President Woodrow Wilson ordered it played at all naval and military occasions in 1916 and by 1931 it was our national anthem.

The military drove this issue - they'd played it at functions for dec-ades before Wilson's decree.

I don't know why all involved thought this song - which is ridiculously hard to sing - needed to be our national anthem. Tell me we wouldn't be better off with ''America the Beautiful,'' a song that's actually about this nation and not about one moment in our long and storied history?

Lawyer/poet Francis Scott Key penned the poem that later became our Na-tional Anthem during the War of 1812 as he watched the British Navy lob shells at Baltimore's Fort McHenry for 25 hours. The valiant defense of the fort of-fered by more than 1,000 dedicated Americans inspired him to put words to paper.

Which is fine. But do you know what happened after that?

Those words were set to song - an English song - ''Anacreon in Heaven.'' It was written in about 1775 by John Stafford Smith and was originally the theme song of the Anacreontic Society, a gentlemen's music club in London named after the 6th-century B.C Greek poet Anacreon.

So you're clear, the national anthem of the greatest nation in the his-tory of the world is a poem about a naval bombardment of Baltimore set to a popular English song of the time.

The original flag that the Brits couldn't knock over or blow up is on display at the Smithsonian Natural Museum of American History. Learn more at

http://americanhistory.si.edu/ssb/2—home/fs2.html

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Christopher Bennett is Unamerican! wrote on Jun 28, 2007 8:10 AM:

" It seems rather clear that the reason this song was chosen as the National Anthem is because it represents the birth of our nation! The lyrics were written during the battle. .."the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there." And the melody from a English song. What could be more representative of our struggle for independance and the glorious victory?! "

So I am clear wrote on Jun 20, 2007 4:46 PM:

" So...what is your point? "

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