Our American Stories

On this episode of Our American Stories, the 1621 Thanksgiving has become one of the most recognizable stories in American culture, but many details we repeat today weren’t part of the original event. What actually happened was shaped by necessity, diplomacy, and the realities both groups faced. The latter holiday developed slowly as Americans looked for shared traditions. Robert Tracy McKenzie, a professor of history at Wheaton College, helps separate fact from myth and explains how the story evolved. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, before it became the fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving was just one of many autumn celebrations scattered across the country. In the mid-1800s, Sarah Josepha Hale, already known for writing “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” saw an opportunity to unite the nation around a shared tradition. For decades, she wrote to governors, editors, and finally President Abraham Lincoln, urging him to declare a national day of thanks. In the midst of the Civil War, Lincoln answered her call. His 1863 proclamation created the Thanksgiving holiday Americans know today, blending food, family, and gratitude into one of the most cherished traditions in the United States. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Thomas Jefferson is America’s “everyman” because he has been embraced at one time or another by nearly everyone. Historian and acclaimed author of American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, Joseph E. Ellis, shared the story of Jefferson’s journey through American history at the U.S. Library of Congress. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, each December, a small volunteer-run “store” opens for families who could use extra help during the holidays. Parents walk through the space like any other shop, choosing toys that fit their kids without paying a cent. Jonathan Mattox, co-chairman of The Christmas Store in Oxford, Mississippi, reflects on how this forty-plus-year tradition grew into one of the community’s most reliable holiday efforts. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, when the Cabbage Patch Kids hit store shelves in 1983, parents felt a pull they hadn’t sensed from a toy before. Crowds formed before sunrise, and the pressure inside those shops grew in a way that felt unfamiliar for the holiday season. What started as a rush for one doll ended up reshaping the way Americans braced for the day after Thanksgiving. Toy historian Jonathan Alexandratos shares the story behind the craze and the shift it set in motion. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, when a group of refugees from Bosnia arrived at her Iowa church, Joy Neal Kidney watched them step carefully into a world that felt nothing like the one they had escaped. One family in particular carried the quiet weariness of people shaped by war, and Joy’s family decided to give them something familiar to hold onto: a Thanksgiving dinner. Joy joins us to tell the story of one remarkable Thanksgiving. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, before he ever wore his trademark hat on the sidelines, Tom Landry was a young man trying to build a future during the hard years of the Depression. He joined the University of Texas football team, flew combat missions in World War Two, and returned home to begin a professional career that brought both recognition and pressure. But even as the wins piled up, he felt a quiet emptiness he could not ignore. When a friend invited him to a Bible study, he went reluctantly—and left with a sense of clarity he had been searching for since childhood. Here’s Tom Landry’s story of faith and football in his own words. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Tony Sarg never set out to become the quiet genius behind one of America’s most cherished traditions, yet his imagination is the reason Thanksgiving morning feels like magic. Long before millions tuned in to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Sarg was busy turning puppetry, engineering, and whimsy into something completely new. His early window displays for Macy’s were so inventive that the store asked him to help shape their holiday parade, and that’s where his upside-down puppets took flight. What we now think of as giant parade balloons began as sketches from a playful mind that loved solving problems and delighting crowds. Here to tell the story is Deborah Sorensen, Curator of Exhibitions at the Nantucket Historical Association, where their exhibition Tony Sarg: Genius at Play is the first comprehensive exhibition exploring the life of Tony Sarg. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Heidi Viars spent her days juggling kids and household chaos, convinced she didn’t have room for much else. Her neighbor, Tom, kept mostly to himself after retiring from the Chicago police force, and the two lived side by side without knowing each other for years. Things shifted the day Heidi slowed down enough to notice he was slipping. One small act of kindness led to another until a simple check-in became something deeper. Their friendship grew in quiet moments, shared rides, and the kind of trust that forms when two people step into each other’s lives at just the right time. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, most Americans grew up thinking Thanksgiving had always fallen on the same Thursday in November. In Lincoln’s time, it was set on the last Thursday of November, and that habit settled in for generations. Then Franklin D. Roosevelt shifted the holiday earlier, hoping that a longer shopping season would lift a struggling Depression-era economy. The change split the country, with some governors following FDR and others keeping the old date, and for a few years, families marked Thanksgiving on different Thursdays depending on where they lived. Melanie Kirkpatrick walks us through why FDR and Thanksgiving became linked to a calendar fight and how Congress finally fixed the holiday on the fourth Thursday of November. