Our American Stories

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 dreaming of a place where stories could be touched—where families could explore imagination as if it were real. But opening day was far from Walt's dream come true. Rides broke down, fake tickets slipped through the gates, and the California heat sof...

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 home runs and Hall of Fame records. Before he became a Yankees legend, Berra served his country at D-Day, carried quiet discipline into the dugout, and changed what it meant to lead from behind the plate. George Will, one of America’s most respe...

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, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne, and together they recorded “Handle With Care.”  The chemistry was instant, and within months, they became a band the world couldn’t ignore. Their blend of humor, heart, and melody carried...

On this episode of Our American Stories, every tow truck on the road carries the legacy of one inventor. In Chattanooga, mechanic Ernest Holmes transformed the simple problem of how to lift a stranded car into the first tow truck. Using his own Cadillac, he built a wrecker strong enough to pull vehicles from ditches and reliable enough to serve the growing number of motorists across America. That...

On this episode of Our American Stories, at thirty-eight, Tim Hennessey looked like the picture of health. He lifted weights, played racquetball, and kept a busy schedule. But inside, his body was breaking down. Chronic pain, migraines, and high blood pressure left him desperate for answers. A doctor diagnosed an autoimmune condition and prescribed medication for life, but one look at the side eff...

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 Memorial in Washington, D.C. captures the quiet strength of soldiers, nurses, and families who carried the weight of the Great War. Rather than focusing on battlefields or weapons, his work centers on the people who lived through them and the humanity...

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 as much as they trusted her guidance, and together they set a new standard for excellence in college basketball. Eight national championships and more than a thousand wins made her the most successful coach in NCAA history, but her greatest achievem...

On this episode of Our American Stories, for Steve Stoliar, working for Dick Cavett meant crossing paths with some of Hollywood’s most legendary names. But nothing compared to the weekend he spent in the company of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. They were both older at that point, long past the silver screen, yet their presence carried the same quiet command that had once filled theaters. Over...

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 independence and internal expansion—from “sea to shining sea”—began to face the pull of empire. Territories overseas raised questions about the very ideals we claimed to uphold. Could a republic built on liberty hold colonies of it...

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 every home and factory it touched. For decades, people believed it was the key to a safer modern world. Then the coughing started, and the walls themselves became a threat. The History Guy shares the story of asbestos from its first mining to its sl...

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 working in silence. Few have told that story better than historian Stephen Ambrose. Drawing from years of research and interviews, Ambrose brought to life the people who turned one of history’s most complex operations into a triumph of courage and...

On this episode of Our American Stories, during the Great Depression, millions of Americans faced hunger, unemployment, and poverty. Families across the United States found inventive ways to survive when jobs disappeared and banks failed. In Iowa, one family turned to canning corn, repairing old shoes, and biking from farm to farm to kill sparrows, a job that paid just enough to get by. Our regula...

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 home, a baby on the way, and steady careers that seemed secure. Then the company failed. Within months, their savings were gone, and the life they had planned slipped out of reach. Chad’s father had recently retired and started woodworking with a...

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 voice carried songs like “Love Letters in the Sand” and “April Love,” and his reputation for clean-cut wholesomeness made him a symbol of the nation’s musical past. But in 1997, Boone did something that stunned both fans...

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippines during World War II, a group of American nurses found themselves caught in the fighting on Bataan. Evacuation was still possible, but they chose to stay. In makeshift hospitals carved out of the jungle, they cared for wounded soldiers through heat, bombardment, and disease. Supplies disappeared. Food ran out. Sti...

On this episode of Our American Stories, most food critics chase Michelin stars or fine dining, but Tyler Groenendal is chasing something crispier. From diners in small towns to highly rated restaurants in America’s biggest food cities, this Michigan native has spent years traveling the country reviewing one thing: onion rings. What started as a quirky side gig has grown into a devoted follo...

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 known mostly as a sharp debater from the Midwest. Yet within weeks, this unlikely candidate from Illinois captured the Republican nomination—and soon after, the presidency. What happened in those few extraordinary days at the convention in Chica...

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 most motorists. Drivers relied on instinct to stay in their lanes—and many didn’t. Accidents piled up until one motorist decided to paint a line down the middle of a Michigan road. That single act gave birth to the modern centerline—t...

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 Americans were sent to camps under suspicion of aiding the enemy. Yet from those same camps came volunteers who joined the U.S. Army, determined to prove their loyalty. Known as the Nisei, these second-generation Japanese Americans fought in Europe&rs...

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 Tokyo meant to lift American spirits. Among the men who volunteered was Jacob DeShazer, a young bombardier whose life would take a turn few could imagine. Captured and imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp, he endured starvation, torture, and isolation. Yet...

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 for taking another man’s life, a crime for which he takes full responsibility. Each Sunday, Our American Stories host Lee Habeeb talks with Mitch over the phone about life, faith, and redemption behind bars. In this opening conversation, Mitch...

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Heinz Ketchup became a fixture in American kitchens, Henry John Heinz was a young entrepreneur selling bottled horseradish from his mother’s garden in Pittsburgh. He believed that honesty and quality could build a brand, and he lived by the motto, “To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success.” As his brand grew, his gla...

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Clarence Saunders opened Piggly Wiggly in 1916, shoppers in Memphis, Tennessee, didn’t know what to make of it. Until then, groceries were ordered at a counter while a clerk gathered every item. Saunders told customers to do something new: take a basket, walk the aisles, and choose for themselves. It was the first self-service grocery store, and...

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 would unite the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and open the world to faster trade. The French tried first, but disease and disaster claimed their dream. When the United States took over, Theodore Roosevelt called it a mission worthy of a great nation....

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the winter of 1838, a political argument in Congress crossed a line few thought possible. Maine Representative Jonathan Cilley and Kentucky’s William Graves met on a field just outside Washington, rifles in hand. The nation watched in disbelief as two elected officials prepared to settle a dispute the old-fashioned way. When the smoke cleared, one...