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.
How the Hamburger Became an American Staple
The Green Beret Who Led a Rescue Into Vietnam’s “Valley of the Tigers”
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1968, 22-year-old Green Beret Tom Ross was serving as an intelligence and operations officer in South Vietnam when three Montagnard tribesmen arrived at an outpost asking for help. Their village had spent years under Viet Cong control, and one of the men, Mong Quang, feared his wife and children would be killed if he returned without help.
Ross, author of Privileges of War: A Good Story of American Service in Vietnam, shares the story of how he and his fellow servicemen organized a dangerous rescue mission deep into enemy territory, eventually bringing roughly 165 villagers to safety. We'd like to thank the Atlanta History Center for allowing us access to this audio, originally a part of their ongoing Veterans History Project.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Alvin York: The Pacifist Marksman Who Became an American War Hero
On this episode of Our American Stories, Alvin York grew up poor in the hills of Tennessee, with little formal education but extraordinary skill with a rifle. After years of drinking and fighting, a religious conversion transformed his life. He became a church elder and a pacifist, and when the United States drafted him during World War I, York struggled deeply with whether his Christian faith allowed him to kill.
Historian Elliott Drago of the Jack Miller Center shares the story of how York resolved that conflict, went to France, and became one of the most celebrated American soldiers of the war after capturing 132 German prisoners during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Colin Powell: The Man Behind the General, the Diplomat, and the Leader
On this episode of Our American Stories, Colin Powell was a four-star general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of State. But behind the titles was a man defined by humility, discipline, humor, and deep loyalty to those around him. Leslie Lautenslager, who worked alongside Powell for more than 25 years, shares personal stories that reveal the man few saw publicly, from his quiet acts of kindness to the values that guided his life and leadership.
Reading from her book,My Time with General Colin Powell, she gives an intimate portrait of the man behind the stars.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The German WWI Veteran Who Helped Build America’s Arsenal of Democracy
On this episode of Our American Stories, as a young German soldier in World War I, Wilhelm Bistner cared for the horses that pulled artillery into battle against Russia. Years later, he immigrated to the United States, became William Burtner, and put his skills as a tool-and-die maker to work in one of the fastest-changing industries in America: aviation.
Our regular contributor Robert Frohlich shares the story of his grandfather, who worked with companies including Sikorsky, Republic, Chance Vought, and EDO Aircraft before helping expand wartime aircraft production during World War II.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Supreme Court Lawyer Who Left Law to Open a Mustard Museum
On this episode of Our American Stories, Barry Levinson was once the head of Wisconsin’s Criminal Appeals Division, arguing cases before the United States Supreme Court. Then the Boston Red Sox lost the 1986 World Series, and a sleepless trip to a grocery store somehow sent his life in an entirely different direction: he started collecting mustard.
Levinson tells how that unlikely obsession eventually became the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wisconsin, home to more than 6,000 mustards from around the world. Along the way, he shares the Supreme Court victory he credits to a jar of mustard in his pocket, the history and variety of one of the world’s oldest condiments, and why he remains perfectly happy spending his days surrounded by mustard.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Speech That Gave the Cold War Its “Iron Curtain”
On this episode of Our American Stories, eight months after British voters turned Winston Churchill out of office, the former prime minister received an unlikely invitation from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. A handwritten note from President Harry Truman offering to introduce him helped seal the deal, and on March 5, 1946, Churchill arrived in America’s heartland as a private citizen with a warning about the world taking shape after World War II.
Dr. Larry P. Arnn, president of Hillsdale College and a leading Churchill scholar, shares the story behind Churchill's all-important Sinews of Peace speech.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We're Holding Our Own: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
On this episode of Our American Stories, the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in November 1975 shocked the nation and inspired one of the most haunting songs of the decade. The 729-foot freighter disappeared during a fierce Lake Superior storm, leaving behind questions that still echo through Great Lakes history.
Ric Mixter, a maritime historian and diver who has explored the wreck, shares what made the Edmund Fitzgerald unique and how its story became a part of 1970s American history. Through Mixter’s firsthand perspective, we revisit the night the freighter went down and the legacy it left on the world of shipping and song.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Woman the Nazis Called the Most Dangerous Spy in the World
On this episode of Our American Stories, during the darkest years of World War II, a woman from Baltimore slipped behind enemy lines with a fake passport, a limp, and a mission that would alter the course of the war. Her name was Virginia Hall, and the Gestapo called her “the most dangerous of all Allied spies.” Working for the Office of Strategic Services, she built resistance networks across France, trained fighters, and smuggled intelligence to London while evading capture again and again.
Judy Pearson, author of the bestselling book Wolves at the Door: The True Story Of America's Greatest Female Spy,shares the story of how one woman with a wooden leg and an unbreakable will became a symbol of courage in a world ruled by fear.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Paralyzed and Broke, John Clay Wolfe Reinvented the Used Car Business
On this episode of Our American Stories, John Clay Wolfe had already built a successful career in the car business when his life began to come apart. His marriage collapsed, a motocross accident left him paralyzed, and then he discovered that millions of dollars had disappeared from his companies while he was unable to keep a close eye on the business.
Wolfe, founder of GiveMeTheVin.com and host of The John Clay Wolfe Show, tells how he fought his way back by combining radio with an unusual idea: buying cars sight unseen directly from the public. What began as a workaround for a man who could no longer get to the auctions grew into one of the largest car-wholesale businesses in the world.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.