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 Debate Over Slavery That Changed John Quincy Adams
The Real Chef Boyardee: The Immigrant Who Fed America
On this episode of Our American Stories, when 16-year-old Hector Boiardi arrived at Ellis Island from Italy in 1914, he couldn't have imagined that his face would one day appear on supermarket shelves across America. After becoming a celebrated chef, he turned his restaurant's most popular takeout meals into one of the country's most recognizable food brands, forever changing the way Americans ate Italian food.
During World War II, Chef Boyardee's factories stopped making food for grocery stores and began producing military rations around the clock, making his company one of the largest suppliers of meals to American and Allied troops. Greg Hengler shares the remarkable story of the real man behind one of America's most familiar brands.
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Rudyard Kipling’s Triumphant and Tragic Life Beyond The Jungle Book
On this episode of Our American Stories, Rudyard Kipling became one of the most famous writers of his age, giving the world The Jungle Book, Just So Stories, “Gunga Din,” and “If.” In 1907, he became the youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. But behind that success was a life marked by an abusive childhood, controversy, and devastating loss.
The History Guy shares the story of Kipling’s remarkable rise from colonial India to literary fame, the years he spent writing in Vermont, and the deaths of two of his three children, including his son John during World War I.
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The Story of America: Winning the Great War, Losing the Great Peace [Ep. 44]
On this episode of Our American Stories, America entered World War I late, but its arrival helped change the course of the conflict. By the fall of 1918, more than a million American soldiers were fighting through the Argonne Forest as Allied forces pushed Germany toward collapse. On November 11, the guns finally fell silent. The United States and its allies had won the Great War, but deciding what should come next would prove far more difficult.
As part of our ongoing Story of Us—Story of America series, Dr. Bill McClay, author of Land of Hope, shares the story of America’s victory in World War I and the struggle over the peace that followed.
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The One-Ton Pumpkin: How a Rhode Island Grower Broke a World Record
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 2017, Rhode Island grower Joe Jutras set a world record with a green squash weighing 2,118 pounds, earning a place among the largest fruits and vegetables ever grown. Reaching that milestone took years of experimenting with soil science and meticulous care from planting to harvest.
Joe explains how patience, timing, and an understanding of growth cycles can turn an ordinary garden into a contender for the world’s biggest fruit.
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The Most Recorded Guitarist in History: Tommy Tedesco of the Wrecking Crew
On this episode of Our American Stories, you may not know Tommy Tedesco’s name, but chances are you know his guitar. As one of the most in-demand session musicians in Los Angeles, Tedesco played on thousands of recordings, working with artists including the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Mamas & the Papas, and countless others. He was also part of the loose collection of studio musicians later known as the Wrecking Crew, whose playing helped define the sound of American pop music in the 1960s.
Tommy’s son, filmmaker Denny Tedesco, tells the story of his father’s remarkable career, from struggling to find work after moving west to becoming one of Hollywood’s busiest guitarists.
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How the Red Sox Finally Broke the Curse of the Bambino
On this episode of Our American Stories, for generations of Boston Red Sox fans, heartbreak became part of the experience. After winning the World Series in 1918, the team sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees and went 86 years without another championship, enduring crushing losses in 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986, and again in 2003.
Boston Red Sox writer Sean McAdam tells how the so-called Curse of the Bambino took hold, and how the 2004 Red Sox finally broke it. Led by Theo Epstein’s unconventional roster, a clubhouse full of self-described “idiots,” and one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history, Boston rallied from a 3-0 deficit against the Yankees before sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals to win its first World Series since 1918.
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The Flushing Remonstrance and America’s First Fight for Freedom
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1657, Governor Peter Stuyvesant ordered residents of New Netherland to help enforce his campaign against religious dissenters, especially Quakers. Thirty residents of Flushing refused. In a petition now known as the Flushing Remonstrance, they declared that they would not persecute peaceful people simply because they worshiped differently.
Larry Reed, President Emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education, tells the story of this remarkable early defense of religious liberty and the punishment its signers faced for defying Stuyvesant.
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Deborah Sampson: The Woman Who Snuck Into George Washington’s Army
On this episode of Our American Stories, Deborah Sampson wanted to serve her country, but women were barred from joining the Continental Army. So in 1782, the Massachusetts woman put on men’s clothing, enlisted under the name Robert Shurtliff, and began a remarkable military career while trying to keep her true identity hidden.
Marilyn Gilbert Komechak, author of Deborah Sampson: The Girl Who Went to War, shares the story of how Sampson went from an indentured servant who taught herself to read and write to a soldier in George Washington’s army.
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Why East Coast and West Coast Policing Developed Differently
On this episode of Our American Stories, why do police departments in different parts of the country operate so differently? Former LAPD Sergeant Bob Alaniz argues that the answer goes back to two competing traditions: reactive policing, rooted in Sir Robert Peel’s 19th-century model, and the more proactive style that came to define law enforcement in Los Angeles and much of the American West.
Alaniz explains the difference through an encounter from his own LAPD career involving Richard Ramirez, later known as the “Night Stalker.” For Alaniz, the episode raises a larger question at the heart of policing: should officers primarily respond after a crime occurs, or intervene when experience tells them something may be wrong?
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