Episode 1005: America 250 – The Story of the National Anthem with Shannon McLucas

Newt talks with Fort McHenry National Park Ranger and historian Shannon McLucas about the remarkable story behind America's national anthem. McLucas recounts how Francis Scott Key, a Georgetown lawyer sent to negotiate a prisoner release, found himself aboard a British ship during the 25-hour bombardment of Fort McHenry in September 1814, unable to leave as he anxiously watched the battle unfold. His eyewitness emotional reaction became the poem "Defence of Fort M’Henry," set to a familiar tune and spreading virally across the young Republic within weeks. McLucas explains how the song endured for over a century before being officially designated the national anthem in 1931 under President Hoover. Their conversation also covers the hand-sewn garrison flag made by Baltimore seamstress Mary Pickersgill, what visitors can experience at Fort McHenry today, and how the fort celebrates the Fourth of July with a public reading of the Declaration of Independence.

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