What was the first official U.S. national anthem, adopted in 1931?

The Star-Spangled Banner became the official U.S. national anthem in 1931.

The anthem's words come from “Defence of Fort M'Henry,” a poem Francis Scott Key wrote on September 14, 1814. Key had watched the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore and saw the large American flag still flying at dawn. The poem was later set to the melody of “Anacreon in Heaven,” an English song associated with John Stafford Smith.

The song was widely performed for more than a century before Congress officially adopted it on March 3, 1931. Before then, “Hail, Columbia” and “My Country, 'Tis of Thee” served as prominent unofficial patriotic songs, but neither was the legally designated national anthem. The anthem has four verses, although public performances almost always use only the first.