This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q.
Heat up your 4th of July at the Home Depot with our wide variety of grills under $300 and make every gathering one to remember. Give your outdoor space a glow up, whatever your budget is with savings on seasonal plants starting at $5. With the grill fired up and your backyard set to perfection, you'll be able to invite friends and family over to kick off the party. Start celebrating with Low price is guaranteed at the Home Depot. Prices may vary by store, decisions of life, see home depot.com/slash price match for details.
This is a message from Michelin. Of course, you're expecting to hear sounds like. Or even Mm. But not this time. What you will hear is...
Right? Because at Michelin, we innovate on the road and beyond by creating airless tires to equip robots in their exploration of new planets. And this robot is rolling in negative 88 degrees Fahrenheit. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a Camp Miss Fourth of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Experience music performances by major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Block Party tickets now for $17.76 at America250.org/slash LA. It's America's 250th, but you deserve some presents too. Simon Malls, mills, and premium outlets have can't-miss sales July 3rd to 5th.
Join Simon Plus, our new rewards program, for free and get 2.5 times the points in addition to extra savings, cashback, and offers that also work at shopsimon.com. Grab the fam, head to a Simon Center, and make it a day for the books. It's a celebration thing. Sign up today at Simon Plus. SimonPlus.com.
Rewards program terms apply. See SimonPlus.com for details. This is our American Stories, and as you know, we love to tell stories about everything here on this show, particularly history. And all of our history stories are brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College. For the last century, Americans have honored our country by singing words that were written by a tone-deaf lawyer to the tune of a British social club song.
Francis Frank Scott Key was not someone you would have picked to write our national anthem. Here is Mark Liebson, author of a biography on Key, What So Proudly We Held. to tell us more about the unlikely events. That brought us. Our national anthem.
And here's the story of how it is. Francis Scott Key, the big Washington, D.C. lawyer. The pious patriot Wrote the words that will become our national anthem, what will become known as the Star-Spangled Banner. This story starts During the War of 1812, With the Battle of Bladensburg, Bladensburg, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C.
This is one of the most embarrassing defeats in U.S. military history. Uh the British who, you know, changed the complexion of the war of 1812 after defeating Napoleon in 1814 and sent thousands of crack troops over here. They were raiding up the Chesapeake Bay. They came to the outskirts of Washington and they overran just a pathetic group of last minute thrown together militiamen on August 26th.
overran them and came into Washington and most people remember that they burned the White House, Treasury Department and other public buildings. Yeah. An embarrassing defeat, not so much in the terms of how many were killed. There weren't many because the British just moved right through.
So after the battle, of Bladensburg, the British left Washington. They went back to the Chesapeake Bay. and they got on their ships. and they headed toward Baltimore, which people didn't know at the time. But when they did, they took prisoner a man named Dr.
William Beans, who owned a farm in Upper Marlborough, Maryland, which was on the way out east of Washington, D.C. And he made the mistake of taking a couple of British stragglers prisoner. When the Brits saw them, they were not very happy about it. And so they took Dr. Beans prisoner.
He was an older man. He was in his 60s. They took him away and they headed up to Baltimore, which was, like I said, not known at the time. Prisoner releases and prisoner exchanges were common during the War of 1812. It happened all the time.
And The man who was chosen to argue for Dr. Bean's release was a man named Francis Scott Key. He was a big lawyer in Washington, D.C. He was born and raised in Maryland in what was then Frederick County, north of the city of Frederick. He went to law school.
He read the law at St. John's College in Annapolis, and he had a thriving practice in Washington, D.C. He was known for his eloquence in front of juries. He could talk people into things. He was asked by the family of Dr.
Beans to arrange his release. He was a member of a prominent family in Washington. Francis Scott Key was. By the way, they called him Frank, so everybody called him Frank, so we'll call him Frank for the rest of the story. Frank Key was asked by the Beans family to arrange the release.
