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It's a milestone birthday for the U.S. this weekend. And we're marking the 250th by taking a look back at this year's Sounds of America series.

Every year, the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress selects 25 pieces of sound to add to its collection — songs, speeches, and beyond.

In the past, we’ve partnered with the 14th Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, who oversaw this project for nine years. Each spring, 1A worked with Hayden and the Library of Congress to bring you a look at why those honorees matter to America.

This year, the Library of Congress looks a little different. President Donald Trump fired Hayden in 2025. The White House cited her “pursuit of DEI” as reason for her dismissal.

But we continued our annual series this year with a look at the 2026 inductees. And we'll continue to ask you: What are the sounds of America? Highlights have included Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, Tracy Chapman singing “Fast Car," The Giants’ “shot heard round the world” walk-off home run in 1951. And the theme song from Super Mario. You can nominate your favorite piece of sound through the Library of Congress.

Now to the class of 2026: First, we sit down with Rachael Stoeltje. She’s the head of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia, which houses and preserves the Library of Congress’ audio and video artifacts. Then, we get the backstory on "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," by the Charlie Daniels Band. We bop along to "Beauty and the Beat" by The Go-Go's and meet members of the all-women rock band. And close it out with the radio broadcast of "The Fight of the Century" between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

The Sounds of America series is produced by Jennie Cataldo of Accompany Studios.

You can hear all our past Sounds of America interviews with Carla Hayden here. 

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Throughout history, adulthood has often been defined by clear markers — turning 18, moving out of your parents’ home, or getting married. But most of us know that being an adult by law is very different from being one in real life.

Traditional markers of adulthood like purchasing a home or getting married are happening later and later these days. The average first-time homebuyer in 1981 was just 29 years old. But in 2025, the median age of a first-time homebuyer was 40. That’s a historic high, according to the National Association of Realtors.

People are also hearing wedding bells later in life. One and ten adults are now marrying for the first time between the ages of 40 and 59, according to the Wall Street Journal.

What does it mean to be an adult, especially when our definition of adulthood has evolved? And what if you never really feel like a grown-up, even well into old age?

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“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

250 years ago, the founding fathers were days away from adopting the Declaration of Independence.

Fast forward to July 4, 2026, two and a half centuries later, has America lived up to those lofty ideals?

Is this anniversary a time for celebration, mourning, reckoning, or something else? We hear from 1A listeners on what Independence Day means to them.

Note: One of our callers referenced the Frederick Douglass speech ‘What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.’ You can read that here. 

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Americans are grappling with a rising cost in healthcare. For the first time in five years, fewer than half of Americans can consistently afford healthcare. That’s according to the latest data from Gallup. The cost of healthcare in the US remains higher than any other large, wealthy country. According to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services, five million fewer people are enrolled in marketplace plans for 2026, compared to last year. That’s as average premium costs rose about 58%.

With health care costs increasingly becoming a stress for Americans, voters are now making the issue a top priority at the ballot box. And it’s an issue that crosses party and geographic lines. According to new polling from The Century Foundation, 71% of Democrats, 66% of Republicans and 75% of rural voters agree that reigning in hospital costs should be a top priority for lawmakers. While new polling from Ipsos and Axios suggests that a majority of Americans say they’re more likely to vote for candidates in November who will lower their health costs.

How will the issue of healthcare shape the midterms? And how are Americans grappling with the cost of their health?

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President Donald Trump has taken an increasingly personal role in the government’s clemency process, wielding pardons aid his allies and advance his own political grievances.

A Reuters investigation found that 96% of Trump’s second-term clemency grants have gone to recipients who didn’t fulfill longstanding DOJ guidelines for such requests. Past presidents on have sidestepped those rules before, but fewer than 1% of those who received clemency during the Biden administration and just 14% of recipients in Trump’s first presidency failed to meet the guidelines.

Pardon applicants once had to comply with longstanding DOJ guidelines, such as a five-year wait after conviction or demonstrated remorse for their crimes. But a Reuters’ analysis shows that under Trump, clemency now is far more dependent upon access to his inner circle. They also found that “access is enhanced when an applicant can craft a narrative that resonates with the president’s own sense of victimization.”

During his first administration, Trump granted just 238 pardons and commutations, most of which came amid his frantic final days in office. But this term the White House has made clemencies a key part of its agenda.

As part of our weekly series “If You Can Keep it,” we discuss pardons in the second Trump Administration.

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