Semi Historic with Stephen Ruhe

Voice Of GO(r)D is proud to bring you a conversation with Mr Stephen Ruhe, logistician and scion of an Ohio trucking family and also the proprietor of a new historical documentary project called Semi Historic, which seeks to examine the early history of the trucking industry in America and find lessons applicable today.https://www.semihistoric.com/From the website -”Semi-Historic is my love letter to the truckers and the legends who built America’s supply chain. As the third-generation of a family trucking company, I am creating this archive to finally give our industry the rich history and respect it deserves.”Stephen gives us an overview of what he hopes to achieve with the project, as well as a few anecdotes from his look into the history of trucking in America, which takes us from its birth in Ohio to the intersection of migration, the prohibition era, the Motor Carrier Act of 1935, and onwards to today, where we find that there is indeed nothing new under the sun. Loopholes and shenanigans derived from the difference between public and private carriers are also highlighted.You can find Stephen on Twitter/X - https://x.com/StephenRuheAs mentioned in the intro, I’ve been busy as of late with various interviews and presentations regards my own examination of the recent history of trucking. My description of a silent war on the truckers who drive the industry has resonated with more than a few people, and I was asked to join C-Span, and give a presentation at Cornell University here in my new home town of Ithaca, NY.https://www.c-span.org/program/washington-journal/gord-magill-on-end-of-the-road-inside-the-war-on-truckers/677222https://law-cornell.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=3efee1ae-5175-460a-b123-b43a00e31c5aFriend of this podcast and FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller was recently invited to write an Op-Ed for the New York Times, and boy does it ever said like a compressed version of what I have been saying for years.https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/opinion/trucking-safety.htmlIf you haven’t yet, you can order a hardcover, e-reader, or audio version of my book, End of The Road - Inside The War on Truckers from my publishers at Creed and Culture -https://creedandculture.com/books/end-of-the-road-inside-the-war-on-truckers/Thanks for listening, and as always, questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and encouraged - [email protected]