He got permission from President Madison. And on September 2nd, 1814, he got on his horse and he rode up to Baltimore. When he got to Baltimore, He met up with a US Army Lieutenant Colonel named John Skinner. Skinner's job was to arrange prisoner releases and prisoner exchanges. He met up with Skinner.
They got on a small American ship and they went out and looked for the British fleet and they found them and they were welcomed on board the flagship. of the British fleet. They made their case. They did it over lunch or dinner. Wine was consumed and Frank used his powers of persuasion and the British agreed.
One of the things that helped his cause was that before they left Washington, before he left Washington, he picked up a packet of letters. Letters from British prisoners who had been taken prisoner during the Battle of Bladensburg and the sacking of Washington, D.C. And they testified to the fact that they were being treated very well by the Americans.
So that convinced the Brits and they said, we'll let Dr. Beans go.
However, we have some work to do. We are going to destroy the city of Baltimore.
Now, The British purposely did not burn any private homes in Washington. They only went after public buildings, but not so in Baltimore. Why did they want to destroy Baltimore?
Well, you know, We may forget, but As in the case of most of our wars, before we got into the War of 1812, It was a very controversial thing. Basically, it was a North-South split, with Southerners generally in favor of going to war and Northerners against it. Francis Scott Key was born in the North. And grew up there, but you really have to categorize him as a Southerner and outlook. You know, Maryland was a state in which slavery was legal.
His family owned slaves. He grew up on a plantation. And he did have a conservative Southern outlook. But he was against the Americans going into the War of 1812. But Mm.
Key's views changed on the war when the Brits started invading up the Chesapeake Bay. He actually joined a Georgetown militia unit. He went out to the Chesapeake, served as a quartermaster officer. He did not serve very long, just about a week, and he got tired of the war, so he quit and he went back to Georgetown. But he did support the war after that.
And why were the Brits so intent on destroying Baltimore?
Well, the country was divided, but not in Baltimore. The people of Baltimore were very war hawkish in the War of 1812. And, you know, the U.S. was not prepared militarily To go into this war, especially with the Navy.
So the call went out to private. Shipowners, if they wanted to use their, let their ships be used in the cause against the Brits, they could. And Baltimore led the country in lending private ships. They were called Baltimore Clippers. They were very fast ships and they gave the Brits a lot of trouble on the seas.
And the Brits did not like this. One British newspaper writer referred to Baltimore as a nest of thieves.
So, Francis Gawke, Dr. Beans, and Skinner were taken back to their American ship.
Sometimes you hear that they were held prisoner during the Battle of Baltimore. That was not quite true. They couldn't leave, but it wasn't like they were below decks, you know, on bread and water. They were on the deck and they had a bird's eye view of what became the largest sustained bombing in military history to that time. The Brits had 19 ships out there in Baltimore Harbor.
Four of them were bomb ships. These were squat ships with giant 250-pound cannons. Firing away. On that night of December 13th, 14th, some 1,500 bombs, mortars, and rockets were fired onto the city of Baltimore. Rockets, you know, this was only the second time in the history of war that rockets were used.
They were called Congreve rockets. They looked like what we know rockets look like, long and cylindrical with fins on the bottom, but they didn't have any guidance system. The rockets red glare and bombs were bursting in the air, but they weren't aimed very well, and there was very, very.
Well, there was no loss of life in Baltimore or at Fort McHenry, which fired back with plenty of cannon on its own. Although the people in Baltimore were terrified because the houses were shaking. I mean, that's how terrifying the bombardment was. Plus, there was a giant storm that night. A thunderstorm could have been a tornado, could have been a hurricane.
We don't really know. But it was an amazing night of 1,500 bombs, rockets going off, thunder, lightning. And there also was a land component to the Battle of Baltimore, which we're not to get into very much here, but just to know that the Brits tried under the cover of that bombing to attack, and they got pretty close to the city, but their leading general was shot and killed off of his horse, and that sort of took the steam out of the land component. Plus, Baltimore was fortified much better than Washington was. The people in Baltimore could see the fires of Washington burning.
on August 26th, so they were prepared. And we're listening to Mark Lipson tell an important chapter of American history. the War of eighteen twelve, uh the Revolutionary War was continuing. This was chapter two. And great storytelling by Mark Leapson on the life of Francis Scott Key.
