Our American Stories

The O’Hare Legacy: From Mob Lawyer to Medal of Honor Hero

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Edward “Easy” O’Hare built his fortune inside Al Capone’s empire. His legal skill kep...

The Doolittle Raid and the Courage That Followed Pearl Harbor

13 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in April 1942, just four months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, sixteen B-25 bombers lifted off from t...

The CEO Who Stripped His Jet to Say He Was Sorry

13 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when a major deal with Mercedes-Benz went wrong, Roger Penske didn’t send an email or a team of lawyers...

The Great Thanksgiving Cranberry Scare of 1959

13 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the fall of 1959, Americans were told their Thanksgiving cranberries might be contaminated. Overnight, sto...

From Steel Town to Tinsel Town: The Life of Composer Henry Mancini

13 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before the Pink Panther ever tiptoed across a screen, Henry Mancini was a steelworker’s son from Pennsy...

Churchill: The Making of a Reluctant Hero

13 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, by the time Winston Churchill became Prime Minister, he had already survived plane crashes, gunfire, and poli...

The Pilot Who Found God in the Sky Over Vietnam

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Dick Erickson was a young Marine helicopter pilot flying over Vietnam when everything went quiet. His radio w...

The Road Home for Sergeant First Class Michael Schlitz

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Michael Schlitz had already spent more than a decade in uniform when his life changed in an instant. On Febru...

A Vietnam Veteran, an Eyepatch, and the Quiet Power of Carrying On

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in Abilene, Texas, Jay Moore has made a name telling the kind of stories that stay with you. None has stayed ...

America’s First Hero: The Story of George Washington

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before the United States had a flag or a White House, it had George Washington. He led a band of farmers and ...

The Origins of the Veterans Day Symbols That Still Unite Us

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, the story of Veterans Day began with silence. When the guns of World War I finally stopped, the world gathere...

Mad Anthony Wayne: The Story of The Revolutionary War Hero Who Defied and Defined His Nickname

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, he was called “Mad Anthony” for a reason. General Anthony Wayne led with grit and daring through ...

We're Holding Our Own: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald [50th Anniversary]

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 hauntin...

How Sunday Dinners Built the Legacy of Holiday Inn

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Holiday Inn became part of the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), it began with a simple ritual at t...

A Listener's Touching Story On His Father—and Jack Kerouac

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Paul Kotz hit a wall while writing his dissertation, he turned to his father for advice. His father was ...

The True Story of the Mason-Dixon Line and the Boundary That Divided America

10 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before the Mason-Dixon Line came to represent a nation divided, it began as a simple question of propert...

The Inventor Extraordinaire Who Gave Us the Safety Pin: Walter Hunt

10 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Walter Hunt never set out to become famous. He spent his life surrounded by tools, sketches, and scraps of wi...

Why the Founding Fathers Believed Faith and Freedom Were Inseparable: 100 Bible Verses That Made America

10 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when the Founding Fathers set out to shape a new nation, they looked to Scripture for wisdom. Many were not t...

The Third-Grade Teacher Who Changed James Ward’s Life

10 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, James Ward grew up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, at a time when the city was still divided by race and geography. T...

The Thanksgiving Story You Never Learned in School

10 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, so much of our Thanksgiving imagery and tradition is not rooted in historical reality, yet the truth is far m...

The Forgotten Bonapartes: How Napoleon’s Family Helped Build the FBI

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Napoleon’s brother Jérôme Bonaparte met a young Baltimore woman named Elizabeth Patte...

The Grass and the Furious: Ladies... Start Your (Lawnmower) Engines!

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, across small-town America, fields that once grew corn and clover now host something unexpected: racing lawn m...

Forgiving the Drug Dealer That Killed My Daughter

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Mike and Deborah Bailey lost their daughter Ashlynn to a fentanyl overdose, their world stopped. For mon...

The Man Behind Lone Survivor: Medal of Honor Recipient Michael P. Murphy

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before his story was immortalized in the Hollywood movie Lone Survivor, Michael Murphy was a kid from New Yor...

