|
Philip Spiess
Once again, Jerry, I'll rise to the occasion and attempt to answer your questions.
I know there were flags in stands in all of the classrooms in Clifton Elementary School; I believe there were at Walnut Hills also, but I'm not certain. I do not remember reciting the "Pledge of Allegiance" on a daily basis at either school (at Walnut Hills we had morning announcements over the PA system, and then we dashed off to our first class, as I quickly handed back to Nelson Abanto the math notes I had copied -- wait! I don't think he and I were in the same math class, so it must have been some other class -- chemistry?), but the "Pledge" occasionally began certain assemblies (not all); I think our singing of the national anthem was even rarer. Classmates, correct me if you think I'm wrong on this; I find my memory is surprisingly foggy on these matters.
When I taught Middle School at a private academy here in Virginia (2005-2013), shortly before I retired, I placed a small American flag in my classroom (it was not required, though it might have been encouraged). Normally I did not have my homeroom students say the pledge, but every once in a while I did: on a whim (such as deciding to refresh their memory of the "Pledge"); on a special holiday (such as Flag Day); when I felt it to be appropriate (if, for example, there was an untoward political or military event that had occurred, even a school shooting); or if they were being somewhat cantankerous and I felt the need to sober them up. Needless to say, flag ceremonies were a standard part of the weekly meetings during the many years that I was a leader in the Boy Scouts of America.
But now, you may ask, how did all of these things occur -- the "Pledge"; the American flag in schools, the "Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag" as a common school occurrence; indeed, American flags on school buildings or on poles in school yards? You may think it sprang, Venus-like, from the aching head of the Continental Congress -- but you would be wrong. And you know, cringe as you might under your desks, that I will now tell you how it came to be.
The year was 1892: it was the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas (to his dying day he thought he was in India, hence his name for the natives he found; he never knew there was nor ever landed on the North American mainland; and he knew, as the ancient Greeks and most others for generations knew, that the earth was not flat, it was round -- all they had to do was look at the other heavenly bodies and take a good guess). So a big celebration (it was the largest exposition that the United States would ever hold) -- a World's Fair in an age of internationally competitive world's fairs -- was planned to be held in Chicago in 1893 (yeah, they got off on their planning a little late), the World's Columbian Exposition, to celebrate "civilization" (i.e., European civilization -- the white man's civilization) coming to the new world and changing world history. (The Fair, incidentally, sparked the "City Beautiful" Movement, which I mentioned on this Forum at Post #4476.)
Francis Bellamy, a staff member of The Youth's Companion of Boston (published 1827-1929), the most popular and best-selling periodical for young people in the 19th century, was a patriotic and religious enthusiast who tackled onto three forces at work in the America of the period. One was the lingering effects of the Civil War on American political life and the American psyche (giving rise to national patriotic organizations, such as the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Colonial Dames); one was the sudden and rising tide of eastern and southern European immigration to America (leading to a Caucasian and Protestant nativism movement), and one was the newly pressing movement espousing that local public schools be established to democratically educate the common youth (as opposed to the private schools and religiously-run academies which then predominated).
Bellamy, believing that the World's Columbian Exposition offered the opportunity to galvanize a patriotism which might reunite the factions of the North and South into a unified whole, integrate and solidify the new citizen-immigrants into the proper American way of life, and combine the public school movement with a patriotic indoctrination of American children into love of, and respect for, their country, came up with a public campaign, tied to the national Columbus Day celebration of October, 1892, and focused on the American flag.
And so Bellamy penned his original version of the "Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag" (there had been others earlier, notably George Balch's, but here's Bellamy's original version): "I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands -- one nation indivisible -- with liberty and justice for all" (Bellamy later added "to" before "the republic" for better cadence). His boss at The Youth's Companion, James B. Upham, was a promoter and publicizer who tackled onto the idea of selling American flags through the magazine, particularly promoting premiums whereby young readers could purchase flags for their schools. Then he had the idea to celebrate "Columbus Day" as a national holiday, whereby they could sell flags; he put Bellamy in charge of this national campaign.
