History is One Big PR Lesson

By Sean Teaford

Independence Day has been a nationwide celebration of patriotism and pride since the “Declaration of Independence” was debated, revised, and approved by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Celebrations on this day have blossomed over the years ranging from dinners, speeches, and musket salutes on the first anniversary to the modern marker of cook outs and fireworks. This is the day that brings me to pause and contemplate the singing of the anthem that highlights the annual spectacular, “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

Francis Scott Key’s “In Defense of Fort McHenry” was originally published as a broadside poem in the fall of 1814. The original purpose of the piece was to pay tribute to American service members whom he witnessed while on a mercy mission from the deck of the HMS Minden as they fought against the British in a battle of the same name used for the poem’s title during the War of 1812. The poem rapidly spread across the United States, published in a plethora of papers from Georgia to New Hampshire – the epitome of 19^th century viral marketing.

That same year, Thomas Carr of the Carr Music Store in Baltimore decided to publish the poem music from a popular song at the time, “To Anacreon in Heaven” by English composer John Stafford Smith. Carr then re-titled the song “The Star-Spangled Banner”.  It is this arrangement that served as a PR jingle to promote patriotism throughout the remainder of the war and the rest of the 19^th century.

However, during the first 100+ years of its existence, “The Star-Spangled Banner” was one of three unofficial songs that we considered hymns of American officialdom: “Hail, Columbia” was used at official ceremonies; “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” served as an unofficial anthem; and, “The Star-Spangled Banner” slowly gained momentum in both previously occupied duties thanks in large part to public opinion.

It wasn’t until November 1929 when Robert Ripley included the fact that “America has no national anthem” in his syndicated serial cartoon “Ripley’s Believe it or Not!” that the public was made aware that a void existed. John Philip Sousa provided the PR spark that poem needed to be ascended by publishing an op-ed favoring Key’s “soul-stirring” words. In 1931, President Herbert Hoover singed the law adopting “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem.

A song that once served as an inspirational PR ballad to support the United States during a time of war rose to prominence through a viral marketing campaign that swayed public opinion and, eventually, was publically backed in a public PR push through the media by a beloved composer to become the official PR jingle used by the United States as the country’s national anthem.

What other examples are there of a song or jingle being the most memorable result of a significant war or time in history?

What other historical events provide PR insights that are still relevant today?

Does anyone remember the other three stanzas?