Star-Spangled Banner Story
The American flag loomed large above a smoke filled Fort McHenry in 1814. The fort had held and the British retreated. It was a scene that inspired Francis Scott Key to pen a poem that would eventually be renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” John Stafford Smith composed a melody for the poem which became popular with military bands and at public events. But “The Star-Spangled Banner” wouldn’t become the national anthem until March 3, 1931 when President Herbert Hoover signed it into law.
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