Our American Stories
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- 13. Nov. 2026
Über den Podcast
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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Frederick Douglass: The Faith and Fight of an American Abolitionist
On this episode of Our American Stories, Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland, where even learning to read was considered an act of defiance. As a young boy, he secretly pieced together an …
Shownotes
On this episode of Our American Stories, Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland, where even learning to read was considered an act of defiance. As a young boy, he secretly pieced together an education from spelling books, discarded newspapers, and lessons exchanged with white children on the streets of Baltimore. The more he read, the more he understood the cruelty of the system that held him captive. His growing Christian faith strengthened his conviction that slavery was wrong, and a brutal confrontation with the notorious slave breaker Edward Covey awakened in him a determination never again to submit without a fight.
Actor Kyle Taylor brings Frederick Douglass's extraordinary story to life through the abolitionist's own words in a performance drawn from No Turning Back. We'd like to thank the folks at Vision Video for allowing us access to this audio.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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Kapitel (4)
The One Word That Made FDR’s “Day of Infamy” Speech Historic
On this episode of Our American Stories, on Sunday, December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was working in the White House when news arrived that Japanese planes had attacked the American naval base …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, on Sunday, December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was working in the White House when news arrived that Japanese planes had attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. The nation was stunned, its Pacific Fleet devastated, and the United States suddenly faced the prospect of entering World War II. With his regular speechwriters away in New York, Roosevelt called in his secretary, Grace Tully, and began dictating the words he would deliver before Congress the following day. Among his handwritten revisions was a small change that would give the speech its place in American history: December 7 would be remembered as "a date which will live in infamy."
Our own Lee Habeeb tells the story behind one of the most consequential presidential addresses in American history. In just 518 words, delivered in a matter of minutes, Roosevelt captured the nation's grief and anger, called for a declaration of war against Japan, and helped rally millions of Americans for the enormous struggle that lay ahead.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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Thomas Dorsey and the Tragedy Behind “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”
On this episode of Our American Stories, Thomas A. Dorsey grew up in a religious home in Georgia but made his name playing blues and jazz in Chicago, working with performers such as Ma Rainey while developing a …
Shownotes
On this episode of Our American Stories, Thomas A. Dorsey grew up in a religious home in Georgia but made his name playing blues and jazz in Chicago, working with performers such as Ma Rainey while developing a new style of sacred music rooted in the sounds of Black American life. At first, many churches wanted nothing to do with it. By the early 1930s, however, Dorsey was helping transform gospel music in Chicago and beyond.
Dorsey’s life changed in 1932 when his wife died in childbirth, and their newborn son died soon afterward. Overcome with grief, Dorsey sat down at a piano and began composing what would become one of the greatest gospel songs ever written: “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” Robert Marovich, founder and editor of the Journal of Gospel Music, shares the story.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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The Note a Dad Wrote for His Daughter Who Sees the World Her Own Way
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Jeff Katz wrote a birthday note to his daughter Julia, he was marking a moment she would not recognize. Julia lives with global developmental delays, and her days …
Shownotes
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Jeff Katz wrote a birthday note to his daughter Julia, he was marking a moment she would not recognize. Julia lives with global developmental delays, and her days move with a rhythm that has stayed the same for years. Still, the note gave Jeff a place to set down what life with her has looked like, from the small routines she loves to the concerns he quietly carries.
As he reads it aloud, he reflects on how raising Julia has shaped him in ways he never expected.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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From the Battle of Fallujah to the Battle for My Soul
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 …
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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 storySupport the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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A Vietnam Veteran, an Eyepatch, and the Quiet Power of Carrying On
On this episode of Our American Stories, in Abilene, Texas, Jay Moore has made a name telling the kind of stories that stay with you. None has stayed longer than the story of Dennis Holt, a quiet man with an …
Shownotes
On this episode of Our American Stories, in Abilene, Texas, Jay Moore has made a name telling the kind of stories that stay with you. None has stayed longer than the story of Dennis Holt, a quiet man with an eyepatch and a grin that seemed to outlast everything. At twenty-one, Dennis volunteered for a dangerous gunner’s post in the middle of a jungle fight and barely made it home alive. Years later, Jay rode beside him in pickup trucks and watched him build houses, joke easily, and live with gratitude instead of bitterness.