When we come back, more of Mark Leapson, his book, by the way, What So Proudly We Hailed, pick it up at Amazon or the usual suspects. When we come back, more of this remarkable American story. the story of our national anthem here on our American Stories. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years.
And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q.
That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a Camp Miss Fourth of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances by major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks.
Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Block Party Tickets Now for $17.76 at America250.org slash LA. It's America's 250th, but you deserve some presents too. Simon Malls, mills, and premium outlets have can't-miss sales July 3rd to 5th. Join Simon Plus, our new rewards program for free and get 2.5 times the points in addition to extra savings, cashback, and offers that also work at shopsimon.com. Grab the fam, head to a Simon Center, and make it a day for the books.
It's a celebration thing. Sign up today at SimonPlus.com. Rewards program terms apply. See SimonPlus.com for details. I'm going to talk about money.
And that can stress people out, understandably, because there's always something. Rent, mortgage, kids, student loans, the future. What you need is something to bring the financial stress levels down a notch. What you need is Ally Bank. A bank that looks out for your money and you.
With Ally Bank, there's no tricks, no hidden fine print, no jumping through hoops for better rates. They're a bank that wants to take care of your money and help you. Help you spend smarter by automatically analyzing spending to find surprise savings. Help you save faster with great rates and smart savings tools for the things that matter to you, like travel or a new home. help you by elevating your banking without adding anything to your plate.
Ally is designed for people like you, for how you actually live. No tricks, no hidden fees, banking built for life today. Ally Bank, member FTIC. Yeah, Gush Baba podcast is brought to you by the Home Depot, official FIFA World Cup 2026 supporter. You ever notice nobody remembers just the game?
Facts, it's always like, where were you? The people you were with? For real, people in place. That's the real memory. For me, backyard at my teos, carne on the grill, everybody yelling.
Kids running around, learning their first gold celebration, just copying everybody like, goal. And there's always that one uncle with the upgrades from the Home Depot. Bet dad approved everything. New grill, string lights, upgrade patio seatings, whole setup leveled up. Mira esto, showing you every little detail.
But that's what makes it yours. Same spot, same people. Game after game. That's how the stories stack up. Yeah, that's where the lore gets strong.
Your patio, your deck, your lawn, that's the real stadium.
So if you're setting it up right, start with the run to the Home Depot or just order what you need. It's easy with the Home Depot app and they'll deliver it fast and free. The Home Depot's got everything you need to. To make it match day memorable. From grills to outdoor lighting to those backyard upgrades that hit different.
So every story starts in the right spot. The Home Depot. Learn more at home depot.com. And we continue with our American stories and the story of our national anthem, which of course means telling the story of Francis Scott Key. Let's return to author Mark Lipson.
It lasted 25 straight hours, but then in the middle of the night at about three hours. 3 o'clock in the morning. Everything stopped. And Francis Scott Key and Beans and Skinner, who were pacing the deck, didn't know what happened. It was dark.
It was... foggy, rainy. and all they knew that was the battle was over.
So they were pacing the deck and they waited until the dawn's early light. And Key looked out of his glass and he could see that Fort McHenry had a flag flying over it, but you know, those flags were big, they were made of wool, it had rained all night, the flag was just. hanging there. He couldn't tell who it was. That flag was taken down, another flag was put up, there was a little bit of a breeze, and what did he see?
He saw that our flag was still there. And this inspired him to write the words that would become the national anthem. You know, Francis Scott Key, Frank Key was an amateur poet. He wasn't a good amateur poet, but his poetry was never meant to be shown beyond family and friends. which makes it even more ironic that the words that he wrote that day, you know, hundreds of millions of Americans know those words.
