For America's 250th anniversary, who wrote the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner”?

Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the United States national anthem associated with America’s 250th anniversary.

Key wrote the poem in 1814 after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. From a ship in Baltimore Harbor, he saw the American flag still flying over the fort after the night attack. That sight inspired the poem “Defence of Fort M'Henry.”

The words were set to the melody of “Anacreon in Heaven,” an English song associated with the Anacreontic Society. The tune was already known when Key’s poem circulated in newspapers and sheet music, which helped the song spread quickly.

Congress made “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem in 1931. Key wrote four stanzas, but public performances usually use only the first. The flag that inspired him is preserved at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.