The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August, 1892 by Francis Bellamy. He wanted to have a pledge that could be said by any person in any country, and published it in The Youth's Companion magazine on September 8 of that year. The original version read: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." This is similar to the current version of the Pledge, the third version that we say today. This version of the Pledge was began with a military salute, after which the children would extend their right arm towards the flag until the end. The problem with this was that it resembled the Nazi salute from World War II, so it was quickly scrapped.
The second version of the Pledge came in 1923, when it was specialized for the United States. It read: "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." The addition of "the Flag of the United States of America" marked the transition between an international pledge to an American pledge, which stayed this way until 1954.
In 1954, in the midst of the Cold War, fears of communism were rising. President Dwight D. Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God" to the Pledge to show that God was on the side of United States, not Russia, as well as bring back hope to the American people that the Cold War would indeed remain cold. The 1954 version and the Pledge we repeat is: "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
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This post is very insightful and I think you analyzed Eisenhower's motivations for adding "under God" very well. During this time period, Eisenhower also signed a law making "In God We Trust" the national motto of the US. This same law required this phrase to appear on all forms of paper currency. This legislation was created because of many of the same reasons as adding "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. It emphasized that America was a moral nation with God on its side, which contrasts to the "godless" communism that was perceived of the USSR.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.newsweek.com/god-we-trust-motto-south-dakota-1452797
Your post reminded me of the documentary that we saw in class with children saluting a rising flag in a gesture that resembled the Nazi salute. I remember Mr. Stewart talking a little about this and giving the example of the Swastika, so I decided to look a little into the exact differences between the two salutes. It turns out that the salute we once did to the flag was called the Bellamy Salute, which was named after Francis J. Bellamy, who you mentioned as the original author to the Pledge of Allegiance. When it first started, the pledge was a simple gesture, to extend ones arm upwards at an angle with their fingers pointing straight ahead. However, ever since Nazi Germany came out with their "Heil Hitler" gesture, the Bellamy Salute was put into question. Finally, on December 22, 1942, Congress declared that the Pledge of Allegiance will be carried out "by standing with the right hand over the heart."
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https://www.cnn.com/2013/12/22/opinion/greene-pledge-of-allegiance-salute/index.html
Your post on the history of the Pledge of Allegiance was very interesting! For decades, the constitutionality of saluting the flag and saying the Pledge has been questioned through cases like Minersville School District v. Gobitis and West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. I was surprised to see how there were several recent court cases surrounding the Pledge. The most recent SCOTUS case regarding the constitutionality of reciting “under God” in the Pledge was in 2004. In Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, a case brought in by an atheist who said California’s school pledge requirement violated his daughter’s First Amendment rights, the Supreme Court ruled against Newdow not because of the legality of the words “under God,” but because Newdow, a noncustodial parent, didn’t have standing to bring suit on his daughter’s behalf. Even more recently in 2014, the Jane Doe v. Acton-Boxborough Regional School District case questioned whether the words “under God” violated the equal protection clause of Massachusetts's state constitution. The state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school district, saying that the Pledge was completely voluntary and didn’t violate any constitutional rights.
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http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/9079
The pledge of allegiance has a long history and despite the supreme court ruling that mandatory flag salutes were unconstitutional, after 9/11, various states tried to challenge that ruling with state laws. These pledge mandates have lead to discipline and bullying for students. These mandates were attempts to increase patriotism after 9/11, but they were very controversial.
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