Our American Stories

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 ...

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 Ki...

On this episode of Our American Stories, America entered World War I late, but its arrival helped change the course of the conflict. By the fall of 1918, more than a million American soldiers were fighting through the Argonne Forest as Allied forces pushed Germany toward collapse. On November 11, the guns finally fell silent. The United States and its allies had won the Great War, but deciding what should come next would prove far ...

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 2017, Rhode Island grower Joe Jutras set a world record with a green squash weighing 2,118 pounds, earning a place among the largest fruits and vegetables ever grown. Reaching that milestone took years of experimenting with soil science and meticulous care from planting to harvest.

Joe explains how patience, timing, and an understanding of growth cycles can turn an ordinary garden ...

On this episode of Our American Stories, you may not know Tommy Tedesco’s name, but chances are you know his guitar. As one of the most in-demand session musicians in Los Angeles, Tedesco played on thousands of recordings, working with artists including the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Mamas & the Papas, and countless others. He was also part of the loose collection of studio musicians later known as the ...

On this episode of Our American Stories, for generations of Boston Red Sox fans, heartbreak became part of the experience. After winning the World Series in 1918, the team sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees and went 86 years without another championship, enduring crushing losses in 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986, and again in 2003.

Boston Red Sox writer Sean McAdam tells how the so-called Curse of the Bambino took hold, and how ...

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1657, Governor Peter Stuyvesant ordered residents of New Netherland to help enforce his campaign against religious dissenters, especially Quakers. Thirty residents of Flushing refused. In a petition now known as the Flushing Remonstrance, they declared that they would not persecute peaceful people simply because they worshiped differently.

Larry Reed, President Emeritus of the Foun...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Deborah Sampson wanted to serve her country, but women were barred from joining the Continental Army. So in 1782, the Massachusetts woman put on men’s clothing, enlisted under the name Robert Shurtliff, and began a remarkable military career while trying to keep her true identity hidden.

Marilyn Gilbert Komechak, author of Deborah Sampson: The Girl Who Went to W...

On this episode of Our American Stories, why do police departments in different parts of the country operate so differently? Former LAPD Sergeant Bob Alaniz argues that the answer goes back to two competing traditions: reactive policing, rooted in Sir Robert Peel’s 19th-century model, and the more proactive style that came to define law enforcement in Los Angeles and much of the American West.

Alaniz explains the diffe...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Francesca Cabrini dreamed of becoming a missionary in China. Instead, Pope Leo XIII sent the Italian nun west to the United States, where thousands of Italian immigrants were struggling with poverty, discrimination, dangerous work, and life in a country whose language many did not yet speak.

Claudia Cangilla McAdam, author of Mother Cabrini: A Heart for the World, sha...

On this episode of Our American Stories, you’ve probably heard that during his famous midnight ride through the Massachusetts countryside to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock of the impending British occupation of Lexington and Concord, Paul Revere shouted, “The British are coming!” But that’s not quite true.

Sabrina Bhattacharjya, a 14-year-old history enthusiast and founder of Lex250, shares the re...

On this episode of Our American Stories, by the late 1950s, something was happening at Malibu. Surfboards were getting lighter and faster, the waves were crowded with a new generation of riders, and a loose fraternity of beach bums, craftsmen, competitors, and characters was beginning to create a culture that would soon spread far beyond the California coast.

Our regular contributor Roger McGrath returns with the story of su...

On this episode of Our American Stories, for veterans struggling with PTSD, stress, or simply the difficulty of quieting the mind, sometimes a guitar can provide a few hours of peace. GuitarsforVets.org pairs veterans with free guitar lessons, patient instructors, and, eventually, an instrument of their own.

Veterans and volunteers share how learning to play can build confidence, create community, and offer a welcome escape ...

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1803, Thomas Jefferson sent Robert Livingston and James Monroe to France hoping to secure New Orleans. Instead, Napoleon offered them something far bigger: the entire Louisiana Territory. For $15 million, the United States acquired roughly 800,000 square miles in one of the largest land deals in history.

Hillsdale College’s Brad and Dedra Birzer explain how the Haitian Revolu...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Millions of Americans first learned about the tragic fate of the USS Indianapolis from Quint's famous monologue in Spielberg's 1975 classic, Jaws. While the film certainly took some liberties with her story, one part remained sadly true. After the war, Captain Charles B. McVay III, a decorated and experienced combat veteran, was court-martialed for failing to zigzag and spent the rest of his...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Andrew Thompson, our regular contributor, returns with another installment of our ongoing series exploring the curious origins of everyday expressions.

Drawing from his bookHair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red: The Curious Origins of Everyday Sayings and Fun Phrases, Andrew explains where familiar sayings such as “white elephant,” “wear your heart o...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Milton Hershey failed again and again before he ever became America's chocolate king. After a struggling candy shop in Philadelphia, bankruptcy, and years spent learning from confectioners around the country, Hershey finally found success with caramels. Then, at the height of that success, he took another enormous gamble: chocolate.

Don Papson of the M.S. Hershey Foundation and Amy Ze...

On this episode of Our American Stories, the director was a renegade filmmaker who'd never made a profitable picture. The producer was hired because he could stay below budget. The star had a reputation for being difficult. A formula for disaster? No, the makings of one of the greatest films of all time.

Here to tell the story is Harlan Lebo, author of The Godfather Legacy.

Support the show (https://www.oura...

On this episode of Our American Stories, growing up in Bloomington, Minnesota, Paul Bauer idolized his oldest brother, Tom, a 6-foot-2 three-sport athlete everyone called “Moose.” When 10-year-old Paul watched his brother bang his head on the basement ductwork, he began ending every bedtime prayer with the same request: “Please, Lord, help me to grow to be as big as Moose.”

Paul eventually grew to 6-f...