September 1, 1945: Woody Guthrie Publishes "This Land Is Your Land"

September 1, 1945. 80 years ago: Woody Guthrie publishes "This Land Is Your Land." It becomes one of America's most familiar songs.

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma. By the 1930s, he was already known as a folksinger, and his 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads was immediately hailed as a landmark of the genre. An ardent anti-Nazi, he put a sticker on his guitar, reading, "THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS."

Angered by the fluffy patriotism of Kate Smith's recording of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," Guthrie wrote "This Land Is Your Land" on February 23, 1940, in his room at the Hanover House Hotel at 101 West 43rd Street, just off New York's Times Square. According to journalist Joe Klein, "He completely forgot about the song, and didn't do anything with it for another 5 years."

More like 4 years. In March 1944, he recorded it for the 1st time. But he didn't publish it until September 1, 1945 -- 18 days after V-J Day ended World War II.

Pretty much everyone knows the Chorus:

This land is your land, and this land is my land.

From California to the New York island.
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

Fewer people know the verses:

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
And I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and rambled, and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
All around me, a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me.

This verse proved to be controversial, and was often dropped when the song appeared in publications, for fear of being accused of Communism:

There was a big, high wall there that tried to stop me.
A sign was painted, said "Private Property."
But on the backside, it didn't say nothing.
That side was made for you and me.

When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving, and the dust clouds rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me.

This land is your land, and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

After years of suffering from a neurological condition called Huntington's disease, which rendered him unable to perform live from the 1950s onward, Woody Guthrie died on October 3, 1967. That same year, Jack Newfield was covering Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York for the New York Post. RFK was wondering if he should run for President. Newfield wanted 2 things if he won: "End the war in Vietnam, and make 'This Land Is Your Land' the National Anthem." Bobby said, "Done." Of course, he never got the chance.