[Nfbmt] I Pledge Allegiance

Thu Aug 25 19:11:42 UTC 2016

This is an off topic for your information.

Today, someone older than I enlightened me regarding something that I did not
realize, that there is no comma and therefore no pause in the words “one
nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.  I don’t want to debate what
words do or don’t belong in the Pledge of allegiance, but I do want to pass
on that bit of knowledge to those of us who also may not have known.

Some history from www.ushistory.org 

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by the socialist minister
Francis Bellamy (1855-1931). It was originally published in The Youth's
Companion

on September 8, 1892. Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by
citizens in any country.

In its original form it read:

block quote

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one
nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

block quote end

In 1923, the words, "the Flag of the United States of America" were added. At
this time it read:

block quote

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the
Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and
justice

for all."

block quote end

In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President
Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God," creating the
31-word

pledge we say today. Bellamy's daughter objected to this alteration. Today it
reads:

block quote

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty

and justice for all."

block quote end

Section 4 of the Flag Code states:

block quote

The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag: "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the
United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation

under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.", should be
rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over
the heart.

When not in uniform men should remove any non-religious headdress with their
right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart.

Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the
military salute."

block quote end

The original Bellamy salute, first described in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, who
authored the original Pledge, began with a military salute, and after
reciting

the words "to the flag," the arm was extended toward the flag.

block quote

At a signal from the Principal the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the
side, face the Flag. Another signal is given; every pupil gives the flag the

military salute — right hand lifted, palm downward, to a line with the
forehead and close to it. Standing thus, all repeat together, slowly, "I
pledge

allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one Nation
indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." At the words, "to my Flag,"
the

right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, toward the Flag, and remains
in this gesture till the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands
immediately

drop to the side.

The Youth's Companion, 1892

block quote end

Shortly thereafter, the pledge was begun with the right hand over the heart,
and after reciting "to the Flag," the arm was extended toward the Flag,
palm-down.

In World War II, the salute too much resembled the Nazi salute, so it was
changed to keep the right hand over the heart throughout.

Copyright © 1999-2016 by the 

Independence Hall Association,

a nonprofit organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in 1942.
Publishing electronically as ushistory.org. On the Internet since July 4,
1995.

Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia.

The Pledge of Allegiance, as it exists in its current form, was originally
composed in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855–1931), who was a Baptist
minister, a Christian socialist, and the cousin of socialist utopian novelist

Edward Bellamy (1850–1898). However, there existed a previous version created
by Colonel George Balch, a veteran of the Civil War who went on to become
auditor of the New York Board of Education. Balch's pledge, which existed
parallel to the Bellamy version until the 1923 National Flag Conference,
read:

block quote

We give our heads and hearts to God and our country; one country, one
language, one flag!

block quote end

Balch was a proponent of teaching children, especially those of immigrants,
loyalty to the United States, even going so far as to write a book on the
subject

and work with both the government and private organizations to distribute
flags to every classroom and school.  Balch's pledge, which predates
Bellamy's by 5 years, and was embraced by many schools, the Daughters of the
American Revolution until the 1910s, and the

Grand Army of the Republic until the 1923 National Flag Conference, is often
overlooked when discussing the history of the Pledge.

Bellamy, however, did not approve of the pledge as Balch had written it,
referring to the text as "too juvenile and lacking in dignity."

The Bellamy "Pledge of Allegiance" was first published in the September 8
issue of the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion as part of the
National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the
400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. The
event was conceived and promoted by James B. Upham, a marketer for the
magazine, as a campaign to instill the idea of American nationalism in
students and sell flags to public schools.  According to author Margarette S.
Miller, this was in line with Upham's vision which he "would often say to his
wife: "Mary, if I can instill into the minds of our American youth a love for
their country and the principles on which it was founded, and create in them
an ambition to carry on with the ideals which the early founders wrote into
The Constitution, I shall not have lived in vain."

Bellamy's original Pledge read:

block quote

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one
nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

block quote end

The Pledge was supposed to be quick and to the point. Bellamy designed it to
be recited in 15 seconds. As a socialist, he had initially also considered
using the words equality and fraternity but decided against it – knowing that
the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality
for women and African Americans.

Francis Bellamy and Upham had lined up the National Education Association to
support the Youth's Companion as a sponsor of the Columbus Day observance
along with the use of the American flag. By June 29, 1892, Bellamy and Upham
had arranged for Congress and President Benjamin Harrison to announce a
proclamation making the public school flag ceremony the center of the
Columbus Day celebrations (this was issued as Presidential Proclamation 335).
Subsequently, the Pledge was first used in public schools on October 12,
1892, during Columbus Day observances organized to coincide with the opening
of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.

