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.

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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.

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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.

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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, 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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