bodies the experience of all Americans. But I think the flag has a
special significance to Marylanders because of a particular flag about
which a particular song was written. In the minds and hearts of
Americans, the Star-Spangled Banner means both a flag and a song —
our National Anthem. Last year, you will recall, we celebrated in
Maryland the 150th anniversary of the writing of "The Star-Spangled
Banner, " and in the observance we featured both the flag and the
song. It was a year of tribute to the Americans who fought at North
Point and Fort McHenry and saved our infant Republic from threat-
ened destruction. It was the courage of these men, struggling to save
this city, and with it this nation, that inspired the lawyer-poet Francis
Scott Key to pen the verse that gave the name to our flag and our
national song — "The Star Spangled Banner. "

There are those who will say that the world has changed sub-
stantially since the bombardment of Fort McHenry and the writing of
the Star-Spangled Banner, and of course they are right. But the
principles for which Armstead and Smith, and those who were with
them, fought in 1814 have not substantially changed. As a matter
of fact, they are at issue today — in Viet Nam, in West Berlin, in the
countries behind the Iron Curtain. In his famous speech to the
citizens of West Berlin, our late President John F. Kennedy said,
and I quote:

"I hear it said that West Berlin is militarily untenable — and so
was Bastogne and so, in fact, was Stalingrad. Any dangerous spot is
tenable if men — brave men — will make it so. "

The British thought Fort McHenry was militarily untenable. So
did many of the people of Baltimore. That Francis Scott Key was
fearful that it was untenable is evident from the first line of his poem.
Throughout the night he had expected that at the early light of
dawn he would not see the starry banner. But men — brave men—
made the dangerous spot tenable and preserved us a Nation.

I am happy to have the privilege to join with you here today to pay
homage to a flag that embodies the lives of all Americans and sym-
bolizes the lofty principles for which they have stood. The tattered
banner that Francis Scott Key saw on that morning of September 14,
1814 was more than a mere flag. It was the very essence of our free-
dom.

During this Flag Week, let us resolve that the Star-Spangled Banner
will continue to wave, and that the principles for which it stands
will endure throughout the ages.

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