In Francis Bellamy's recollection of the creation of the Pledge, he recalled
"At the beginning of the nineties patriotism and national feeling was at a
low ebb. The patriotic ardor of the Civil War was an old story ... The time
was ripe for a reawakening of simple Americanism and the leaders in the new
movement rightly felt that patriotic education should begin in the public
schools."  James Upham "felt that a flag should be on every schoolhouse", so
the publication "fostered a plan of selling flags to schools through the
children themselves at cost, which was so successful that 25,000 schools
acquired flags in the first year."

As the World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair,
was set to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher
Columbus in the Americas, Upham sought to link the publication's drive to the
event, "so that every school in the land ... would have a flag raising, under
the most impressive conditions."  Bellamy was placed in charge of this
operation and was soon lobbying "not only the superintendents of education in
all the States, but also worked with governors, Congressmen, and even the
President of the United States."  The publication's efforts paid off when
Benjamin Harrison declared Wednesday October 12, 1892, to be Columbus Day for
which The Youth's Companion made "an official program for universal use in
all the schools."  

Bellamy recalled that the event "had to be more than a list of exercises. The
ritual must be prepared with simplicity and dignity."  Edna Dean Proctor
wrote an ode for the event and "There was also an oration suitable for
declamation."  Bellamy held "of course, the nub of the program was to be the
raising of the flag, with a salute to the flag recited by the pupils in
unison."  He found "There was not a satisfactory enough form for this salute.
The Balch salute which ran "I give my heart and my hand to my country, one
country, one language, one flag." seemed too juvenile and lacking in
dignity."

After working on the idea with Upham, Bellamy concluded "It was my thought
that a vow of loyalty or allegiance to the flag should be the dominant idea.
I especially stressed the word "allegiance." ... Beginning with the new word
allegiance, I first decided that "pledge" was a better school word than "vow"
or "swear"; and that the first person singular should be used, and that "my"
flag was preferable to "the."  

Bellamy considered the words "country, nation, or Republic", choosing the
last as "it distinguished the form of government chosen by the founding
fathers and established by the Revolution. The true reason for allegiance to
the flag is the Republic for which it stands."

Bellamy then reflected on the sayings of Revolutionary and Civil War figures,
and concluded "all that pictured struggle reduced itself to three words, one
Nation indivisible."

Bellamy considered the slogan of the French Revolution, Liberté, égalité,
fraternité ("liberty, equality, fraternity"), but held that "fraternity was
too remote of realization, and as equality was a dubious word."  Concluding
"Liberty and justice were surely basic, were undebatable, and were all that
any one Nation could handle. If they were exercised for all, they involved
the spirit of equality and fraternity."

After being reviewed by Upham and other members of The Youth's Companion, the
Pledge was approved and put in the official Columbus Day program. Bellamy
noted that, "In later years the words 'to my flag' were changed to 'to the
flag of the United States of America' because of the large number of foreign
children in the schools."  Bellamy disliked the change, as "it did injure the
rhythmic balance of the original composition."

In 1906, The Daughters of the American Revolution's magazine, The American
Monthly, listed the "formula of allegiance" as being the Balch Pledge of
Allegiance, which reads:

block quote

I pledge allegiance to my flag, and the republic for which it stands. I
pledge my head and my heart to God and my country. One country, one language
and

one flag.

block quote end

In subsequent publications of the Daughters of the American Revolution, such
as in 1915's "Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Continental Congress of the
Daughters of the American Revolution" and 1916's annual "National Report",
the Balch Pledge, listed as official in 1906, is now categorized as "Old
Pledge" with Bellamy's version under the heading "New Pledge".  However, the
"Old Pledge" continued to be used by other organizations until the National
Flag Conference established uniform flag procedures in 1923.

In 1923, the National Flag Conference called for the words "my Flag" to be
changed to "the Flag of the United States", so that new immigrants would not
confuse loyalties between their birth countries and the United States. The
words "of America" were added a year later. The United States Congress
officially recognized the Pledge for the first time, in the following form,
on June 22, 1942:

block quote

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the
Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty and
justice

for all.

block quote end

Louis Albert Bowman, an attorney from Illinois, was the first to initiate the
addition of "under God" to the pledge. The National Society of the Daughters
of the American Revolution gave him an Award of Merit as the originator of
this idea.  He spent his adult life in the Chicago area and was chaplain of
the Illinois Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.  At a meeting on
February 12, 1948, he led the society in swearing the pledge with the two
words "under God" added. He stated that the words came from Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address.  Although not all manuscript versions of the Gettysburg
Address contain the words "under God", all the reporters' transcripts of the
speech as delivered do, as perhaps Lincoln may have deviated from his
prepared text and inserted the phrase when he said "that the nation shall,
under God, have a new birth of freedom". Bowman repeated his revised version
of the Pledge at other meetings.

