This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years, and now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint.
It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. I turned off news altogether.
I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we can calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting.
Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. and BC News reporting for America. Uh This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't-miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Experience music performances from major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration at America250.org. What's up y'all? Summer's got a different tempo.
Everything's a little looser, brighter. One plan turns into another. You hear something, you stay a little longer.
Next thing you know, you're somewhere you didn't plan to be. It's those in between moments. That's where the ideas hit. conversations stretch out, little memories sneak up on you.
Sometimes it's just about what's in your hand. that color. That chill. a new tropical butterfly refresher from Starbucks. guava and passion fruit flavors with mango pineapple flavored pearls.
Yeah. That feels like summer before you even taste it. Funny how one small stop becomes the best part of the day. Start your summer rhythm. with Starbucks.
Try the new Tropical Butterfly Refresher from Starbucks. Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamar. Want the full story? Take a listen.
She starts dating Howard Hughes. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5.
Goodbye. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. The word mascot is French, originating from the French term for lucky charm. originally tied to anything thought to bring prosperity to a household, Mascots today bring a form of identity to a sports team, a company, or a nation. Here to tell the story of how America's mascot, Uncle Sam, came to be.
is Wall Street Journal contributor Stu Halpern. Take it away, Stu. Yep.
So the rumor long persisted that Uncle Sam was actually based on a real life figure. That figure was a fellow by the name of Samuel Wilson.
Now, Wilson lived in the late 1700s. He was born outside of Boston in 1766. And during the War of 1812, fought by the United States against Britain, Wilson was a popular and impactful figure. He provided barrels of meat to American troops, and the barrels were stamped with the sign U.S.
So the story goes that a soldier turned to someone and asked, Well, what does US stand for? And he was told, Uncle Sam Wilson is he who is feeding the army. Um And historians have actually said it's not surprising that this myth of origins arose from this rather avuncular fellow, because as historian Alton Ketchum has noted, quote, an atmosphere of jocularity. seems to have pervaded Samuel Wilson's operations wherever he went. This was thought to be the origins of the mythical figure, the personified United States.
But. A few years ago, there was a discovery made of a journal by Isaac Mayo, who was a teenage Navy midshipman. and it proved that in fact the nickname Uncle Sam had predated Sam Wilson's appearance in the War of 1812. On March 24th, 1810, Mayo wrote in his diary from the USS Wasp where he was serving on the ship. Quote, the first and second day out, I was most deadly seasick.
Oh, could I have gone on shore in the height of it? I swear that Uncle Sam, as they call him, would certainly forever have lost the services of at least one self. In other words, already in 1810, people were talking about the United States through this personified character of Uncle Sam even before our beloved Sam Wilson was packing meat to serve to sailors.
Well, regardless of the actual origins, the nickname Uncle Sam actually stuck. and so the figure started to be depicted on political cartoons such as one in eighteen thirty two. That cartoon, which was elaborating on the debate over President Andrew Jackson's attack on the Bank of the United States, was titled Uncle Sam in Danger. And in that image, Uncle Sam is round-faced and clean-shaven, wearing a star and striped gown and what was known as a Liberty cap, not yet the top hat that he would later be known for. Over time, as the historian David Hackett Fisher has shown, the dressing gown depicted in that painting was replaced by a swallowtail coat and the Liberty cap turned into a beaver hat, not yet, again, the top hat that we will know and eventually love.
Now, a lot of countries are known as maternal or paternal figures or images. Germany is known as the fatherland to Germans. Russians speak of Mother Russia. But the American Republic, its idea of the nation state as a kindly old uncle to whom Americans feel attached, but not dependent, is something that uniquely characterizes America. During the Civil War, Uncle Sam symbolized the Union in an 1862 lithograph.
known as Yankee Volunteers marching into Dixie, There's an entire army of identical Sams who are, at that point, clean-shaven and smiling as they march towards an assured victory on the part of the North. Around the same time, however, some artists started depicting Uncle Sam as Lincoln-like. Because of course the union idolized the beloved president and they started depicting Uncle Sam as being similar in visage.
So Uncle Sam became tall, lanky, and bearded. Unlike in those earlier depictions.
So closely, in fact, was Lincoln identified with the figure of this mythical Uncle Sam that when Lincoln was assassinated, A reporter in Charleston, South Carolina, described how, upon hearing of Lincoln's assassination, a bereaved black woman wrung her hands together and wailed on the street that Uncle Sam had been killed.
Now Sam of course outlived President Lincoln as he has outlived all previous and for sure subsequent American political leaders. Perhaps the best known image of Uncle Sam was made by an illustrator named James Montgomery Flagg. He made this image for Leslie's Weekly magazine in 1960. This was before America entered World War I, and the original iteration of the image demanded to know from this depicted Uncle Sam, what are you doing for preparedness? The stern-faced poster asked its onlookers.
Once the US entered the war, now this was World War I, the text was changed to: I want you. for the U.S. Army. And in this depiction, Uncle Sam now looked a little bit less like Lincoln, but more like the British Lord Kitchener who had conquered Sudan on behalf of the British Empire.
So Uncle Sam morphed, if you will. As his myth continued to grow and find new political context to impact. And this, Uncle Sam, not like a lanky. Unintimidating Lincoln was more mighty and more intimidating looking, a figure befitting a military striving for victory in war. And this poster by flag was printed in the millions.
In fact, four million were distributed to the U.S. during the war, fixing Uncle Sam in the national imagination. A few decades later in World War II, Uncle Sam swapped his hi-hat for a GI helmet. And on factory posters, he urged workers to be efficient and warned against spreading rumors about how the war was going and other such matters. There was even a version aimed at farmers, yes farmers, and it wanted to tell the farmers to get ready for the census taker who would be asking them about crops, livestock, and even tractors.
In other words, Uncle Sam was making hyper-specific appearances in different segments of American political and civil society. In the 21st century, Uncle Sam shows no signs of slowing down despite his age. Uncle Sam will no doubt be there as he always has been. In various forms, offering a comforting shoulder, a sense of purpose, and hopefully, like his purported namesake, Sam Wilson was known. A good joke.
Yeah. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Monty Montgomery and Reagan Habib. And a special thanks to Stu Halpern. His book, The Promise of Liberty, a Passover Haggadah, is available in bookstores, on Amazon, or wherever you get your books. I urge you to get it.
The story of Uncle Sam, his beginnings we're still not sure, to today, and beyond, the story of America's mascot, Here on Our American Stories. Yeah. This is Lee Habib, host of Our American Stories. Every day on this show, we tell stories of history, faith, business, love, loss, and your stories. Send us your stories, small or large, to our email, oas at ouramericanstories.com.
That's oas at ouramericanstories.com. We'd love to hear them and put them on the air. Our audience loves them too. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years.
And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q.
That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't-miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances from major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks.
Learn more about this landmark celebration at America250.org. I'm U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Yeah. We all get distracted when we drive.
whether it's from our phones, Or kids in the backseat bickering. But how we handle these distractions can be a matter of life. or death. Before you get on the road for your next road trip, Please put your phones on silent. and take a mental note.
to focus on driving. Paid for by Nitza. Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedi Lamar. Want the full story?
Take a listen. She starts dating Howard Hughes. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5.
Goodbye. Mom, are we there yet? 10 more minutes. Only 10 minutes? Can you drive slower?
What's up with them today? Lingo Kids. That app we downloaded last week? They love it. The games, this funny baby bot character.
Kids, we're almost there. With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs, and shows little ones can't get enough of, Lingo Kids is the number one entertainment platform for young kids. Why didn't we download this sooner? Everything kids love. Download it for free.
