JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 1811
CONGRESS SANCTIONED PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 70 YEARS AGOWashington, D.C. (JFK+50) Seventy years ago today, December 28, 1945, the United States Congress gave official sanction to "The Pledge of Allegiance" to the Flag.
The legislation, introduced by Representative Herman P. Eberharter (D) Pennsylvania, amended the law adopted on June 22, 1942 by which "The Pledge of Allegiance" was formally included in the U.S. Code, Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 4.
The Pledge of Allegiance was originally composed by Francis Bellamy*, a minister and Christian socialist, and was first used in public schools on October 12, 1892 during Columbus Day celebrations. Mr. Bellamy compared the Pledge to an "inoculation" against the "virus" of radicalism and subversion.
Francis Bellamy's original Pledge of Allegiance went...
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."
The Pledge was first published in "The Youth's Companion", September 8, 1892.
*Francis Julius Bellamy (1855-1931) was born in Mount Morris, NY & studied theology at the University of Rochester. After an unsuccessful bid for the governorship of NY, FJB was hired by "The Youth's Companion" to sell American flags to public schools. By 1892, 26,000 flags had been sold.
SOURCES
rhapsodyinbooks.wordpress.com (12/28/2008)
U.S. Code, Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 4.
Students Pledge to the Flag
