Hey there, side door listeners.

Okay, so way back in March, we shared the story of Betsy Ross,

flag maker to the stars.

And in that story, I headed over to the National Museum of American History

in search of the first flag.

I never did find the Betsy Ross flag.

What I found instead was the star-spangled banner.

And this surprised me because when I think of the star-spangled banner,

I think of our national anthem.

I did not realize it is also the name of a specific flag from the War of 1812.

It's a tattered 200-year-old wool flag whose display takes up a full room in the museum.

And it's the inspiration for our national anthem.

So what inspired Francis Scott Key to pen and ode to this specific flag?

Well, in honor of the Fourth of July, I sat down for a conversation with the

National Museum of American History's military history curator, Jennifer Jones.

And we talked about how a big shot lawyer from DC penned this enduring anthem.

I hope you enjoy it.

So let's start with Francis Scott Key, wrote the star-spangled banner.

Can you tell us a little bit about who he was?

Sure. Key was a lawyer in Washington, and he was also a songwriter.

He had written a number of lyrics for other songs on the same tune,

which is the tune Ananacrian in Heaven.

...