On this episode of Our American Stories on August Cleveland Indians pitcher Ray Caldwell made his debut at League Park before a crowd of In the ninth inning with victory in sight lightning suddenly struck the field and Caldwell himself Fans thought he had been killed Instead moments later he stood up shook it off and finished the game It remains one of the most astonishing moments in Major League Baseball history Nick Ragone host of This Date in History shares the story of how Ray Caldwell survived a lightning strike and kept pitching Support the show https www ouramericanstories [... more]

On this episode of Our American Stories when Thomas Jefferson died on July he left behind more than a legacy He also left a mountain of debt His family eventually sold Monticello and within years Jefferson's famous home had fallen into disrepair Then an unlikely preservationist stepped in Marc Leepson author of Saving Monticello The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House That Jefferson Built shares the remarkable story of Uriah Phillips Levy the first Jewish commodore in the U S Navy and his nephew Jefferson Monroe Levy Across two generations the Levy family spent decades and a fortune [... more]

Patrick Henry played a pivotal role in holding together the American Union in 1799, when partisan bickering threatened to put an end to the American experiment. He warned that if the administration had done wrong, the people should go to the ballot box, and that tyranny would result if they couldn't abide by the government they created. Henry's message of unity and the importance of the loyal opposition helped to calm down a divided nation and paved the way for a peaceful change of parties after an election, an American hallmark until 2020. [... more]

The story of Thomas Jefferson's unlikely alliance with evangelical Christians to protect churches from the power of the state, leading to the birth of American religious freedom and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. [... more]

The story of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's iconic home, and its preservation by the Levy family, a Jewish-American family with a rich history of naval service and philanthropy, is a testament to the power of dedication and love for a national treasure. [... more]

The story of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's iconic home, is one of historic preservation and the efforts of the Levy family to rescue it from disrepair. Uriah Levy, a Jewish American and U.S. Navy Commodore, purchased Monticello in 1836 and restored it to its former glory. His nephew, Jefferson Levy, continued the family's efforts to preserve the property, but faced opposition from a movement to turn Monticello into a government-run shrine to Thomas Jefferson. [... more]