Covering every hamlet and precinct in America, big and small, the stories span arts and sports, business and history, innovation and adventure, generosity and courage, resilience and redemption, faith and love, past and present. In short, Our American Stories tells the story of America to Americans.
About Lee Habeeb
Lee Habeeb co-founded Laura Ingraham’s national radio show in 2001, moved to Salem Media Group in 2008 as Vice President of Content overseeing their nationally syndicated lineup, and launched Our American Stories in 2016. He is a University of Virginia School of Law graduate, and writes a weekly column for Newsweek.
For more information, please visit ouramericanstories.com.
The 5-Foot Bookshelf That Changed How America Thinks About Education
A Cemetery Is a History Book Written in Stone
On this episode of Our American Stories, on a summer walk through one of Antrim, New Hampshire's old public cemeteries, Bill Bryk begins reading the stones. A Revolutionary War militiaman rests near a Civil War cavalryman. Veterans of two world wars lie beneath familiar family names. Some markers tell long stories. Others offer only a few words, including one man's simple epitaph: “an honest man.”
Bill, who helps care for Antrim's four public cemeteries, reflects on the lives gathered there and the small ways a town continues to remember them. A name cut into stone, a flag placed beside a veteran, a relative stopping by years later. The dead may be gone, but in places like these, their stories have not disappeared.
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Kasserine Pass and the Harsh Reality of America’s First Defeat in WWII
On this episode of Our American Stories, in February 1943, American soldiers met the German Army at Kasserine Pass in North Africa and discovered just how unprepared they were for the war ahead. Units became separated, communications failed, intelligence broke down, and inexperienced commanders struggled to respond as German forces tore through American positions. The defeat was humiliating, costly, and impossible to ignore.
The late historian Stephen Ambrose shares how the defeat at Kasserine forced Dwight D. Eisenhower to make difficult changes as the Americans learned how to fight a very different kind of war.
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How Rodney Dangerfield Finally Got Some Respect
On this episode of Our American Stories, before he was Rodney Dangerfield, he was Jacob Cohen, then Jack Roy, a struggling comedian who quit show business, sold aluminum siding, raised a family, and spent years filling a duffel bag with jokes. When he returned to the stage in his 40s, a new name, a black suit and red tie, and one unforgettable complaint finally made him a star: "I don't get no respect."
Our American Stories producer Greg Hengler tells the life of Rodney Dangerfield, from a lonely childhood and decades of rejection to Johnny Carson, "Caddyshack," and "Back to School," and how one of America's most beloved comedians used his success to open doors for the next generation of comics.
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Bass Reeves: The Former Slave Who Tamed the Wild West
On this episode of Our American Stories, Bass Reeves was born into slavery in Arkansas in 1838. During the Civil War, he escaped bondage and made his way to Indian Territory. Years later, he returned there carrying a badge. For more than three decades, Reeves served federal warrants across some of the most dangerous country in the West, tracking fugitives, working in disguise, and earning a reputation so formidable that some outlaws reportedly chose surrender over facing him.
Professor Art T. Burton, author of Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves, shares the story of the man behind the legend. Burton's own search through court records, newspapers, and family history uncovered a career that had nearly slipped from public memory: an escaped slave who became one of the most respected and relentless lawmen of the American frontier.
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What Lee Iacocca and Henry Ford II Taught a 23-Year-Old Newbie
On this episode of Our American Stories, Tim Leuliette was only 23 when he found himself presenting multimillion-dollar proposals to Lee Iacocca and Henry Ford II at Ford Motor Company. Working in product planning during the 1970s energy crisis meant long nights, five-minute presentations, and learning how to strip away the fluff and get straight to the facts.
Leuliette, who went on to become a prominent automotive executive and turnaround specialist, remembers the lessons, pressure, and occasional practical joke that made working for Lee Iacocca and Ford one of the greatest business educations of his life.
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Thomas Mundy Peterson: The First Black Voter Under the 15th Amendment
On this episode of Our American Stories, on March 31, 1870, Thomas Mundy Peterson walked into Perth Amboy City Hall in New Jersey to vote on a local charter. Nothing about the election seemed especially historic. But when Peterson cast his ballot, he became the first Black American known to vote under the protection of the newly ratified 15th Amendment.
Historian Elliott Drago of the Jack Miller Center shares the story of Peterson's vote and the larger struggle it represented. In the years after the Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments forced the country to answer some of its most fundamental questions about freedom, citizenship, and who had the right to participate in American democracy.
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A.P. Giannini: The Italian American Who Bet on Everyday Americans
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1904, A.P. Giannini opened the Bank of Italy in San Francisco for the people other bankers tended to overlook: immigrants, farmers, shopkeepers, and working families. Then, just two years later, the earthquake and fire devastated the city. While San Francisco struggled to get back on its feet, Giannini began lending money to people who needed a chance to rebuild. It was the kind of banking he had imagined from the beginning.
The History Guy and Forbes editor-in-chief Steve Forbes share the astonishing story of how Giannini carried his idea far beyond one neighborhood bank. His willingness to bet on ordinary people would grow the Bank of Italy into the Bank of America, and the same institution that helped San Franciscans rebuild would later help finance the Golden Gate Bridge and Walt Disney's Snow White.
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The Song My Father Remembered When He Forgot Everything Else
On this episode of Our American Stories, growing up, Karen Cutler Drecktrah and her sister loved teasing their father, Jim, about his favorite song, "Kentucky Waltz." They had never heard it and were convinced he had confused it with "Tennessee Waltz." Jim insisted the song was real, even though he could no longer remember the words or melody.
Decades later, as 89-year-old Jim struggled with dementia in a Wisconsin hospital, he suddenly began singing a song from his childhood. What happened next would give Karen, her sister, and their father one last happy afternoon together. For our Final Thoughts series, Karen shares her moving story.
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Winston Churchill: The Warrior Who Hated War
On this episode of Our American Stories, Winston Churchill had seen war up close long before he was asked to lead a nation through one. As a young soldier and correspondent, he rode into battle, came under fire, and watched new weapons make killing faster and more devastating. The experience never left him. Churchill spent much of his life warning about the cost of war and searching for ways to prevent another catastrophe.
Then came May 1940. France was collapsing, Nazi Germany was sweeping across Europe, and Britain faced the possibility of standing alone. Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn shares how Churchill’s lifelong study of war, freedom, and human nature prepared him for the decision that would define his life: whether Britain would seek terms or keep fighting.
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