America's Why Project
To solve America’s toughest challenges, we need to begin by listening to each other’s stories. The America’s Why Project (AWP) creates a space for conversations that invite Americans from all walks of life—and friends of America around the world—to explore their perspectives on America’s past, present, and future. By opening our ears and opening our hearts, we can start to rebuild mutual trust and rediscover our shared purpose. One story, one conversation, one open mic at a time.
America's Why Project
Welcome to the America's Why Podcast
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To solve America’s toughest challenges, we need to start by listening to each other’s stories.
Visit our website to learn more about the America’s Why Project and join the conversation: americaswhyproject.com
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music
Introduction
Amy McCampbell: Welcome to the America’s Why podcast. [Music]
Matt Levinger: Hello, I’m your host, Matt Levinger.
I am a professor at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, where I direct an executive education program for national security leaders from the United States and other countries. My previous jobs include positions as senior program officer at the United States Institute of Peace and as founding director of the Academy for Genocide Prevention at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Through my work, I have learned a lot about how public storytelling can play a powerful role in provoking international conflict – and in helping forge lasting peace. The title of this podcast – America’s Why – is inspired by the book Man’s Search for Meaning by Dr. Viktor Frankl. Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist who was deported to Auschwitz and wrote his memoir of life in the Nazi death camps after his release in 1945. Frankl quoted a dictum of Friedrich Nietzsche – “he who has a why to live for, can bear almost any how.” The “wish to find and fulfill meaning,” Frankl said, “is the basic motivation in all human beings.”
What is true for individual humans is also true for the communities in which we live. Nations thrive when their citizens share a clear and compelling purpose. They wither and die when this sense of common purpose is lost.
Many of the most powerful national narratives convey what might be called “mythic histories” of loss and recovery. The four-word slogan that twice won the presidency for Donald J. Trump – “Make America Great Again” – is just such a story. This story presumes that America has somehow lost its greatness – that America has lost its “why.” If this is the case, then the MAGA story poses important questions: how did America lose its why? And how can we get it back?
At the current moment in U.S. history, on the eve of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, there doesn’t seem to be much consensus on these questions. Finding new answers is an urgent task.
In the summer and fall of 2025, I gathered a team of students and recent graduates at the George Washington University to brainstorm about how Americans – and friends of America around the world – can identify shared values and goals at this critical historical juncture. You’ll meet each of the members of our team over the coming weeks.
Our goal in this podcast is to create an environment for people to share their stories and engage in constructive and respectful dialogue, even where disagreements exist over particular issues.
By opening our ears and opening our hearts, we can start to restore mutual trust and rediscover our common purpose. This is the mission of the America’s Why podcast. One story, one conversation, one open mic at a time.
Amy McCampbell: You’re listening to the America’s Why podcast. To learn more, and to join the conversation, please visit us at americaswhyproject.com. Our music is by James Fernando. See you next week!
[Music]