Jay joins us to tell the story of the man behind the eyepatch.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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Why Henry Gunther Was the Final Casualty of WWI
On this episode of Our American Stories, The First World War ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. But not before one last man fell. His name was Henry Gunther, and he died just moments …
Shownotes
On this episode of Our American Stories, The First World War ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. But not before one last man fell. His name was Henry Gunther, and he died just moments before peace officially began. Why he charged forward, and how his death came to symbolize the senselessness of war's final moments, is a story often overlooked.
Craig Du Mez of the Grateful Nation Project shares the true story of Henry and the motivations that ultimately led him to become the last American casualty of a war that had already ended in words, but not yet in action.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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Remembering The USS Indianapolis: The Worst Naval Disaster in American History
On this episode of Our American Stories, the USS Indianapolis left Guam in July 1945 after delivering critical cargo connected to the Manhattan Project. But before she could make it to her next destination, a …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, the USS Indianapolis left Guam in July 1945 after delivering critical cargo connected to the Manhattan Project. But before she could make it to her next destination, a Japanese submarine would strike the cruiser, leaving hundreds of sailors and Marines sinking in shark infested waters. While the story gained popularity from Jaws, the details itself are more harrowing from the men who lived through it.
The story later reached a wider audience through Jaws, but the details come from men who lived through it. The late Edgar Harrell, the last surviving Marine from the downed ship, shares the real-life story of that fateful day.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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The Origins of the Veterans Day Symbols That Still Unite Us
On this episode of Our American Stories, the story of Veterans Day began with silence. When the guns of World War I finally stopped, the world gathered to mark peace on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day …
Shownotes
On this episode of Our American Stories, the story of Veterans Day began with silence. When the guns of World War I finally stopped, the world gathered to mark peace on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day. Over time, that single moment grew into a holiday that now honors all who have worn the uniform.
Anne Clare, a regular contributor to Our American Stories, explains how the day’s symbols, like the blue and gold colors and the bright poppy blooms, came to carry so much meaning.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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How the Hamburger Became an American Staple
On this episode of Our American Stories, before it became a greasy icon or a late-night craving, the hamburger was an immigrant invention trying to make itself useful. German farmers working the fairgrounds …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, before it became a greasy icon or a late-night craving, the hamburger was an immigrant invention trying to make itself useful. German farmers working the fairgrounds needed something fast and portable, so someone tucked spiced beef between slices of bread, and the hamburger was born. It wasn’t fancy, but it worked. Then came Upton Sinclair, whose book The Jungle made the public retch and nearly killed the hamburger altogether. Only after White Castle stepped in to clean up its image did Americans start trusting it again.
George Motz, the documentarian behind Hamburger America, walks us through how one modest sandwich clawed its way into our national identity.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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The Green Beret Who Led a Rescue Into Vietnam’s “Valley of the Tigers”
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1968, 22-year-old Green Beret Tom Ross was serving as an intelligence and operations officer in South Vietnam when three Montagnard tribesmen arrived at an outpost …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1968, 22-year-old Green Beret Tom Ross was serving as an intelligence and operations officer in South Vietnam when three Montagnard tribesmen arrived at an outpost asking for help. Their village had spent years under Viet Cong control, and one of the men, Mong Quang, feared his wife and children would be killed if he returned without help.
Ross, author of Privileges of War: A Good Story of American Service in Vietnam, shares the story of how he and his fellow servicemen organized a dangerous rescue mission deep into enemy territory, eventually bringing roughly 165 villagers to safety. We'd like to thank the Atlanta History Center for allowing us access to this audio, originally a part of their ongoing Veterans History Project.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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Alvin York: The Pacifist Marksman Who Became an American War Hero
On this episode of Our American Stories, Alvin York grew up poor in the hills of Tennessee, with little formal education but extraordinary skill with a rifle. After years of drinking and fighting, a religious …
Shownotes
On this episode of Our American Stories, Alvin York grew up poor in the hills of Tennessee, with little formal education but extraordinary skill with a rifle. After years of drinking and fighting, a religious conversion transformed his life. He became a church elder and a pacifist, and when the United States drafted him during World War I, York struggled deeply with whether his Christian faith allowed him to kill.
Historian Elliott Drago of the Jack Miller Center shares the story of how York resolved that conflict, went to France, and became one of the most celebrated American soldiers of the war after capturing 132 German prisoners during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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Colin Powell: The Man Behind the General, the Diplomat, and the Leader
On this episode of Our American Stories, Colin Powell was a four-star general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of State. But behind the titles was a man defined by humility, discipline …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, Colin Powell was a four-star general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of State. But behind the titles was a man defined by humility, discipline, humor, and deep loyalty to those around him. Leslie Lautenslager, who worked alongside Powell for more than 25 years, shares personal stories that reveal the man few saw publicly, from his quiet acts of kindness to the values that guided his life and leadership.
