Wiregrass Seniors Magazine July 2018 JULY ISSUE | Page 10

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The Anacreontic Song, as it was known, had a track
record of popularity in the United States by 1814. In
one famous case, defenders of the embattled sec-
ond president, John Adams, used the tune for a song
called “Adams and Liberty.”
Key himself had even used the tune before, as ac-
companiment for verses he wrote in 1805 commemo-
rating American naval victories in the Barbary War.
Key’s Complicated Legacy
After the war of 1812, Key continued his thriving law
career. He served as a member of the “Kitchen Cabi-
net” of President Andrew Jackson and in 1833 was
appointed as a U.S. attorney for the District of Co-
lumbia.
He composed other verses over the course of his life,
but none received anywhere close to the recognition
of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” After contracting pleu-
risy, Key died in 1843 at the age of 63.
Though his celebrated anthem proclaimed the United
States “the land of the free,” Key was in fact a
slaveholder from an old Maryland plantation family,
and as a U.S. attorney argued several prominent
cases against the abolitionist movement. He did
speak out against the cruelties of the institution of sla-
very, but did not see abolition as the solution.
In 1931—more than 100 years after it was com-
posed—Congress passed a measure declaring “The
Star-Spangled Banner” as the official national anthem.
History of the National Anthem at Sporting
Events
“The Star-Spangled Banner” made its sporting-event
debut in September 1918, during that year’s first World
Instead, Key became a leader of the colonization
Series game between the Chicago Cubs and Bos-
movement, which advocated the relocation of black
ton Red Sox.
slaves to Africa and eventually resulted in the modern
nation of Liberia.
In addition to the ongoing toll of World War I, a cloud
of violence hung over Chicago’s Comiskey Park, as
Growing Popularity of “The Star-Spangled Banner” a bomb had torn apart the Chicago Federal Building
At first, “The Star-Spangled Banner” trailed “Yankee just the day before. During the seventh-inning stretch,
Doodle” and “Hail Columbia” in popularity among pa- the military band on hand struck up “The Star-
triotic 19th-century tunes. But during and immediately Spangled Banner,” and in a moving spectacle, play-
after the Civil War, Key’s song gained a deeper mean- ers and fans alike fell silent and saluted the flag.
ing, as the American flag became an increasingly
powerful symbol of national unity.
The practice soon spread across major league base-
ball, and into other sports, and eventually became a
By the 1890s, the U.S military had adopted the song widely accepted pregame tradition.
for ceremonial purposes, playing it to accompany the
raising and lowering of the colors. In 1916, President Many still view the playing of “The Star-Spangled Ban-
Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order desig- ner” before sporting events as an important patriotic
nating it “the national anthem of the United States.” ritual that should not be infringed.