The other thing that people might not know about the Battle of Baltimore is that it was a turning point in the War of 1812. There were peace talks going on, but after the British slunk out of Baltimore, you know, Key realized when he saw the stars and stripes, our flag was still there, the British ships were gone, we had won. The peace talks continued. The Treaty of Ghent was signed in January of 1815. But Frank knew that Baltimore was saved.
He had a letter in his pocket.
Now, people often say that he wrote the words on an envelope.
Well, you know, technically, there were no envelopes back then. There were no envelopes. It wasn't technically, but letters themselves were the envelopes.
So on the back of the letter, Frank scrawled a few verses. He and Skinner and Beams were released. He went back to Baltimore to a hotel and finished the four stanzas in the hotel.
Now, what happened next? There are a lot of question marks about. We don't know the details. One reason is because even though Francis Scott Key lived for 30 more years, he spoke in public about it just once, did not mention the flag, and in all the letters that he wrote that have been uncovered.
Well, he mentions it only once in a letter to a friend in early October, and then he writes about that night, but he doesn't again mention writing the words that will become national anthem. He talks about how brave the Americans were and how much he didn't like the British officers. What we know about what happened next was from a book that came out in the 1850s and it was written by Key's brother-in-law. Roger Brooktawney, who was married to Frank Key's only sister. They were very close, the two families, and we know Roger Brooktawney as Chief Justice of the United States.
He claims that this is what Frank told him what happened.
Now we can corroborate a lot of this with good primary source evidence such as newspaper stories and some journals and diaries.
So here's what we think happened after that.
Somebody, could have been Tawney, could have been another one of Keith's brother-in-laws, took what Frank wrote to a printer. Because we do know that the next day those verses appeared on a broadsheet and they were plastered all over Baltimore. In fact, people, the defenders of Fort McHenry had them. The title was not the Star-Spangled Banner. The title was Defense of Fort McHenry.
And it said on there to be sung to the tune of Anacreon in Heaven.
So, what is Anacreon in Heaven? An Acreon in Heaven is a song that was the theme song of a British men's club called the Anacreontic Society. And these men would meet. at taverns For dinner? And for drinks?
They would play their song, they would drink, they would discuss issues of the day. You often hear that the National anthem is sung to the tune of a British drinking song. Not quite true. It's not in the category of 99 bottles of beer on the wall. It was a little more high-minded than that, but it was the theme song of kind of like a high-flutin men's book club that met in taverns.
So there's a little bit of truth to that.
Now, it was not uncommon Four. the words of songs to be put to tunes that people knew in the early 19th century. And that's exactly what happened with this one. And there were people who know this stuff. have counted something like seventy five, fifty to seventy five songs.
that were put to an acre on in heaven, including Adams and Liberty, which was a very popular patriotic song. We do know that in November of 1814, The song was printed on sheet music by Carr's Music Store in Baltimore, and the title was changed to The Star-Spangled Banner. And, you know, there's been controversy or just a... You know, historians have not agreed until relatively recently whether or not Francis Scott Key had in mind the fact that he was writing a song that night. Until relatively recently, Historians believed that he wasn't because he wasn't a songwriter.
He did write two hymns. You know, he was a very religious man. He almost went into the Episcopal priesthood. There's a letter that he wrote to the Bishop of Baltimore. In which the bishop had asked him to join the priesthood and Frank said he really wanted to, but he had a family and he needed to feed his family.
He needed to make money as a lawyer. He wound up having 11 children. He was very active in his church. He was a lay minister and he was very religious, as the words of the Star Spangled Banner indicate.
So, was he writing a song or not? Historians have changed their mind in the last four or five years, and the people who studied this now believe that he did have the song in mind, even though he wasn't a musical man. There's several reasons for this. One is that he wound up writing these words. in rhyme and meter that fit exactly the song.
And also that, you know, a few years earlier there was a dinner given in Washington, D.C. for Stephen Decatur, the hero of the Tripolitan Wars. And a song was written for that. and played that night by Francis Scott Key. There's an article in the newspaper in Georgetown that describes it and it includes the words and in those words are the words Star Spangled Banner.
