"God bless America": the story of the song
The time was 1940. America was in a terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe and Americans were afraid we'd have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for Americans. This was just before TV, radio shows were huge, and families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to their favorite entertainers, and no entertainer was bigger than Kate Smith. With her voice coming over the radio, she was the biggest star of her time.
Kate was also patriotic. It hurt her to see Americans so depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring. She had hope for America, and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to song-writer, Irving Berlin (who also wrote "White Christmas") and asked him to write a song that would make Americans feel good about their country when she described what she was looking for, he had just the song for her. He went to his files and found a song that he had written, but never published, 22 years before - back in 1917. He gave it to her and she worked on it with her studio orchestra. She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would be received, but both agreed they would not take profits. Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America. Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this song.
This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She introduces the new song for the very first time, and starts singing. After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, "You're in the Army Now ".
To this day, God bless America stirs our patriotic feelings and pride in our country. Back in 1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt she realized how successful the results would be for Americans during those years of hardship and worry.... and for many generations to follow. Now that you know the story, i hope you'll enjoy it and treasure it even more.
Many people don't know there's a lead in to the song since it usually starts with "God Bless America ......" so here's the entire song as originally sung.