"America" Up-Date

Earlier yesterday.

Yesterday:

In 1938, Berlin changed his original World War I–era lyrics from “guide her to the right” to “through the night,” because by 1938 “the right” had acquired associations with fascism. But the idea of a move “to the right” is quite relevant in looking at the changing meaning of “God Bless America” through time, as it began to be associated with increasingly conservative points of view.

In February 1991, during the final weeks of the first Iraq war, a man stood up to protest the war at the First Congregational Church in Kennebunkport, Maine, where President George H. W. Bush was in attendance. As he spoke, members of the congregation tried to drown out the protest by singing “God Bless America.” This church confrontation is an example of the song’s use as a means to silence dissent, becoming a virtual anthem for those who wanted things to stay exactly as they were.

Because we forgot the anti-American intro in our earlier thing.