“The Star-Spangled Banner” became the official national anthem of the United States on March 3, 1931.
The song began as a poem by Francis Scott Key, who wrote its words after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. The poem, originally titled “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” was published in 1814 and was soon set to the melody of a popular British song by John Stafford Smith.
The song became widely performed during the nineteenth century, but it was not initially the country’s legally designated anthem. The U.S. Navy recognized it for official use in 1889, and President Woodrow Wilson ordered it played at certain military and public occasions in 1916.
Congress passed a joint resolution making it the national anthem on March 3, 1931. President Herbert Hoover signed the measure on March 4. The poem has four stanzas, although public performances almost always use only the first. Its adoption date is therefore much later than both the 1814 poem and the War of 1812 event that inspired it.