On this episode of Our American Stories, Tim Leuliette was only 23 when he found himself presenting multimillion-dollar proposals to Lee Iacocca and Henry Ford II at Ford Motor Company. Working in product planning during the 1970s energy crisis meant long nights, five-minute presentations, and learning how to strip away the fluff and get straight to the facts.

Leuliette, who went on to become a prominent automotive executive and turnaround specialist, remembers the lessons, pressure, and occasional practical joke that made working for Lee Iacocca and Ford one of the greatest business educations of his life.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, on March 31, 1870, Thomas Mundy Peterson walked into Perth Amboy City Hall in New Jersey to vote on a local charter. Nothing about the election seemed especially historic. But when Peterson cast his ballot, he became the first Black American known to vote under the protection of the newly ratified 15th Amendment.

Historian Elliott Drago of the Jack Miller Center shares the story of Peterson's vote and the larger struggle it represented. In the years after the Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments forced the country to answer some of its most fundamental questions about freedom, citizenship, and who had the right to participate in American democracy.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1904, A.P. Giannini opened the Bank of Italy in San Francisco for the people other bankers tended to overlook: immigrants, farmers, shopkeepers, and working families. Then, just two years later, the earthquake and fire devastated the city. While San Francisco struggled to get back on its feet, Giannini began lending money to people who needed a chance to rebuild. It was the kind of banking he had imagined from the beginning.

The History Guy and Forbes editor-in-chief Steve Forbes share the astonishing story of how Giannini carried his idea far beyond one neighborhood bank. His willingness to bet on ordinary people would grow the Bank of Italy into the Bank of America, and the same institution that helped San Franciscans rebuild would later help finance the Golden Gate Bridge and Walt Disney's Snow White.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, growing up, Karen Cutler Drecktrah and her sister loved teasing their father, Jim, about his favorite song, "Kentucky Waltz." They had never heard it and were convinced he had confused it with "Tennessee Waltz." Jim insisted the song was real, even though he could no longer remember the words or melody.

Decades later, as 89-year-old Jim struggled with dementia in a Wisconsin hospital, he suddenly began singing a song from his childhood. What happened next would give Karen, her sister, and their father one last happy afternoon together. For our Final Thoughts series, Karen shares her moving story.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Winston Churchill had seen war up close long before he was asked to lead a nation through one. As a young soldier and correspondent, he rode into battle, came under fire, and watched new weapons make killing faster and more devastating. The experience never left him. Churchill spent much of his life warning about the cost of war and searching for ways to prevent another catastrophe.

Then came May 1940. France was collapsing, Nazi Germany was sweeping across Europe, and Britain faced the possibility of standing alone. Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn shares how Churchill’s lifelong study of war, freedom, and human nature prepared him for the decision that would define his life: whether Britain would seek terms or keep fighting.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Tommy DeCarlo’s story feels like a lost lyric from a Boston song. He worked at Home Depot by day and sang their music at night, never expecting anyone to hear him beyond a few friends. Then a homemade recording traveled farther than he ever could have planned. The surviving members of Boston, led by guitarist and founder Tom Scholz, invited him to join the band that had sold more than 75 million albums worldwide. In time, DeCarlo stepped onto the same stages where Brad Delp once sang "Don’t Look Back" and "Smokin’".

Greg Hengler tells the story of a lifelong fan who went from customer service to concert stages, finding himself inside the very sound that shaped his youth.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, pinball’s story winds back to a quiet corner of European parlor culture, where small tabletop games offered a brief challenge to anyone willing to try their luck. Those early ideas eventually migrated to America, where the game weathered citywide crackdowns and the tests of time.

As the tables grew more complex, the machines slipped into public rooms that gave them steady use and helped shape the early world of classic arcade games. Jeremy Saucier of The Strong Museum of Play lays out how that path unfolded and how pinball machines became the fixtures they are today.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Stephen Rusiniak and his wife had always imagined a home filled with children. Then infertility turned that future into a painful uncertainty, and Stephen carried much of the blame himself. He knew he was the reason they were struggling to conceive, but shame and guilt made it difficult to say aloud what he was feeling. One summer night, sitting beside his wife, he finally found the courage to begin the conversation he had been avoiding.

Originally published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Married Life, Stephen shares what happened when he stopped carrying that burden alone.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, when war erupted across Europe in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson promised to keep the United States out of it. For nearly three years, he tried. But German submarine warfare, the sinking of the Lusitania, and repeated attacks on American shipping steadily narrowed the country's options. By the spring of 1917, neutrality was no longer holding. On April 2, Wilson went before Congress and asked for a declaration of war.

As part of our ongoing Story of Us—Story of America series, Dr. Bill McClay, author of Land of Hope, shares the story of how America entered World War I and how the conflict transformed life at home.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.