Reading from her book, My Time with General Colin Powell, she gives an intimate portrait of the man behind the stars.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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The German WWI Veteran Who Helped Build America’s Arsenal of Democracy
On this episode of Our American Stories, as a young German soldier in World War I, Wilhelm Bistner cared for the horses that pulled artillery into battle against Russia. Years later, he immigrated to the United …
Shownotes
On this episode of Our American Stories, as a young German soldier in World War I, Wilhelm Bistner cared for the horses that pulled artillery into battle against Russia. Years later, he immigrated to the United States, became William Burtner, and put his skills as a tool-and-die maker to work in one of the fastest-changing industries in America: aviation.
Our regular contributor Robert Frohlich shares the story of his grandfather, who worked with companies including Sikorsky, Republic, Chance Vought, and EDO Aircraft before helping expand wartime aircraft production during World War II.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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The Supreme Court Lawyer Who Left Law to Open a Mustard Museum
On this episode of Our American Stories, Barry Levinson was once the head of Wisconsin’s Criminal Appeals Division, arguing cases before the United States Supreme Court. Then the Boston Red Sox lost the 1986 …
Shownotes
On this episode of Our American Stories, Barry Levinson was once the head of Wisconsin’s Criminal Appeals Division, arguing cases before the United States Supreme Court. Then the Boston Red Sox lost the 1986 World Series, and a sleepless trip to a grocery store somehow sent his life in an entirely different direction: he started collecting mustard.
Levinson tells how that unlikely obsession eventually became the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wisconsin, home to more than 6,000 mustards from around the world. Along the way, he shares the Supreme Court victory he credits to a jar of mustard in his pocket, the history and variety of one of the world’s oldest condiments, and why he remains perfectly happy spending his days surrounded by mustard.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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The Speech That Gave the Cold War Its “Iron Curtain”
On this episode of Our American Stories, eight months after British voters turned Winston Churchill out of office, the former prime minister received an unlikely invitation from Westminster College in Fulton …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, eight months after British voters turned Winston Churchill out of office, the former prime minister received an unlikely invitation from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. A handwritten note from President Harry Truman offering to introduce him helped seal the deal, and on March 5, 1946, Churchill arrived in America’s heartland as a private citizen with a warning about the world taking shape after World War II.
Dr. Larry P. Arnn, president of Hillsdale College and a leading Churchill scholar, shares the story behind Churchill's all-important Sinews of Peace speech.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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We're Holding Our Own: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
On this episode of Our American Stories, the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in November 1975 shocked the nation and inspired one of the most haunting songs of the decade. The 729-foot freighter disappeared …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in November 1975 shocked the nation and inspired one of the most haunting songs of the decade. The 729-foot freighter disappeared during a fierce Lake Superior storm, leaving behind questions that still echo through Great Lakes history.
Ric Mixter, a maritime historian and diver who has explored the wreck, shares what made the Edmund Fitzgerald unique and how its story became a part of 1970s American history. Through Mixter’s firsthand perspective, we revisit the night the freighter went down and the legacy it left on the world of shipping and song.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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The Woman the Nazis Called the Most Dangerous Spy in the World
On this episode of Our American Stories, during the darkest years of World War II, a woman from Baltimore slipped behind enemy lines with a fake passport, a limp, and a mission that would alter the course of …
Shownotes
On this episode of Our American Stories, during the darkest years of World War II, a woman from Baltimore slipped behind enemy lines with a fake passport, a limp, and a mission that would alter the course of the war. Her name was Virginia Hall, and the Gestapo called her “the most dangerous of all Allied spies.” Working for the Office of Strategic Services, she built resistance networks across France, trained fighters, and smuggled intelligence to London while evading capture again and again.
Judy Pearson, author of the bestselling book Wolves at the Door: The True Story Of America's Greatest Female Spy, shares the story of how one woman with a wooden leg and an unbreakable will became a symbol of courage in a world ruled by fear.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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Paralyzed and Broke, John Clay Wolfe Reinvented the Used Car Business
On this episode of Our American Stories, John Clay Wolfe had already built a successful career in the car business when his life began to come apart. His marriage collapsed, a motocross accident left him …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, John Clay Wolfe had already built a successful career in the car business when his life began to come apart. His marriage collapsed, a motocross accident left him paralyzed, and then he discovered that millions of dollars had disappeared from his companies while he was unable to keep a close eye on the business.
