The Complicated DNA of 'God Bless America'
'The nation loved the song, which was introduced 80 years ago. But some reviled Irving Berlin for his presumption, as an immigrant and a Jew, in having written it at all.
American Jews on edge from the Pittsburgh temple murders and the sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States might or might not want to recall an even more anxious time: the dark autumn of 1938. Then, as the Nazis began to overrun Europe and the maniacal voice of Adolf Hitler crackled over the radio, as Kristallnacht shook the world, powerful voices right here at home, of men like Father Coughlin, Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh, railed against American Jews immigrants and the children of immigrants pushing the country toward war, these men claimed, to rescue their co-religionists in Europe.
All America was on edge that fall: Orson Welless Halloween eve radio dramatization of H.G. Wellss The War of the Worlds triggered widespread panic among thousands fearing an actual alien invasion was taking place. Yet another broadcast, 10 nights later, had a very different effect.
On Nov. 10, 1938, one day after Kristallnacht and the eve of Armistice Day, the radio and recording star Kate Smith, the Songbird of the South, spoke the following words on her weekly CBS show: And now its going to be my very great privilege to sing for you a song thats never been sung before by anybody
Its something more than a song I feel its one of the most beautiful compositions ever written, a song that will never die. The author, Mr. Irving Berlin. The title, God Bless America.
The reaction was swift and powerful: America loved God Bless America. The song quickly became omnipresent. Thousands of ordinary citizens sang it every day, in schools and churches and at all manner of public gatherings even at least one meeting of the Daughters of the American Revolution. When the song was played at Brooklyns Ebbets Field Memorial Day, The New York Times reported, the crowd rose and uncovered as if for the national anthem. . .
Yet almost as soon as God Bless America was introduced, some of Berlins fellow citizens began reviling him for his presumption, as an immigrant and a Jew, in having written it at all.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/09/opinion/irving-berlin-god-bless-america.html?