Our American Stories

On this episode of Our American Stories, the story most people know about Monopoly  is charming—and false. It was never just the invention of one down-on-his-luck salesman. The real roots of the game stretch back to a politically charged board game called  The Landlord’s Game , created by a woman named Lizzie Magie to warn people about the dangers of unchecked greed. Her game...

On this episode of Our American Stories, before it became a greasy icon or a late-night craving, the hamburger was an immigrant invention trying to make itself useful. German farmers working the fairgrounds needed something fast and portable, so someone tucked spiced beef between slices of bread, and the hamburger was born. It wasn’t fancy, but it worked. Then came Upton Sinclair, whose book...

On this episode of Our American Stories, it’s not carved into marble or codified into law, but you’ll hear it whispered in cockpits and painted on the walls of Navy offices across the world: “Don’t Give Up the Ship.” The phrase didn’t come from a slogan factory. It came from the dying words of Captain James Lawrence during the Battle of Lake Erie, shouted in def...

On this episode of Our American Stories, most restaurant founders fade into the background. Colonel Harland Sanders did the opposite.  Long before fast food chains had PR teams and brand strategies, Sanders was out there shaking hands in his signature white suit, pitching his secret recipe, and turning himself into a walking trademark. Adam Chandler, author of Drive Thru Dreams , joins us to...

On this episode of Our American Stories, before the laughs, the monologues, and the unforgettable guests, there was a man whose story seldom got told. Love Johnny Carson , writer and obsessive researcher Mark Malkoff dives deep into the life of the man who ruled The Tonight Show for three decades. Through exclusive interviews and unseen material, Malkoff builds the most complete picture yet of Joh...

On this episode of Our American Stories, before he ever stepped onto a film set, Peter Ortiz had already survived more danger than most action heroes face in a lifetime. A decorated Marine, fluent in multiple languages and trained in espionage, he parachuted into Nazi-occupied France in 1944 with one mission: aid the resistance and disrupt the enemy from within. The Gestapo put a price on his head...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Andrew Thompson shares another slice of his guide to understanding the baffling mini-mysteries of the English language. His book is  Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red: The Curious Origins of Everyday Sayings and Fun Phrases.  This time, Andrew explores the backstories of phrases like “wild goose chase” and “wrong end of the s...

On this episode of Our American Stories, why was Jesus born in a manger? Why were shepherds the first to know? And why did a Roman census set the stage for it all? In Why the Nativity? , Dr. David Jeremiah walks through the entire Christmas narrative to explain why each person was part of it. Mary, Joseph, the wise men, and even the animals in the stable each carry meaning beyond tradition. Dr. Je...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Jesse Owens arrived in Berlin for the 1936 Olympics as one of the fastest men in the world. The long jump competition placed him beside Luz Long, a German athlete competing under the watchful eyes of the Nazi regime and in a stadium built to showcase its ideals. During the event, Long noticed Owens struggling with his approach and quietly offered advice tha...

On this episode of Our American Stories, after a flash flood tore through his church, Stephen Rusiniak stood ankle-deep in water and debris, not quite sure where to begin. The rooms where Sunday school once echoed had collapsed into a mess of ruined walls and floating Bibles. But it’s what happened next that really left a mark. What Stephen witnessed reminded him of a scene from  How th...

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. Mitch opens with a memory that still sets the tone for how he sees prison: a place where y...

On this episode of Our American Stories, The Civil War had ended. Washington was alive with celebration, and President Lincoln was finally stepping into a season that promised hope. But that new beginning never arrived. John Wilkes Booth cut it short. Our host, Lee Habeeb, shares the story in a way you may not have heard before—one that begins with the happiest day of Lincoln’s life ju...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Andrew Thompson shares another slice of his guide to understanding the baffling mini-mysteries of the English language, this time diving into how the phrase “bring home the bacon” came to be. His book,  Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red: The Wonderful Origins of Everyday Expressions and Fun Phrases , is a must-read. Be sure to check it...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Christmas has a way of slipping into the cracks of history, even in years when war tried to swallow the season whole. The History Guy pulls together the overlooked moments when Christmas and military history collided in unexpected ways. Support the show ( https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate...

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Paul decided it was time to get serious about weight loss, he went all in on the kind of fitness plan that looks sensible on paper and slightly unhinged in practice. He wrestled with machines that never moved, counted laps he could never quite remember, and kept trying to turn discipline into something he enjoyed. His journey through healthy eating hab...

On this episode of Our American Stories, John Ford was already shaping the Golden Age of film, the force behind classics like Stagecoach  and  The Informer,  when World War II pulled him toward a different kind of frontier. At forty-seven, with Hollywood at his feet and a reputation as one of America’s greatest directors, Ford walked away from the studio lot and into the U.S....

On this episode of Our American Stories, Babe Ruth was the Greatest baseball player of all time, yet time proved to be his greatest enemy. Join us as Mike Gibbons tells the story of Babe Ruth's final years as a professional baseball player. Support the show ( https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...

On this episode of Our American Stories, when the Oklahoma City bombing shattered the Murrah Building, people were left searching for something that made sense. The investigation into Timothy McVeigh was only just beginning, and the shock of the tragedy had not yet lifted. Billy Graham arrived in a city that felt suspended between grief and disbelief. His sermon offered language for a moment no on...

On this episode of Our American Stories, every country has moments it would rather not rewatch, and the Palmer Raids sit high on America’s list. What began as scattered bomb scares and loud political rhetoric slowly slid into mass arrests, borderless investigations, and a government convinced that civil liberties were optional when the stakes felt high enough. Larry Reed unpacks how fear, po...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Enrique had lived a long, dignified life at the St. Louis Zoo when age finally caught up to his feet. Arthritis doesn’t care whether you’re human or penguin, and soon every step told his keepers something needed to change. What followed wasn’t a grand breakthrough so much as a series of small experiments that eventually pointed toward an i...

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Christmas settled into the shape we know, the holiday moved through centuries of reinvention. Early Europeans marked the dark stretch of winter with fire and evergreens, while later religious debates pushed the season in new and sometimes unexpected directions. By the time America embraced Christmas as a public holiday, it had gathered customs f...

On this episode of Our American Stories, every December, families chase the idea of a perfect Christmas tree. Sometimes you find it standing in a snowy field. Sometimes you find it in a grocery-store parking lot when the sun’s already down, and the good ones are gone. Jim Johnson knows that chase better than most. His search took him through freezing Minnesota afternoons, crowded tree farms,...

On this episode of Our American Stories, the most famous reindeer in the world was voiced by someone most people have never heard of. Billie Mae Richards, a Canadian actress and mother of five, gave Rudolph his voice in the 1964 holiday special that became a staple of American television. She recorded the part in just a few hours, never expecting the character to last. What followed were decades o...

On this episode of Our American Stories, every winter, the same question makes its rounds: Is Die Hard  a Christmas movie? It premiered in the heat of July, packed with explosions instead of sleigh bells, but something strange happened once audiences got hold of it. The film began drifting toward December as if it had been invited all along. Stephen Follows walks us through that slow migratio...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Harvard is often defined by its oldest traditions and its most privileged stories, but some of its lasting influence came from students who began far from that world. James Bradley Thayer and Chauncey Wright grew up in the rural corners of Massachusetts at a time when Harvard seemed reserved only for Boston’s elite. Their path into the university resh...