The end result (cutting to the chase): President Benjamin Harrison, egged on by Bellamy, proclaimed the first "Columbus Day" as a national holiday; there was a national program, established and promulgated by Bellamy for the nation's public schools (mostly newly established through President Harrison's push for public schools) to celebrate the day and the American flag with Bellamy's "Pledge of Allegiance," and schools acquired flags, flagpoles, and the "Pledge of Allegiance" to promote patriotism. State governments followed suite, requiring all public schools in their state to fly the flag on the school building (or on school grounds) and in each classroom, and to encourage (in some cases require) each school to recite the "Pledge of Allegiance" each day at the opening of school.
In 1898, on the day that the United States declared war on Spain, the New York state legislature passed a bill that included a salute to the flag. State Superintendent of Education Charles Rufus Skinner produced a 470-page (!) Manual of Patriotism. It included Bellamy's "Pledge," with his directions on how to salute the flag: "Right hand lifted, palm downward to a line with the forehead and close to it, standing thus, all repeat together slowly [Bellamy's Pledge]. At the words, 'to my Flag,' the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upwards towards the Flag and remains in this gesture to the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side." (If you were paying attention, you noticed that the latter part of this salute is akin to the later -- and infamous -- Nazi salute.)
Some later events in the history of the "Pledge of Allegiance" and the flag: In 1899 the Grand Army of the Republic (the influential organization of Northern, i.e., Union, Civil War veterans) officially endorsed the Bellamy salute and by 1905 was pushing for its members in the various states to lobby state legislators to pass laws requiring every schoolhouse in the state to fly the flag daily. With America's entry into World War I (1917), the demand for American flags hit an all-time high; coincidentally, between April, 1916, and May, 1917, the cost of American flags increased 100% to 300%! By 1918 and the end of the war, adoration of the flag had reached a pitch which can only be described (and was) as "religious." Thus, as more and more states adopted Uniform Flag laws, legal prosecutions for desecrating or "insulting" the flag rose, a situation which, as you know, has continued to this day, with a high point being the 1960s' anti-Vietnam War protests.
In 1919, the state of Washington, roiled by political unrest due to union agitation (notably by the Industrial Workers of the World -- the IWW, or "Wobblies") and fearing the worst (the spectre of the recent Russian Revolution was on everybody's mind), passed a state law which required that Bellamy's "Pledge of Allegiance" and salute be recited and given at least once a week in every school; failure to follow the law was a criminal misdemeanor! This began a trend of mandatory observance in public schools, until in 1943 (at the height of World War II) the Supreme Court of the United States found the practice of forcing students to say the "Pledge" to be unconstitutional.
In the meantime, the American Legion's National Americanism Commission (note the anti-immigration name) recommended that Bellamy's "Pledge" be the nation's official pledge of allegiance. It was this Commission which changed the words "my flag" (in 1923 and 1924) to "the flag of the United States of America" -- to ensure that immigrant children were not swearing allegiance to the wrong flag. It was also this Commission which formalized the "Pledge" salute's first half to be "right hand over the heart" (but at the words "to the flag," the right hand was to extend to the flag in that notorious straight-arm salute). [Military were to continue to use the traditional military salute.] Once all of this was established by the 1924 American Legion Commission, the flag code was published in the Boy Scout handbook. And both the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) successfully pushed for the U. S. Flag Code to be passed into law (P. L. 829, 77th Congress, 2nd Session) on June 22, 1942.
But it was the threat of Communism in the early 1950s that inspired the last change to the "Pledge of Allegiance." Sponsors of the Congressional bill to insert the words "under God" into the "Pledge" declared that this change would underscore the difference between our democratic system and "Godless communism." Amid bipartisan support, Congress approved the change and President Eisenhower signed it into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954. So, how many of you remember this change from your elementary school days?
|
