In 1984, actor turned politician and 40" president of the United States Ronald Reagan was running to be re-elected as president. For his campaign, Ronald Reagan wanted to Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen as his campaign song. Ronald thought the song was cheery and patriotic and suit him as he was born in Tampico in the US state of Illinois but Bruce Springsteen wasn’t happy with Mr Reagan. He was unhappy with the president because the song was about the mistreatment of Vietnam War veterans who returned to the USA not as heroes

like WW2 and Korean War vets but as “baby killers” and were shunned. Born in the USA was an anti-war song! As a result, Springsteen (also known as the Boss as he would distribute money from shows evenly among his band members) turned the song choice Reagan’s campaign team made down but it didn’t stop Reagan referencing Bruce in a campaign speech.

To this day, the song is still used patriotically as any 4" July celebration that is held in the US has this song playing.