The United States officially adopted “The Star-Spangled Banner” as its national anthem in 1931.
Congress passed a joint resolution making the song the official anthem on March 3, 1931, and President Herbert Hoover signed it into law the following day. Before then, songs such as “Hail, Columbia” and “My Country, ’Tis of Thee” had served as de facto national anthems at official occasions, but the United States had no formally designated anthem.
The song’s words began as a poem by Francis Scott Key, written after he watched the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. The poem, originally titled “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” was set to the melody of “The Anacreontic Song,” written by British composer John Stafford Smith.
The song had already gained official military recognition: the U.S. Navy authorized it for ceremonial use in 1889. Another frequent mistake is identifying 1814 as the adoption year; that is the year Key wrote the poem, not the year Congress made it the national anthem. Although the anthem has four stanzas, public performances usually sing only the first.