The Free State did not initially adopt any official state anthem.[1] The delicate political state in the aftermath of the Civil War provoked a desire to avoid controversy.[25] Ex-unionists continued to regard "God Save the King" as the national anthem,[5] as it had been for the rest of the British Empire. The fact that "The Soldier's Song" described Irishmen fighting a foreign foe allowed it to overlook the painful memory of the Civil War.[3] W. T. Cosgrave, 1922–32 President of the Executive Council, avoided explicitly making it the national anthem for fear of exacerbating the antipathy for the Free State held by unionists in Northern Ireland.[26] As with the Irish tricolour, the government did not want to disassociate the state from the anthem for fear of leaving a potent symbol available for its republican opponents to claim.[27]