Hollywood Goes to War: When Clark Gable Traded the Silver Screen for the Skies

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, by the time America entered World War II, Clark Gable was already one of the most famous men in the world. Kn...

George McGovern: The Combat Hero Who Became America’s Antiwar Candidate

06 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before George McGovern became the Democratic presidential candidate in the 1972 election, he was a young pilo...

Fearless Freddie Warder and the Submarine Crew Who Changed the Course of WWII

06 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, during World War II, the ocean was a battlefield few ever saw. Deep below the surface, American submarines hu...

The Story of “Beavis and Butt-Head”: Mike Judge’s Warning to America

06 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the early 1990s, cable television was changing fast. Then came two boys who changed it even faster. B...

When a Teenager Knocked on Elvis Presley’s Door and Found His Future

06 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Greg McDonald was sixteen when a summer job opened a door he never expected. Working maintenance in Memphis m...

Earthrise: The Most Famous Photo of Earth

06 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, the year was 1968, and the world below was coming apart. Wars raged overseas, cities burned, and faith in the...

The Stink That Launched 36,000 Reviews

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, most people would hide a smell like this. Andrew Masters and Allen Wittman decided to bottle it. Their invent...

A One-Man History of New York City: From Dutch Settlement to the Big Apple

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, centuries before it was called “The Big Apple,” New York was a patch of wilderness at the edge of...

The Strength to Rise: Martin Luther King Jr. and Booker T. Washington

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, two men, born generations apart, helped shape the course of American history. Booker T. Washington emerged fr...

Curly (of “The Three Stooges”) Was My Grandfather... but My Family Kept It a Secret from Me

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Brad Server grew up like millions of kids, glued to reruns of The Three Stooges and laughing at the...

A Lonely Volunteer and the Grumpy Old Man Who Changed His Life

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, after the last of his children packed their bags and left, Paul found himself with too much time and an overw...

How Edgar Allan Poe Gave Us Horror, Mystery, and Science Fiction

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Edgar Allan Poe is best known for his dark tales and haunting poems, yet his imagination stretched far beyond...

The First Man to Die in a Plane Crash

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before air travel became routine, flight was a dangerous experiment. In 1908, Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge cl...

The British Outcast Who Founded the Smithsonian

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, James Smithson was born into wealth but denied a name. As the illegitimate son of the Duke of Northumberland,...

The Vermont Farmer Who Took the First Photograph of a Snowflake

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the hills of Vermont, a boy named Wilson Bentley fell in love with snow. Each flake, he noticed, was fleet...

The Family Who Called the New York Public Library Home

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when the New York Public Library opened its doors in 1911, one family already called it home. John Fiedler, t...

The Funeral Parlor Secret That Stayed Buried

03 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, it started as a snowed-in night behind a funeral parlor and ended with a mystery worthy of a campfire story.&...

Stories Etched in Stone: Remembering Lives in a New Hampshire Cemetery

03 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in Antrim, New Hampshire, every grave tells part of the town’s story. Bill Bryk, a listener and regular...

The One-Ton Pumpkin: How a Rhode Island Grower Broke a World Record

03 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Did Lizzie Borden Get Away with Murder? The True Story Behind Fall River’s Unsolved Mystery

03 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1892, the quiet town of Fall River, Massachusetts, became the scene of one of America’s most famous ...

Sunday Mornings with Big Mitch: Ep. 2

02 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, every Sunday, Our American Stories host Lee Habeeb speaks with Mitchel Rutledge, an inmate serving life in Al...

Sunday Mornings with Big Mitch: Ep. 3

02 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, every Sunday, Our American Stories' host, Lee Habeeb, speaks with Mitchel Rutledge, an inmate serving li...

Holding Alana: One Mother’s Story of Love, Loss, and Healing

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, no one prepares for the silence that follows birth. For Samantha Durante Banerjee, that silence carried both ...

When a Bathroom Drug Deal Was Interrupted by Jesus

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, it started in a bathroom, where a man trapped in addiction waited to make another bad decision. Pastor Greg L...

The Battle of Midway: America’s Turning Point in World War II

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the summer of 1942, the war in the Pacific was slipping away. Japan’s navy dominated the ocean, and ...

