger, and decades later, the sight of a satellite can still bring him back to that night. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- 5 days ago30 min
The Real Al Capone: Prohibition, Power, and the Making of a Legend
On this episode of Our American Stories, Al Capone became the most famous gangster in America, but Laurence Bergreen argues that his rise would have been almost unimaginable without Prohibition. Born to an Italian immigrant family in Brooklyn, Capone found his opportunity in the vast underground economy created when the government outlawed alcohol, eventually rising to the top of Chicago’s criminal world while cultivating the public image of a businessman and local benefactor.Bergreen, author of Capone: The Man and the Era, separates the man from the legend, tracing Capone’s rise, his conviction for tax evasion, his imprisonment at Alcatraz, and the neurosyphilis that devastated his health. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- 5 days ago7 min
When One Ozarks County Declared Itself the Fifty-First State
On this episode of Our American Stories, in the spring of 1961, McDonald County opened its highway map and discovered that it had simply vanished. The resort towns that depended on summer travelers were nowhere to be found, and what looked like a clerical mistake carried real consequences for the people who lived there. County leaders announced that McDonald County would symbolically secede from Missouri until someone paid attention.Dwight Pogue was a teenager then, watching his neighbors create a makeshift border patrol, hand out mock visas, and treat the whole effort as both a stand and a celebration. Looking back, he remembers how a small county briefly turned itself into its own territory and how that unlikely season brought the community together in a way no one expected. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- 1 weeks ago10 min
The Debate Over Slavery That Changed John Quincy Adams
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1819, as the Missouri Crisis stirred national debate over slavery and westward expansion, a private conversation between John Quincy Adams and John C. Calhoun became something much larger. Calhoun defended slavery as a necessary institution. Adams left the conversation deeply shaken and newly committed to abolition. This moment would fuel his work after the presidency, where he became a leading voice against the Gag Rule and argued for the freedom of the Amistad captives.Historians James Traub and Dr. Robert Elder share how a single exchange shaped one of the most important abolitionist legacies in American politics. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- 1 weeks ago9 min
The Real Chef Boyardee: The Immigrant Who Fed America
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. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- 1 weeks ago17 min
Rudyard Kipling’s Triumphant and Tragic Life Beyond The Jungle Book
On this episode of Our American Stories, Rudyard Kipling became one of the most famous writers of his age, giving the world The Jungle Book, Just So Stories, “Gunga Din,” and “If.” In 1907, he became the youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. But behind that success was a life marked by an abusive childhood, controversy, and devastating loss.The History Guy shares the story of Kipling’s remarkable rise from colonial India to literary fame, the years he spent writing in Vermont, and the deaths of two of his three children, including his son John during World War I. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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About Our American Stories
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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