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miliRlt;v/^-AV/4By ELMO SCOTT WATSONT LAST the United States of America has an oflicial national anthem. True, for more than a century we have had a song which has been popularly regarded as the national anthem, and since 1910 an order issued by a President to give it a semblance of official sanction. But it wasn't until this year during the closing session of the last congress, when both houses passed a bill and President Hoover immediately signed it, that Francis Scott Key’s “The Star Spangled Banner” became the official American national anthem.The story of how “The Star Spangled Banner’* came into being Is so familiar a one as to need here only the merest reference to the incident which produced it—how Francis Scott Key, a young Baltimore lawyer, went on the ship Minden under a flag of truce to the British fleet which was moving against Baltimore to effect the release of a friend, Dr. William Beanies; how Key was successful In his mission, hut the Minden was held under guard by the British when they opened the attack on Fort McHenry, the sole remaining defense of Baltimore; how the Minden was anchored In a position which enabled Key to see the American flag fluttering from the tall flagstaff on the fort; how throughout the day of September 13, 1814, he watched the bombardment of the fort by the guns of the enemy fleet without knowing how the battle was progressing—except that as long as the flag flew he knew all was well; how his vigil continued through the night until “by the dawn’s early light” lie saw that “our flag was still there”; and how finally he sat down and on the back of an envelope wrote the poem which was to become the words of our national anthem.Key’s poem was first printed in the Baltimore American on September 21. Later it was distributed in handbill form, set to the music of an air known as “Adams and Liberty,” which was,in turn, an old English drinking song, “To Anacreon In Heaven.” This tune was composed by . John Stafford Smith and the verses were written ,by Ralph Tomlinson—“a sprightly little poem in praise of love and wine,” It has been clescribcid—and the song was sung by the tipplers of the Anaereonic Society of London at the close of their fortnightly meetings at the Crown and Anchor tavern in the Strand. And, as we shall see later, this constituted one of the objfeetions to having “The Star Spangled Banner” as our national anthem.For this song, born in battle, has been the subject of controversy for .many years. It has not always been regarded as the national anthem.In 1861 a prize of $500 was offered In this country for a truly national hymn. Twelve hundred were sent to the committee, but not one was found worthy and there was no award.The project was revived again three years ago by the National Federation of Music Clubs, but again was unsuccessful when a contest in . which nearly 1,000 manuscripts were entered from every state In the Union, Alaska, Hawaii, England, India and France, failed to produce a melody of sufficient merit to put to the famous poem of Katherine Lee Bates, “America, The Beautiful.”At that time John Philip Sousa, “the March King” and composer of much of America’s most stirring martial music, was interviewed about this project. “America will never get a national anthem by offering prizes for one,” he declared. “Anthems are not written in that easy, off-hand manner. Most of them have been products of great national stress, particularly of peril or victory. Perhaps we shall hear objections against a war song as the American national anthem, but we have hardly reached that degree of hu-
Newspaper Details
Blockton News
Blockton, Iowa, US
Thu, May 21, 1931
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Clayton J.
UT, USA 12 Aug 2021
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