'The Star-Spangled Banner': A Key to My Past

Capitol Confidential ^ | 9/14/2010 | Kathy Hoekstra

[MichCapCon]

This past Saturday, Sept. 11, there were somber ceremonies, moments of silence and prayers in remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attacks on that date in 2001. American Flags fluttered in abundance — many at half staff — outside homes and businesses throughout the nation.

Hearts undoubtedly swelled a little extra as our national anthem was played at high school, college and professional football stadiums over the weekend.

For this proud American, the sounds of "The Star-Spangled Banner" are even more poignant. This is not only because I, like millions of my fellow countrymen, watched in horror as terrorists attacked our nation nine years ago, but because I am a direct descendant of the author, Francis Scott Key. But despite my family connection, like many Americans I am guilty of a common offense: stopping once the words "...home of the brave" have faded into the wilderness of cheers and the game.

Key actually wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner" as a four-stanza poem. Only the first is played or sung before sporting events. What the late author and scientist Isaac Asimov suggests in his brilliant essay in 1991 about "The Star-Spangled Banner" is that we are robbing ourselves of an answer to the question raised in the first stanza and stemmed from what transpired on Sept. 13-14, 1814.

Key was aboard a British supply ship behind enemy lines when the Brits attacked Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the war of 1812. He was sent to help negotiate the release of Dr. William Beanes. After securing the doctor's release, however, it was too late. The attack had begun. Key started composing "The Star-Spangled Banner" by jotting notes on an envelope. The battle began the evening of Sept. 13, 1814, and ended 25 hours later.