The Atlantic’s October 13, 2026, letters section featured competing views on which songs best represent the United States: “America the Beautiful,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “Amazing Grace.” The letters followed Jake Lundberg’s essay, “Never Call Retreat,” which argued that the country has an official national anthem and an unofficial but sacred one.
The National Anthem Debate
Owen Jansson of Ann Arbor, Mich., argued that “America the Beautiful” should be the national anthem because it celebrates the country’s grandeur and recalls principles in its founding documents. He responded to Lundberg’s July issue essay on the history and endurance of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Lundberg called “The Star-Spangled Banner” the official anthem and “Battle Hymn” an unofficial but sacred anthem.
Laura Cardinal of Hereford, Ariz., recalled the July issue cover, which featured music for “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” It sat on her piano. She played it loudly and often. Her letter described a personal connection to the hymn, not a proposal for another national song.
Sandy Shapiro of Washington, D.C., discussed Elaine Showalter’s biography of Julia Ward Howe, the hymn’s author, titled “The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe.” Shapiro said Showalter wrote in an inscription, “Julia's motto was 'Up to Date!' Good words for us as well.” Shapiro also noted that The Atlantic had celebrated Howe again 164 years after it first published her poem, and said Howe’s motto suited the magazine.
Songs of Freedom and Shared Life
Donna Jane Krupkin of Nashville, Tenn., said she was surprised Lundberg left out “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often called the Black national anthem. James Weldon Johnson composed it as a poem in 1900, she said, and his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, set it to music. Krupkin wrote that the song makes no reference to war and embraces the sorrow and majesty of shared American life. Once a month, her church sings it as an opening hymn.
Jerry Albritton of Brandenburg, Ky., proposed “Amazing Grace” as a spiritual national anthem that prompts reflection on the country’s struggle to abolish slavery. John Newton wrote the words in 1772, 42 years before Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Albritton wrote. He called “Battle Hymn” a battle cry for abolitionist action and “Amazing Grace” a soulful anthem for people seeking freedom. Albritton hoped renewed attention to both songs would lead the nation toward “real freedom for all Americans.”
Nigel Clements of Mississauga, Canada, recalled hearing “Battle Hymn” during Winston Churchill’s funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London on January 30, 1965. At Churchill’s request, a huge choir performed the hymn. Clements called the experience moving and unforgettable.
A Hymn’s Public Reach
Jeanette Condie Pearson of Salt Lake City, Utah, recalled her father, Richard P. Condie, who directed the Mormon Tabernacle Choir from 1957 to 1974. She described his work with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra on a Columbia Records recording of “Battle Hymn.” Condie Pearson said her father called Ormandy at 2 a.m. to ask him to consider the score. Ormandy initially said he wasn’t “excited” by the idea and doubted it would work, but later agreed after Condie insisted.
The choir’s recording became a hit in 1959, reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for 16 weeks. Condie won a Grammy for the performance the following year. Pearson said the recording brought prominence to the choir and orchestra and started a lifelong collaboration and friendship between her father and Ormandy. The lyrics speak to eternal truths of the human soul, she said, urging the nation to answer hatred, evil and vengeance with forgiveness, love and charity: “Then, I think, we could say with confidence that 'His truth is marching on.'”
Lundberg replied that Howe wrote “Battle Hymn of the Republic” at the end of 1861 to address the country’s gravest crisis in a dire biblical idiom familiar to many Northerners. Abraham Lincoln gave fullest expression to that idiom in his second inaugural address four years later, Lundberg said. He called the hymn a “capacious vessel for arguments over the American idea.” At its best, Howe’s words call people to uphold their highest ideals, particularly in moments of crisis.