Our American Stories

On this episode of Our American Stories, Cliff Shiepe was working his dream job on the backlot of Disney when his body began to fail. A series of unexplained fevers sent him from studio sets to his childhood bedroom, where he would spend the next decade bedridden. Doctors couldn’t explain what was happening. Most people would have given up. Cliff didn’t. He leaned on his faith, the unwavering care of his mother, and a quiet hope that healing was still possible.

Cliff joins us to share his remarkable story. Cliff's book is Cliff Falls: The Missing Pieces. Be sure to check it out!

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On this episode of Our American Stories, William A. Scott III went to war for a country that still treated him as a second-class citizen. Drafted into the segregated U.S. Army in 1943, the young Morehouse College photographer served with an all-Black combat engineer battalion as Patton's Third Army pushed across Europe. Then came an assignment Scott could never have prepared for: Buchenwald.

Scott had seen Army films depicting Nazi atrocities and dismissed them as propaganda. At Buchenwald, he discovered they were horrifyingly real. Camera in hand, Scott began documenting what he saw until the depravity around him became almost too much to photograph. Historian Rona Simmons, author of The Other Veterans of World War II: Stories from Behind the Front Lines, shares the story of the Black soldier who bore witness to the Holocaust and returned home to join another fight for equality in America.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in February 1860, Abraham Lincoln traveled to New York City with something to prove. The country was tearing itself apart over slavery, and Lincoln believed he could demonstrate that those demanding its expansion had misunderstood the very Founders they claimed to defend. So the Illinois lawyer did what he knew best: he built a case. After months spent studying the votes and writings of the men who framed the Constitution, Lincoln took the stage at Cooper Union and laid out his evidence.

The speech helped turn Lincoln into a national political figure and propelled him toward the presidency later that year. Vince Benedetto of Bold Gold Media shares the story of the Cooper Union Address.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Fernando Arroyo knew exactly what he wanted to do after watching the September 11 attacks unfold from his high school classroom. Within weeks, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and volunteered for the 82nd Airborne Division. By 19, Arroyo was fighting in Fallujah, where his first combat mission ended with him killing an insurgent and confronting a question that would follow him home: What kind of man had war made him?

After three combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Arroyo returned home carrying nightmares, anger, and a loss of purpose he couldn't escape. Eventually, with a gun in his mouth, he asked God for help. What happened next began a long road through counseling, faith, and a new calling to serve fellow veterans. Fernando Arroyo, author of The Shadow of Death: From My Battles in Fallujah to the Battle for My Soul, shares his story

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On this episode of Our American Stories, when automobiles first took over American roads, drivers had speed but few of the rules we now take for granted. Roads often had no marked lanes, traffic laws varied from place to place, and thousands were dying in crashes each year. Then a handful of Americans began experimenting with an extraordinarily simple solution: paint a line down the middle of the road.

The History Guy tells the surprising story of Edward Hines, whose inspiration may have come from a leaking milk truck, and the decades-long effort to turn a stripe of paint into one of the most universal safety features on the American road.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Ralph Stayer had built Johnsonville Sausage into a tremendous success, but the wealth that came with it left him deeply uncomfortable. Raised Catholic, he couldn't shake Christ's warning about the difficulty of a rich man entering heaven. He prayed about giving his money away, moving into a small apartment, or leaving everything behind to serve others.

Then one afternoon, Stayer read about a Johnsonville employee who had traveled to Hong Kong to adopt a child with special needs. In that moment, he says, the answer finally came. Stayer shares the story.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Dr. Seuss believed children could spot a sermon coming from a mile away. That's why the author behind How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and The Lorax worked so carefully to give his stories moral weight without talking down to his young readers. The Grinch reflected Seuss's own complicated relationship with consumerism after years spent working in advertising, while The Lorax grew out of his anger over development around his California home and his belief that people had a responsibility to care for the world around them.

Brian Jay Jones, author of Becoming Dr. Seuss, shares the story of how Theodor Geisel used two of his most famous characters to explore materialism, redemption, responsibility, and the power each person has to make things better.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, the summer of 1941 belonged to two of baseball's greatest hitters. Ted Williams entered the final day of the season batting .39955. Rather than protect a mark that would have rounded to .400, he played both games of a doubleheader, went six for eight, and finished at .406. No major leaguer has hit .400 since.

Yet even Williams' season was overshadowed by what Joe DiMaggio was doing in New York. For 56 straight games, the Yankees star refused to go hitless as radio stations interrupted their programming to tell Americans whether the streak was still alive. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist George Will tells the story of DiMaggio, Williams, and an unforgettable baseball season played in the gathering shadow of America's entry into World War II.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Christine Handy had spent most of her life in front of a camera. She began modeling at 11 and eventually landed campaigns with Pepsi, J.Crew, Petco, and Target. But as her career grew, Christine's sense of worth became tied almost entirely to how she looked. Then a routine wrist surgery went terribly wrong. A missed infection left the bones in her wrist destroyed and her right arm permanently fused. Before she could adjust to her new life, Christine found a lump in her breast.

The diagnosis was an aggressive form of breast cancer. Christine decided she wanted to give up, but her friends refused to let her. Christine herself shares how friendship and faith gave her a reason to keep fighting and ultimately transformed a life built around appearance into one devoted to serving others.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, he helped fight for America’s freedom, then shaped the city that would represent it. Pierre Charles L’Enfant designed Washington, D.C. with intention: circles, lines, and avenues that all meant something. But what began as a grand commission ended in conflict. L’Enfant’s refusal to give up control led to his removal. The plan moved on without him, and for years, so did history.

Constituting America's award-winning student historian, Wyatt Hensley, shares the story of a designer with a vision too strong for his time, and how it still lives on in the streets of the capital.

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