In 1951, the Knights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal
service organization, also began including the words "under God" in the
Pledge of Allegiance.  In New York City, on April 30, 1951, the board of
directors of the Knights of Columbus adopted a resolution to amend the text
of their Pledge of Allegiance at the opening of each of the meetings of the
800 Fourth Degree Assemblies of the Knights of Columbus by addition of the
words "under God" after the words "one nation." Over the next two years, the
idea spread throughout Knights of Columbus organizations nationwide. On
August 21, 1952, the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus at its annual
meeting adopted a resolution urging that the change be made universal, and
copies of this resolution were sent to the President, the Vice President (as
Presiding Officer of the Senate), and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives. The National Fraternal Congress meeting in Boston on
September 24, 1952, adopted a similar resolution upon the recommendation of
its president, Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart.  Several State Fraternal
Congresses acted likewise almost immediately thereafter. This campaign led to
several official attempts to prompt Congress to adopt the Knights of Columbus
policy for the entire nation. These attempts were eventually a success.

In 1952, Holger Christian Langmack wrote a letter to President Truman
suggesting the inclusion of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr.
Langmack was a Danish philosopher and educator who came to the United States
in 1911. He was one of the originators of the National Prayer Breakfast and a
religious leader in Washington, D.C. President Truman met with him along with
several others to discuss the inclusion of "under God" just before "with
liberty and justice."

At the suggestion of a correspondent, Representative Louis C. Rabaut
(D-Mich.), of Michigan sponsored a resolution to add the words "under God" to
the Pledge in 1953.

Prior to February 1954, no endeavor to get the pledge officially amended
succeeded. The final successful push came from George MacPherson Docherty.
Some American presidents honored Lincoln's birthday by attending services at
the church Lincoln attended, New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, by sitting
in Lincoln's pew on the Sunday nearest February 12. On February 7, 1954, with
President Eisenhower sitting in Lincoln's pew, the church's pastor, George
MacPherson Docherty, delivered a sermon based on the Gettysburg Address
entitled "A New Birth of Freedom." He argued that the nation's might lay not
in arms but rather in its spirit and higher purpose. He noted that the
Pledge's sentiments could be those of any nation: "There was something
missing in the pledge, and that which was missing was the characteristic and
definitive factor in the American way of life." He cited Lincoln's words
"under God" as defining words that set the United States apart from other
nations.

President Eisenhower had been baptized a Presbyterian very recently, just a
year before. He responded enthusiastically to Docherty in a conversation
following the service. Eisenhower acted on his suggestion the next day and on
February 8, 1954, Rep. Charles Oakman (R-Mich.), introduced a bill to that
effect.  Congress passed the necessary legislation and Eisenhower signed the
bill into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.  Eisenhower stated:

block quote

"From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily
proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the
dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.... In this way we
are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage
and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual
weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource, in peace
or in war."

block quote end

The phrase "under God" was incorporated into the Pledge of Allegiance on June
14, 1954, by a Joint Resolution of Congress amending § 4 of the Flag Code
enacted in 1942.

On October 6, 1954, the National Executive Committee of the American Legion
adopted a resolution, first approved by the Illinois American Legion
Convention in August 1954, which formally recognized the Knights of Columbus
for having initiated and brought forward the amendment to the Pledge of
Allegiance.

Author Kevin Kruse asserts that the underlying movement behind inserting
"under God" into the pledge was an effort by corporate America, despite being
initiated by a private religious fraternity and references to God existing in
previous versions of the pledge, to instill in the minds of the people that
capitalism and free enterprise were heavenly blessed. Kruse acknowledges the
insertion of the phrase was influenced by the push-back against atheistic
communism during the Cold War, but argues the longer arc of history shows the
conflation of Christianity and capitalism as a challenge to the New Deal
played the larger role.

Below is one of my favorite recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance by Red
Skelton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZBTyTWOZCM

Joy Breslauer, President

National Federation of the Blind of Montana 

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