How Walt Disney Built the Happiest Place on Earth

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Disneyland opened in 1955, the world had never seen anything like it. Walt Disney had spent years dreami...

How Yogi Berra Became a Baseball Legend

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Yogi Berra’s name sits beside the greatest baseball players of all time, but his story reaches beyond h...

How a Simple Jam Session Became Rock’s Greatest Supergroup

30 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, The Traveling Wilburys formed almost by accident. When George Harrison needed a B-side, he called Bob Dylan, ...

From Breakdown to Breakthrough: The First Tow Truck

30 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, every tow truck on the road carries the legacy of one inventor. In Chattanooga, mechanic Ernest Holmes transf...

Treating the Cause, Not the Symptoms: A Listener's Life-Changing Lifestyle Story

30 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, at thirty-eight, Tim Hennessey looked like the picture of health. He lifted weights, played racquetball, and ...

The Sculptor Bringing World War I Back to Life

30 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, sculptor Sabin Howard has spent years shaping the story of World War I in bronze. His National World War I Me...

Pat Summitt: The Coach Who Refused to Lose

30 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Pat Summitt built a dynasty at the University of Tennessee one season at a time. Her players feared her stare...

A Weekend in Step with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, for Steve Stoliar, working for Dick Cavett meant crossing paths with some of Hollywood’s most legendary...

The Story of America: The March of the Flag and the Making of an American Empire

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, at the turn of the twentieth century, the United States stood at a crossroads. A nation once defined by indep...

How a Miracle Mineral Became a Global Health Hazard

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, asbestos began as a miracle. It could resist heat and strengthen concrete, and it seemed to promise safety in...

Behind the Invasion: Stephen Ambrose on the Work That Made D-Day Possible

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, D-Day was a plan held together by men and machines work...

Killing Sparrows for Shoes? One Family’s Story from the Great Depression

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, during the Great Depression, millions of Americans faced hunger, unemployment, and poverty. Families across t...

The Family That Rebuilt Their Life One Pen at a Time

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 2011, Chad and Jess Schumacher were working for a growing tech company outside Chicago. They had a new hom...

Pat Boone’s Unexpected Turn into Heavy Metal

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, for more than forty years, Pat Boone stood as one of America’s most enduring entertainers. His smooth v...

In the Shadows of Bataan: The Untold Story of the Military Nurses Who Stayed

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippines during World War II, a group of American nurses found themselves...

He Travels the Country Reviewing... Onion Rings?

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, most food critics chase Michelin stars or fine dining, but Tyler Groenendal is chasing something crispier. Fr...

How a Two-Time Senate Loser Became President

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the spring of 1860, Abraham Lincoln was hardly a national name. He’d lost two Senate races and was k...

Centerline: How a Stripe of Paint Saved the American Road

27 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, every day, we trust our lives to a few thin lines of paint. But the open road used to be the Wild West for mo...

Honor and Loyalty: The Story of Japanese American Soldiers in WWII

27 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, they were Americans by birth but treated as outsiders when the war began. After Pearl Harbor, many Japanese A...

The American Pilot Who Forgave His Japanese Captors

27 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the dark months after Pearl Harbor, the United States launched the Doolittle Raid, a daring strike on Toky...

Sunday Mornings with Big Mitch: Ep. 1

26 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this first episode of our new series, Sunday Mornings with Big Mitch, we meet Mitch — a man serving life in the Alabama State prison system f...

How H.J. Heinz Built the Most Famous Ketchup in the World

24 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Heinz Ketchup became a fixture in American kitchens, Henry John Heinz was a young entrepreneur se...

How Piggly Wiggly Invented the American Supermarket

24 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Clarence Saunders opened Piggly Wiggly in 1916, shoppers in Memphis, Tennessee, didn’t know what t...

The Panama Canal: America’s Greatest Feat of Engineering

24 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, the dream of the Panama Canal began long before it became real. For centuries, people imagined a passage that...

In 1838, Two U.S. Congressmen Dueled with… Rifles!

24 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the winter of 1838, a political argument in Congress crossed a line few thought possible. Maine Representa...

