With Memorial Day last week, I felt it appropriate to write something patriotic in honor of those who gave their last full measure of devotion to our nation.
One idea I have been mulling over for a while now has to do with our national anthem.
I have noticed lately, as I attend many different sporting events, that before the anthem is played, the announcer will say something like, “Please stand and remove your hats as we honor our veterans by the playing of the national anthem.”
Now, while I am a massive supporter of our troops, at first this seemed odd to me. Normally, I had heard announcers say we are honoring America. While honoring the troops is implicit in the lyrics, as it was written right after a battle, the national anthem more seems to celebrate our nation’s resilience, freedom, and our actual flag.
The last line to all four verses is “O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” Yet, as I looked closer into the practice of playing the anthem at sporting events, I found that honoring troops was originally an important aspect of the anthem to which we are simply returning.
I don’t have time to cover the entire history of how the anthem was written, but suffice to say that Francis Scott Key was aboard a British ship as it attacked Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. Going into the battle, Key assumed the fort would fall as he watched the nighttime bombardment. Yet, to his surprise, the next morning the large flag above the fort was still waving and it inspired him to write a poem entitled “Defence of Fort M’Henry.” Later, the poem was put to the music of “To Anacreon to Heaven” which was a popular drinking song, and it was released as “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Eventually, this song became part of America’s songbook which was dominated by patriotic music.
At the end of the 19th century, military and marching songs flooded the sheet music market. While the nation’s most popular composer, Charles Ives, wrote some military-style songs, patriotism was most visible in the songs of John Philip Sousa who wrote songs like “Stars and Stripes Forever.”
“The Star-Spangled Banner” was just one of many of these types of songs and was often used in official military proceedings like flag raisings. Sousa, who led the United States Marine Band, began to play “The Star-Spangled Banner” at official diplomatic events after the band had played the other nations’ national anthems. Finally, in 1916, on the eve of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson declared the song “The Star-Spangled Banner” the nation anthem, but it would not become official until 1931 by act of Congress.
For the purposes of this story, the important year was 1918, a year and half into America’s involvement in the Great War. In September of that year, American troops had joined a tragic conflict that had already claimed the lives of over a million soldiers and would take the lives of more than 54,000 Americans on the battlefield alone. While the war brought out the best of most Americans, it also had its share of detractors, especially among socialist groups who saw the war as part of their struggle against capitalism.
On Sept. 4, one such group, as part of a series of attacks against America, threw a bomb into a Chicago post office killing four and wounding a dozen more. In the midst of mourning, fear and tension, the next day the Chicago Cubs took on the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the World Series.
Being played at Chicago’s Comiskey Park the day after the attacks, and with the war on everyone’s minds, there was a reason for the lack of excitement in the stands and among the players. Attendance was so low that players considered not playing, as part of their salary was based on the gate.
Yet, everything changed during the 7th inning stretch when the band played “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
One Red Sox player, Fred Thomas, was an active duty in the Navy but was given permission to play in the World Series. When he heard the song, he turned and saluted the flag which prompted the rest of the players to face the flag with their hands on their hearts.
Moved by what they saw on the field, the small crowd began to sing the words and when the song ended, they broke out in the loudest cheers of the day. Because of this response, the Cubs played the song during the next two games, the Red Sox picked it up and played it at the three remaining games in Boston. The Sox even gave out free tickets to any wounded vets and honored them in Game 6.
As a sidenote, I should mention that in Game 1, the Red Sox won 1-0 behind the pitching of one Babe Ruth who would be traded to the New York Yankees after the series. Boston won the series but would not win another until 2004 because of the ‘Curse of the Bambino.’
The Red Sox made playing of the anthem a regular part of their games and soon other teams followed.
During WWII, the National Football League decided to follow suit as a way of honoring troops. Then, during the Cold War, the anthem became part of most sporting events and other national celebrations but became more about celebrating and honoring American unity than honoring our troops.
Growing up in the 1980s and ‘90s I don’t remember hearing the anthem as honoring troops at my many sporting events, it was more about reviving and amplifying the American spirit.
Two events brought the anthem back full circle: 9/11 and Colin Kaepernick.
After 9/11 and the beginning of the War on Terror, Americans began focusing our attention again on our fighting troops. Even more, however, was when athletes began taking a knee during the playing of the anthem which was seen as a slap in the face of all those who had died defending our nation.
Kaepernick, more than anything else, made us examine what our anthem really means. Sometimes it’s easy to be complacent when we do something so many times. The national anthem just became the song we sang before we played a game. Yet, the protests were almost a challenge to America to consider what we believe.
I am thankful that most Americans commit themselves to stand for the pledge and honor those who made our country the land of the free because it’s the home of the brave.
James Finck is a professor of American history at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. He can be reached at HistoricallySpeaking1776@gmail.com.
