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 Acting Legend Eddie Albert Served Our Country in WWII
Why Patton Thought Hesitation in War Was More Immoral Than Force
On this episode of Our American Stories, by the final year of World War Two, American forces were closing in on Nazi Germany, and General George Patton stood at the center of that push. Historian Victor Davis Hanson, author of The Soul of Battle, discusses why Patton’s approach to leadership was shaped by his belief that the slow use of power in a conflict of that scale cost more lives than it saved. Hanson walks through Patton’s record in Europe, the end of the war, and the moral reasoning behind the choices he made when entire nations were at stake. We'd like to thank our generous sponsors, Hillsdale College, for this audio.
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Before Jackie Robinson: The Unlikely Team That Fought Exclusion with Skill and Kindness
On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Jackie Robinson changed Major League Baseball, a group of long-haired ballplayers from a religious commune in Michigan stepped onto fields where others weren’t welcome. Formed at the House of David in Benton Harbor, the team barnstormed the country and played with anyone who loved the game, including talented Black players shut out of the majors.
Their mix of skill, humor, and conviction made them one of the most recognizable teams of their era, and their willingness to stand beside excluded athletes helped shift attitudes long before the MLB integrated. Chris Siriano shares how this unlikely team left its mark on the history of baseball and on the early fight for equality.
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How Belva Lockwood Broke the Barrier to the Supreme Court Bar
On this episode of Our American Stories, before most American women could vote, Belva Lockwood stepped into a legal world that never intended to make room for her. Born on a small farm in 1830, she pushed her way into the courtroom and became the first woman in the United States permitted to argue before the Supreme Court. Her work reshaped American law and challenged long-standing assumptions about who could stand before the bench.
Along the way, she pressed for equal pay, fought for access to education, and even mounted two presidential campaigns—all while raising her daughter alone after tragedy struck her family. Janine Turner, creator of the musical Just Call Me Belva! and founder of Constituting America, shares the story of a woman who refused to accept the limits her country placed on her.
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How a Room Full of Divided Delegates Found Unity in a Single Prayer
On this episode of Our American Stories, when the First Continental Congress gathered in Philadelphia, the delegates arrived anxious about what Britain might do next and unsure of what they themselves should do. Before they argued or planned, they asked for prayer. The passage read that morning landed with surprising force and settled the room in a way no debate could have. Here to tell the story is Robert Morgan, author of 100 Bible Verses That Made America: Defining Moments That Shaped Our Enduring Foundation of Faith.
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Sunday Mornings with Big Mitch: Ep. 5
On this episode of Our American Stories, Every Sunday, Our American Stories host Lee Habeeb speaks with Mitchel "Big Mitch" Rutledge, who has spent more than forty years serving a life sentence in Alabama. Each call traces the shape of faith, regret, and forgiveness inside a place built for punishment.
In our fifth installment, Mitch reflects on the faith that steadied him through decades behind bars. He's watched men lose themselves to anger, but he learned to hold fast to something larger. What kept him steady was the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the Book of Daniel, a reminder that faith holds even when freedom does not. The Bible became a map for endurance, guiding him toward forgiveness and the strength to keep teaching others to hope. Before ending the call, he turns to a favorite topic—football—and shares his prediction for the next Super Bowl.
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How R.A. Dickey Found Hope Beyond the Mound
On this episode of Our American Stories, R.A. Dickey’s rise to a Cy Young Award made him the face of the modern knuckleball, but the story that shaped him started long before baseball noticed his talent. As a kid, he carried trauma he didn’t have words for and a silence that followed him well into adulthood. That silence eventually caught up to him, nearly costing him everything he had worked for. Dickey talks about the turning points that mattered most and how honesty, more than any pitch, gave him a way forward.
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Finding Dixie Lee: A Grandson’s Search for a Lost Family Story
On this episode of Our American Stories, before Jay Moore was known for his local history work, he was a grandson trying to finish something his grandmother could not. Her story of an infant buried long ago sent him looking for a cemetery she feared she would never see again. When he finally uncovered the grave, he helped give her the closure she had been missing for decades.
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A Simple Idea That Helps Widows and Builds Families
On this episode of Our American Stories, at the center of JT Olson's Both Hands ministry is a straightforward mission: service and charity. Provide a widow with the repairs she needs and use that same project to help a family offset the cost of adoption. Volunteers spend a day painting, cleaning, repairing, and restoring, and donors support the effort, knowing every dollar moves a child closer to a permanent home.
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The Great British Burlesque Invasion of 1868
On this episode of Our American Stories, long before the Beatles caused a stir, another British act crossed the Atlantic and changed American culture in its own quiet way. In 1868, a troupe of burlesque performers arrived onstage with a style that felt modern to a growing middle class and unsettling to the critics who expected theater to stay in its place. Our regular contributor, Ashley Hlebinsky, traces how this unlikely import managed to spark a small cultural shift.
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