So putting that all together, historians do believe that Frank had in mind that he was writing a song even though he was just a poet, an amateur poet that night. The Star-Spangled Banner did not become the national anthem until officially until 1931. The United States did not have a national anthem until 1931. But it was one of the songs that was played at Patriotic gatherings such as 4th of July. Within a few years after he wrote it, all throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century, it became more and more popular, but still it was only one of many songs that were played, including Yankee Doodle Dandy and others.
And it wasn't until 1931 that Congress. enacted a resolution that made the Star-Spangled Banner the national anthem. It was controversial. There were hearings on Capitol Hill. People argued against it, saying it was hard to sing, which people still argue today.
Others said it was written by a Brit, the tune, and others said it glorified war. The proponents of it brought in a soprano to sing it on Capitol Hill during the hearings, and that sort of turned the tide and the Star-Spangled Banner became the national anthem. in 1931, even though it was written in 1814. And one last thing, talking about a little bit of irony here. I told you that Francis Scott Key was not a good poet.
And if you don't believe me, just read his poetry. You can read it online. But he also was, you know, unmusical. There was an article that I found when I was doing research for my book, What So Proudly We Hailed, the biography of Francis Scott Key. That was an interview with a Philadelphia newspaper man with one of Frances Scott Key's granddaughters.
And you know, they always would ask, you know, tell us about your grandfather, or tell us about your father. Did he play an instrument, et cetera, et cetera? And the woman said, no, as a matter of fact, he was unmusical. And then she told an anecdote, which may or may not be true. She said that he was in Alabama in 1833.
He was doing some legal work for President Andrew Jackson. And he was at some kind of gathering. And as would happen, a band was there, and they played the Star-Spangled Banner. And so Francis Scott Key was sitting with some people, the band was playing, and after it was over, the granddaughter told this newspaper reporter. My grandfather turned to the woman next to him and said, that was a beautiful air, a beautiful tune.
what what what's the name of it so you know it's probably apocryphal but it does go to show that That man who wrote that song, the man who wrote the song that so many hundreds of millions of Americans know. the first verse of was a bad poet and he most likely was tone deaf. And beautiful work on that piece by Robbie, as always. And a special thanks to Mark Liepson. Author of What So Proudly We Hailed, a tone-deaf.
Bad poet. Ends up writing our national anthem. As always, our Stories, our history stories, are brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College. The story of the tone-deaf bad poet who wrote the national anthem, Francis Scott Keyes story, Frank Keyes' story, here on Our American Stories. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans.
It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues.
Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a Camp Miss Fourth of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances by major artists, patriotic.
Tributes and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Block Party Tickets Now for $17.76 at America250.org/slash LA. It's America's 250th, but you deserve some presents too. Simon Malls, mills, and premium outlets have can't-miss sales July 3rd to 5th.
Join Simon Plus, our new rewards program for free and get 2.5 times the points in addition to extra savings, cashback, and offers that also work at shopsimon.com. Grab the fam, head to a Simon Center, and make it a day for the books. It's a celebration thing. Sign up today at SimonPlus.com. Rewards program terms apply.
See SimonPlus.com for details. On this episode of Plant Killers, we'll explore one nation's most notorious fruit and vegetable killer, bad dirt. What makes bad dirt so bad? The answer? The ingredients.
But fear not, true crime enthusiasts. This story has a Happy ending. Miracle Grow organic raised bed in garden soil. It's made with quality organic ingredients from upcycled green waste like compost and aged bark. Unlike the other guys who can't say the same, looks like Bad Dirt's murdering days are over.
Thanks to Miracle Grow. Join us next time on Plant Killers. Here's Something Good on Women's Health and Longevity is brought to you by Seneca and our partner, LifeMD. LifeMD believes every woman should have access to affordable prescription medication and personalized care that understands the whole woman. Through virtual care and insurance supported options, LifeMD is making expert women's healthcare more accessible and affordable.
I don't know.
