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 Man Behind Bugs Bunny: The Story of Mel Blanc
Before He Was Rosco P. Coltrane: The Remarkable Life of James Best
On this episode of Our American Stories, before he became Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard, James Best lived a remarkable American life. Orphaned at the age of three and raised in Kentucky and Indiana, he served with the U.S. Army in war-torn Germany, where an unexpected visit to a stage production inspired him to become an actor.
Best went on to appear in hundreds of television episodes and work alongside stars including Jimmy Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Burt Reynolds, and Clint Eastwood. He also became one of Hollywood’s most respected acting teachers before creating one of television’s most memorable comic characters. In his own words, James Best shares the story of his journey from a country boy with no knowledge of theater to the beloved sheriff of Hazzard County.
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The Only Catholic to Sign the Declaration of Independence: Charles Carroll
On this episode of Our American Stories, today, Charles Carroll is one of America's most overlooked Founding Fathers. But during the Revolutionary era, he helped finance the fight for independence, shaped Maryland's government, influenced the creation of the U.S. Senate, and became the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence.
Dr. Bradley J. Birzer, author of American Cicero: The Life of Charles Carroll, shares the remarkable story of the last surviving signer of the Declaration and explains how a man who overcame deep anti-Catholic prejudice became one of the most respected figures of the American founding.
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The Confederate Hunley and the First Submarine Attack in Naval History
On this episode of Our American Stories, today, Charles Carroll is one of America's most overlooked Founding Fathers. But during the Revolutionary era, he helped finance the fight for independence, shaped Maryland's government, influenced the creation of the U.S. Senate, and became the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence.
Dr. Bradley J. Birzer, author of American Cicero: The Life of Charles Carroll, shares the remarkable story of the last surviving signer of the Declaration and explains how a man who overcame deep anti-Catholic prejudice became one of the most respected figures of the American founding.
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Why a Slave Trader Wrote 'Amazing Grace: The Story of John Newton
On this episode of Our American Stories, John Newton lived one of the most extraordinary lives of the 18th century. He was a rebellious sailor, a slave trader, a slave ship captain, a pastor, a mentor to William Wilberforce, and the author of one of the world's most beloved hymns, "Amazing Grace."
Drawing on the work of biographers Brian H. Edwards, Jonathan Aitken, and Tony Baker, our own Greg Hengler shares the remarkable redemption story of Newton's dramatic conversion, his role in the movement to abolish the British slave trade, and how a hymn that was largely overlooked in England became an American gospel standard. We'd like to thank Vision Video for access to much of this terrific audio, originally a part of their documentary John Newton.
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The Real Soldiers Behind Hawkeye's M*A*S*H Dog Tags
On this episode of Our American Stories, for all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H, Alan Alda wore the same set of military dog tags as Captain Hawkeye Pierce. Most viewers assumed they were Hollywood props. They weren't.
Journalist Andy Lewis shares the remarkable true story of the two World War II veterans whose names appeared on those dog tags, revealing how a Black engineer from Mississippi and the son of Jewish immigrants from Brooklyn became forever connected through one of television's most beloved shows.
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The Slave Trader Abraham Lincoln Refused to Pardon
On this episode of Our American Stories, Nathaniel Gordon of Portland, Maine, holds the distinction of being the only American ever executed for the crime of slave trading. Although many were caught in the act, sentences were often lenient, and most slave traders believed they had little to fear until Abraham Lincoln.
Jonathan W. White, a regular contributor on Our American Stories, a fellow at the Jack Miller Center, and the author of Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade, shares the story of the man Lincoln refused to pardon and explains why. Special thanks to the U.S. National Archives for this audio, taken from an online lecture Dr. White gave.
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Inside the LAPD's Original Gangster Squad
On this episode of Our American Stories, inside the Los Angeles Police Museum sits a collection of worn photo albums that once served as one of the LAPD's most valuable crime-fighting tools. Filled with mugshots, notes, aliases, and criminal networks, these "mug books" belonged to the department's legendary Hat Squad, an elite unit created in 1946 to keep organized crime from taking over Los Angeles.
Our regular contributor, Ashley Hlebinsky, shares another installment of our ongoing Display Cases series, exploring how a handful of battered photo albums reveal the rise of postwar organized crime, the controversial tactics of the LAPD's original Gangster Squad, and the evolution of modern policing.
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She Traded an Apartment for a Sailboat
On this episode of Our American Stories, when General Motors shifted to remote work in 2020, Emma McCormick realized she could work from anywhere. Instead of renting another apartment, the recent Hillsdale College graduate bought a 25-foot sailboat, moved to a marina in Florida, and made the sea her home.
Emma shares how an Idaho native with no sailing background learned to navigate life afloat, why she embraced an unconventional version of the American Dream, and what it's really like balancing a corporate career with life on a sailboat.
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Mary Kay: The Woman Behind the Pink Cadillac Empire
On this episode of Our American Stories, before Mary Kay became one of the most recognizable names in American business, she was a divorced mother, a widow, a lifelong saleswoman repeatedly passed over for promotion, and a woman who wasn't even allowed to open a bank account without her husband's permission. At 45, after losing her job and her husband just weeks before launching a new venture, she bet everything she had on a company of her own.
Mary Lisa Gavenas, author of Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay, shares the remarkable story of faith, perseverance, and entrepreneurial vision behind the woman who built one of America's most iconic companies and forever changed opportunities for women in business.
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