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.
Billy The Kid: The Story Behind the Legend and the Myth
Remembering Erika, the Teacher Who Brought the Cold War to Life
On this episode of Our American Stories, for Lawson Bader, one teacher changed everything. Erika, his German instructor, wasn’t content to simply drill vocabulary. She wanted her students to see history with their own eyes. That meant taking Lawson to Berlin when the Wall still loomed large, dividing families and a nation. Standing at the Cold War’s most visible fault line, he learned more than any textbook could teach: the consequences of tyranny, the meaning of freedom, and the power of one teacher to shape a student’s life forever.
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The Teenage Girl Turned Patriot Spy Who Fought Redcoat Raiders: Dicey Langston
On this episode of Our American Stories, our regular contributor from South Carolina, Dennis Peterson, shares the story of Dicey Langston, an American Revolutionary War heroine who, at the age of 15, saved her family and fellow patriots from one of the most notorious gangs of Loyalist outlaws of the time: the so-called "Bloody Scouts."
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How Crayola Crayons Came to Be: The True Story Behind America’s Most Colorful Creation
On this episode of Our American Stories, from bifocals and the cotton gin to the automobile and the iPhone, America has a long history of inventions that changed the world. But not every invention was born from necessity—some were created simply for fun. In this episode, author Natascha Biebow joins us to share the colorful true story of Edwin Binney, the inventor of Crayola crayons, as told in her children's book The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons.
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The Day I Told My Gang I Was Leaving to Join the Marines
On this episode of Our American Stories, born in San Salvador, El Salvador, Carlos Aguilar arrived in Chicago, Illinois, as a refugee after his family fled the country's civil war. By his teenage years, he was caught in gang life and headed down a dangerous path.
Then a Marine recruiter unexpectedly pulled into his driveway. Carlos shares how that chance encounter, his grandmother's unwavering faith, and one heartbreaking promise led him to become a U.S. Marine and transformed his life.
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My Grandmother Crossed the Border Illegally. I Became a Border Patrol Agent.
On this episode of Our American Stories, Vincent "Rocco" Vargas never expected his family's immigration story to shape his own life so profoundly. After serving as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan, he became a U.S. Border Patrol agent, where he often saw reflections of his own grandmother in the people he encountered along the Rio Grande.
Vargas, author of Borderline: Defending the Home Front, shares a deeply personal story about family, service, sacrifice, and the difficult balance between compassion and protecting the country he loves.
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Bill Daniels Didn't Have to Repay His Debts. He Did Anyway.
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1975, Bill Daniels watched his Utah Stars basketball team collapse into bankruptcy, leaving creditors and season ticket holders unpaid. The law said he owed them nothing, but he never stopped thinking about the promises he had made.
Bill Daniels, the pioneer of cable television whose values inspired the Daniels Fund, and others share the astonishing story of why he spent years tracking down every person he owed money to and paid them back with interest, simply because he believed it was the right thing to do.
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How Willis Carrier Changed the Way Americans Live
On this episode of Our American Stories, at the turn of the twentieth century, summer heat disrupted factories, spoiled food, and shaped daily life across America. A young engineer named Willis Carrier set out to solve a printing problem in Brooklyn, New York, and ended up creating one of the most important inventions of the modern age.
Salvatore Basile, author of Cool: How Air Conditioning Changed Everything, shares the story of how air conditioning transformed where Americans lived, worked, shopped, and even went to the movies.
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The Most Valuable Gift I Ever Received Came From a Homeless Man
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Larry Crawford bought a new pickup truck, he was proud of it. The leather seats, the diesel engine, the bells and whistles. Like any Texan, he wanted to show it off to his friends. But one chance encounter with a homeless man he knew would change the way he thought about generosity forever.
Weeks after giving the man a ride to the grocery store, Larry encountered him again at Community First Village in Austin. The man had spent weeks saving money to buy Larry a Bible with leather that matched the interior of his new truck. Larry shares the moving story of a gift from a man with almost nothing, and the lesson it taught him about generosity, dignity, and the value of accepting kindness from others.
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He Was Told He'd Never Walk Again. Then He Went Back to Vietnam.
On this episode of Our American Stories, on May 2, 1968, Master Sgt. Roy Benavidez voluntarily boarded a helicopter and flew into one of the fiercest battles of the Vietnam War to rescue a trapped Special Forces team. He endured dozens of wounds, saved at least eight lives, and refused to quit. Hear President Ronald Reagan's Medal of Honor presentation alongside Roy's own remarkable account of the battle, his long recovery, and the values that guided him throughout his life.
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