In 1892, Francis Bellamy, authored the American Pledge of Allegiance. He instituted the obligatory salute involving a raised right arm with palm forward while students stood facing the flag. It was employed every morning by primary and secondary school children prior to the commencement of lessons. Controversy arose in the 1930s, when fascist Germany and Italy adopted an identical salute presumably derived from images from the Roman Empire. In December, 1942, a full year after the US entered WWII, Congress amended the Flag Code. The salute was replaced by the requirement that students place their right hand over their heart as they recited the pledge. In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill to insert the phrase, “under God”. This was a consequence of the second Red Scare and intended to assert the moral superiority over Soviet communism which conservatives regarded as a godless system. In 1943, the Supreme Court ruled that students are not required to recite the pledge in the classroom because requiring them to do so violates the First Amendment, which protects free speech. Thus it was left up to individual states as to how they dealt with the rule to recite the Pledge. Presently 47 states require the Pledge to be recited in public schools, although there are varying exemptions in place in most of these states for students who wish to opt out.
The Pledge of Allegiance
