The Coolidge examiner., 1935-06-07
Base Of the KEY Memorial

The rest of tba, story Is too familiar 20 need
repetition here-how Key watched the lombard
ment 81 the fort through the night in an agony
o. suspense ns to the outcome and how at last
when morning came he saH the Stars and
stripes sun floating the fort-a sign that
she attack had been unsuccessful Immediately
he began TO write poem on the back of an old
euyelop tperhaps u was from John Randolph Of
Roanoke for the two men had become great
friends aud regular correspondents after their
arsi meeting at the Impeachment trial of Judge
Chased. After the unsuccessful attack the Brit
lsh neet sailed away leaving the three men 20
proceed upstream 10 Baltimore in thslr small
boat
Key FASTENED to the office % a newspaper, the
Baltimore American 10 hare his poem printed.
The only person leit 10 The Office teyeryoue else
bad gone 10 assist In the defense OF the city
from the lnyadersl was . young lad who set the
poem In type and printed u as handbnl In
side OF an hour 50 wr"je Keys friend. Roger
Brooke Tauey. long afterwards, II was being
sung all over town by the citizens OF Baltimore
mad with Joy over their city's dellverance from
the fear OF capture by the enemy. Thus was
The Star Spauged Banner" our national an
them. born.
In the minds Of most Americans the story Of
Francis Scott Key ends al this point In his
life SO II is the service of his blOgrapher 10
show that his career after September. 1914. was
not antl-cllmax, Ia fact was even more dist!n-
gulshed than Il nad been before. His reputation
as a successful lawyer continued to grow. He
became a close friend Of President Andrew Jack.
son. "as much Of an inslder as any member of
the kitchen cabinet and could have bad any
appointment within reason" But he asked the
president Tor only one favor cabinet appoint
ment for his friend and brother-In-law. Roger
Brooke Taney. The result was that Taney be-
came attorney general and this activity
Keys part paved the way for Taney which led
In a few stormy years to the chief justiceshp.
which led eventually to the Dred Scott decision
the unconsiitutionality Of the Missouri Compro-
mise, and the Civil War"
So Francis Scott Key was a history maker as
well as a national anthem writer. lie was also
a dplomat--as the emlssary OF Jackson he set
tied the Greek controversy which might iave
bathed Alabama In blood" II was a dispute
over Indian lands in Alabama In which the ques-
tions OF states rights and notification were IN
yolved. He was phllanthroplst and humani-
tartan Although slave owner, he hated the
institution OF slavery and sought a solution OF
the problems which IL brought 10 the nation by
helping form the American Colonization society
for settling freed slaves In Africa. He was an
ardent churchman and did much TO further the
cause OF the Episcopal church In this country.
He became the father OF eleven children and his
family life is one OF the most appealing aspects
OF his whole career.
on January II, 1s43. Francis Scott Key died
in the Baltimore home of his daughter, Elizabeth
Phoebe Howard. He had grown up with the
republic His contemporaries knew him not as
a poet but as a conspicuous and able and some
times bothersome liberal. distressingly serious
layman. and, most singular OF all, an honest law
ser. Amlable. mild, generous and virtuous, his
colonization pleas and his free-schOol activities
were accepted for what they were-the enter
prises of a prosperous. If not wealthy, middle
state man who carried into town life the simple
idealism of a benign squire. Dynamic but es-
sentay unheroic. he was a useful citizen and
on that meteoric journey when he wrote song
which stirs our spirits and pleases our ear he
added more significance to his life than he ever
anticipated He. tone-deaf album poet. achieved
immortality In spite of himself And, like most
Maryland celebrities, he is now a vague figure,
his life eclipsed by one spectacular deed"
eby Western Newspaper Union.