For Nearly 20 Years, the U.S. Nuclear Launch Code Was 00000000

24 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, during the height of the Cold War, the United States worked tirelessly to stay ahead of the Soviet Union in t...

The Day I Played Hockey with Wayne Gretzky (Hungover)

23 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, for Sean Pronger, playing in the NHL was a dream come true. Skating beside Wayne Gretzky, the greatest hockey...

The First Martyr to the Radio: The Story of Lester Wolf

23 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when the radio first crackled to life in the 1920s, it transformed how Americans shared news, music, and hope...

How George Strait’s “Love Without End, Amen” Was Born

23 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before “Love Without End, Amen” became one of George Strait’s most beloved hits, it was a p...

Halloween: The Strange and Storied History of an American Holiday

23 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, every October, porches glow with carved pumpkins and streets fill with costumed children, but the roots of Ha...

Valley Forge: George Washington’s Winter of Resolve

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the winter of 1777, the Continental Army arrived at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, hungry, freezing, and unsu...

The Story of America: The Closing of the American Frontier

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the 36th episode of our Story of America series, Hillsdale College professor and author of ...

Benedict Arnold: The Hero Who Became America’s Most Famous Traitor

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the early days of the American War for Independence, Major General Benedict Arnold was one of the Revoluti...

Titanic Thompson and the Hustles That Fooled Al Capone

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, from card tables to golf courses, Titanic Thompson made a career out of winning bets nobody else could. Often...

The Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Message That Stopped the World

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Neil Armstrong ever stepped on the Moon, the Apollo 8 crew made history. More than one billion people ...

Dick Bong: America’s Greatest Fighter Pilot

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Richard "Dick" Bong was a farm boy who learned to fly and never stopped pushing the limits of what a pilot co...

How Haunted Houses Became a Halloween Tradition

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before haunted houses filled October nights, Halloween in America was a mess. In the early twentieth century,...

The Home Depot Worker Who Became Boston’s Lead Singer

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Tommy DeCarlo’s story feels like a lost lyric from a Boston song. He worked at Home Depot by day and sa...

Taking the War to the Skies: Stephen Ambrose on Allied Air Power

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before D-Day, another battle was already being fought high above Europe. The late, great Stephen Ambrose...

Beyond the Battlefield: The Life of Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, he was one of the Civil War’s most gifted commanders—and one of its most enigmatic. Thomas &ldquo...

A Jewish Soldier’s Unbelievable Survival at the Battle of the Bulge

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Milton Nadler grew up fast. The day after Pearl Harbor, his paper route turned into a rush of headlines about...

What My Uncle Taught Me Before He Passed

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, listener and Our American Stories regular contributor, Brent Timmons, tells the story of spending time w...

Willie Kennard: The Legend of Colorado’s First Black Marshal

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in a Colorado mining town torn apart by violence and lawlessness, a man named Willie Kennard rode in to resto...

Where “Women and Children First” Began

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when the HMS Birkenhead struck rocks off the coast of South Africa in 1852, chaos should have followed. ...

How Jedediah Smith Opened the American West

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Jedediah Smith’s story reads like the birth of the American West itself: bold, unforgiving, and full of...

When One Man’s Faith Helped Free 33 Trapped Chilean Miners

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Greg Hall wasn’t looking for fame when Chile’s government asked for help rescuing 33 trapped mine...

How My Mother Built a Life Out of Nothing

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Devon Westhill became the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ...

A Father’s Reflection on His Son’s Dream to Be a Green Beret

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Bob McLalan’s son told him he wanted to become a Green Beret, the words carried a weight that ling...

The Frontier Spirit of Nancy Kelsey, California’s Betsy Ross

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Nancy Kelsey left Missouri with her husband in 1841, she had no map, no guide, and no reason to believe ...

What I Learned from a Dying Patient

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Dr. E. Wesley Ely of Vanderbilt University Medical Center shares deeply meaningful experiences—both med...

Murrow vs. McCarthy: The Broadcast That Changed America

16 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the early years of television, few moments carried more weight than the night journalist Edward R. Murrow ...