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Donna’s daughter Cassie was diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia, everyday life became harder to manage. Donna realized their family needed a different way to live, something that gave Cassie steady structure and gave others with special needs a place to belong. So they opened a resale shop and built it around employment opportunities for special needs adults. What began as a way to help Cassie soon became a workplace where people who often struggle to find special needs employment could feel supported, capable, and needed. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Eisenhower’s name sits on the interstate signs, but Charles Zug wanted to understand whether he truly deserved that place in history. His work traces the creation of the Federal Highway Act and shows how the idea of national road building developed long before Eisenhower reached the White House. Zug explains the moment when the plan finally gained momentum and why the change reshaped daily life across the country. Zug is an Assistant Professor of Constitutional Democracy and Political Science at the University of Missouri, a Jack Miller Center fellow, and the author of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Federal Highway Act. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the early years of the war, the United States was preparing its soldiers and building an army that was not yet ready for a direct fight in Europe. Britain, still recovering from being pushed off the continent, knew it could not return to France without risking another disaster. Both nations wanted to stop Germany, yet neither could strike at its center. The opening they needed appeared in North Africa, a place that allowed them to enter the conflict on land while learning how to operate as partners. Years later, the late historian Stephen Ambrose would trace how this moment taught both nations what cooperation in wartime actually looked like. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Tom Waits has a voice and style that feel carved out of another world, yet many people first meet his work through other artists. One of his earliest songs, “I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love with You,” is a perfect example. It drifted from Waits’ small club beginnings to the radio through bands like 10,000 Maniacs, much like “Downtown Train,” “Ol’ 55,” and other Waits originals that became hits in someone else’s hands. In this Story of a Song, we explore how a simple tune about a missed chance at love became one of Waits’ most quietly enduring pieces. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Chuck Colson once operated at the center of Washington power as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon. Watergate brought that world crashing down, sending him into a federal prison and into a reckoning he never expected. In this final interview before his passing, Colson looks back on the scandal, the time behind bars, and the shift in faith that shaped the rest of his life. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Joy Neal Kidney has always loved Thanksgiving, and it makes perfect sense why. Her family was there at the first one. One branch survived a fall from the Mayflower in the middle of the ocean, and another began with a child who lost both parents before being taken in by a family whose story led straight to that early gathering. Joy shares why the holiday has always felt personal to her. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, for years, Heather McPherson knew only fragments about her great-uncle, a young officer who served with the 29th Division during World War II. His name was Ralph Ferguson, and he was among the Allied troops who landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day. He died soon after during the push inland, one soldier among many lost during the invasion of Europe. When Heather set out to learn more about him, the search grew into something larger. It took her through records of World War II losses, personal accounts from the Normandy landings, and finally to the riverbank where he fell. That personal journey shaped her calling. Today, she works as a curator who protects the stories of the men and women who served, including the one that set her own path in motion. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Abigail Adams was raising her children near Boston when the first major clash of the American Revolution exploded across the harbor. She brought seven-year-old John Quincy to the top of Penn Hill, and they watched the Battle of Bunker Hill in real time. They saw Charlestown burn, heard the cannon fire roll across the water, and felt the fear that swept through families as British soldiers clashed with the colonial army. Robert Morgan, author of 100 Bible Verses That Made America, explains how this moment fit into the growing American Revolution timeline and why the Bible became the source Abigail leaned on as the war for independence closed in on her home. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Henry Ford did not invent the automobile, but he did something far more lasting. He took a rough idea and turned it into a tool that ordinary families could afford and understand. Historian Richard Snow tells the story from its beginning in a small woodshed, where Ford worked through long nights trying to build a machine that could move under its own power. What followed reshaped American travel, industry, and daily life for years to come. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, before audiences knew him from Green Acres, Roman Holiday, or The Heartbreak Kid, Eddie Albert had already survived one of the most brutal battles of World War Two. Historian and Our American Stories regular contributor, Roger McGrath, shares the story of the young actor who paused his rising Hollywood career, joined the Navy, and found himself piloting a landing craft at Tarawa, where thousands of Marines were killed or wounded in only a few days. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.