Wolfe, founder of GiveMeTheVin.com and host of The John Clay Wolfe Show, tells how he fought his way back by combining radio with an unusual idea: buying cars sight unseen directly from the public. What began as a workaround for a man who could no longer get to the auctions grew into one of the largest car-wholesale businesses in the world.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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What Happened When a City Girl Moved to a Mississippi Farm
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Jake Keiser left city life behind and moved to a farm outside Oxford, Mississippi, she was not quite prepared for what came next. One neighbor arrived on a tractor …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, when Jake Keiser left city life behind and moved to a farm outside Oxford, Mississippi, she was not quite prepared for what came next. One neighbor arrived on a tractor to explain the property lines. Another pulled up on a four-wheeler with a dog and a pie from Piggly Wiggly. Then a third insisted on taking her to dinner because leaving a new neighbor alone on her first night simply would not be neighborly.
Keiser, author of Daffodil Hill: Uprooting My Life, Buying a Farm, and Learning to Bloom, shares the funny culture shock story of learning what country life is really all about.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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Red Cloud’s War: How One Native Leader Defeated the U.S. Army
On this episode of Our American Stories, Red Cloud was born fatherless on the Great Plains in 1821 and rose through courage, intelligence, and skill to become one of the most powerful Oglala leaders of the 19th …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, Red Cloud was born fatherless on the Great Plains in 1821 and rose through courage, intelligence, and skill to become one of the most powerful Oglala leaders of the 19th century. As settlers, miners, and soldiers pushed farther west, he brought together warriors from different Sioux bands and allied tribes to resist the growing American presence in their territory.
Authors Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, authors of the New York Times bestseller The Heart of Everything That Is, tell how Red Cloud waged a relentless guerrilla war against the U.S. Army, destroyed Captain William Fetterman’s command, and eventually forced the government to negotiate the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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Killing Sparrows for Shoes? One Family’s Story from the Great Depression
On this episode of Our American Stories, during the Great Depression, millions of Americans faced hunger, unemployment, and poverty. Families across the United States found inventive ways to survive when jobs …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, during the Great Depression, millions of Americans faced hunger, unemployment, and poverty. Families across the United States found inventive ways to survive when jobs disappeared and banks failed. In Iowa, one family turned to canning corn, repairing old shoes, and biking from farm to farm to kill sparrows, a job that paid just enough to get by.
Our regular contributor Joy Neal Kidney shares a Depression-era story passed down through her family, offering a glimpse into what life was like in the 1930s. Be sure to check out Joy's great book Leora's Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression for more stories like this one.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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Brownie Wise: The Woman Who Made Tupperware a Household Name
On this episode of Our American Stories, Brownie Wise didn't invent Tupperware, but she turned it into an American institution. A single mother with little formal education, Wise discovered a talent for direct …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, Brownie Wise didn't invent Tupperware, but she turned it into an American institution. A single mother with little formal education, Wise discovered a talent for direct sales and eventually convinced inventor Earl Tupper to take his plastic containers out of department stores and sell them through parties held in American homes: Tupperware parties.
Mary Lisa Gavenas tells how Wise rose to become Tupperware's vice president of sales, built a nationwide army of mostly female sellers, and transformed the Tupperware party into a cultural phenomenon of 1950s America. But after landing on the cover of Business Week and becoming increasingly identified with the company's success, Wise was abruptly fired in 1958 and largely erased from the history of the business she had helped build.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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One of the First Vietnam POWs: Larry Spencer’s Hanoi Hilton Story
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Navy pilot Larry Spencer was captured in North Vietnam, he entered a world that few Americans would ever see. He spent years as a prisoner of war, first in a camp …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, when Navy pilot Larry Spencer was captured in North Vietnam, he entered a world that few Americans would ever see. He spent years as a prisoner of war, first in a camp called “The Zoo” and later in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. Survival meant finding strength in small moments and holding on to hope that freedom would come again.
Spencer tells his story in his own words, offering a rare and personal account of what it meant to live and survive inside North Vietnam’s most notorious prison.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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Dan Sickles: The Civil War General Who Donated His Own Leg to a Museum
On this episode of Our American Stories, Dan Sickles lived the kind of life that sounds almost invented. The New York politician murdered his wife’s lover, Philip Barton Key, just blocks from the White House …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, Dan Sickles lived the kind of life that sounds almost invented. The New York politician murdered his wife’s lover, Philip Barton Key, just blocks from the White House and then became the first defendant in American history to successfully use a temporary-insanity defense. A few years later, the Civil War gave the disgraced congressman an unlikely second act.
Gettysburg National Military Park Ranger Matt Atkinson tells how Sickles raised a brigade for the Union, rose to major general, lost his right leg at Gettysburg, and donated the amputated limb to the Army Medical Museum.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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An Iowa Waitress, a Pilot, and a Family at War
On this episode of Our American Stories, Doris Wilson was working as a waitress in Perry, Iowa, when news of the attack on Pearl Harbor interrupted the music playing in the restaurant. Before long, all five of …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, Doris Wilson was working as a waitress in Perry, Iowa, when news of the attack on Pearl Harbor interrupted the music playing in the restaurant. Before long, all five of her brothers were serving in the military, and the young Iowa woman found herself headed to Texas after marrying Warren Neal, a farmer turned Army Air Forces pilot and flight instructor.
Their new life at the Marfa Army Air Base brought crowded wartime housing, officers’ luncheons, long hours, and one aqua formal gown that made Doris feel like Cinderella at the opening of the Officers Club. But behind the dances and letters home was a family paying an enormous price for the war. Our regular contributor Joy Neal Kidney shares her mother’s story. Joy is the author of Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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The First Man to Die in a Plane Crash
On this episode of Our American Stories, before air travel became routine, flight was a dangerous experiment. In 1908, Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge climbed into a fragile biplane beside Orville Wright, ready to test …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, before air travel became routine, flight was a dangerous experiment. In 1908, Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge climbed into a fragile biplane beside Orville Wright, ready to test the limits of a new invention that had barely left the ground. When a propeller snapped midair, the airplane crashed near Fort Myer, Virginia. Wright survived with severe injuries; Selfridge did not, becoming the first man to die in a plane crash and marking the beginning of a new chapter in the history of aviation. His sacrifice helped shape the safety standards that would guide every flight thereafter.
Craig Du Mez of the Grateful Nation Project shares the story that defined the earliest days of the sky.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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The German Immigrant Who Became New York’s Queen of Thieves
On this episode of Our American Stories, Frederica Mandelbaum arrived in New York from Germany in 1850 with her husband, infant daughter, and very little money. She began by selling lace door-to-door on the …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, Frederica Mandelbaum arrived in New York from Germany in 1850 with her husband, infant daughter, and very little money. She began by selling lace door-to-door on the Lower East Side, but poverty and limited opportunities soon pushed the ambitious immigrant toward a very different kind of business: buying stolen goods and reselling them for a profit.
Marguerite Fox, former New York Times obituary writer and author of The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum, shares how Frederica built one of the most powerful criminal networks of Gilded Age New York before one tiny strip of stolen silk finally brought her empire crashing down.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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I Picked Up “Tex” Watson Hitchhiking AFTER the Manson Murders
On this episode of Our American Stories, after the Tate–LaBianca murders, Charles “Tex” Watson vanished—just not right away. For nearly two months, he remained in Los Angeles as the city searched for those …
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On this episode of Our American Stories, after the Tate–LaBianca murders, Charles “Tex” Watson vanished—just not right away. For nearly two months, he remained in Los Angeles as the city searched for those responsible. That’s where this story begins.
Our American Stories listener Patty Kingsbaker recounts the day she unknowingly gave a ride to Manson’s most loyal killer, unaware she was sitting just feet from one of the most wanted men in the country.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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The 14-Year-Old Farm Boy Who Invented Television
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1921, 14-year-old Philo Farnsworth was working a field on his family’s farm in Idaho when the neat rows stretching out behind him gave him an idea. What if a picture …
Shownotes
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1921, 14-year-old Philo Farnsworth was working a field on his family’s farm in Idaho when the neat rows stretching out behind him gave him an idea. What if a picture could be broken into lines, transmitted electronically, and reassembled somewhere else? The farm boy had begun imagining the technology that would become electronic television.
Daniel Stashower, author of The Boy Genius and the Mogul: The Untold Story of Television, shares the story of how Farnsworth pursued that idea from rural Idaho to laboratories in California, eventually finding himself in a patent battle with David Sarnoff and the enormous Radio Corporation of America.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
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