June 14, 1954: The Words "Under God" Are Added to the Pledge of Allegiance

1941, with the Bellamy Salute

June 14, 1954: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill passed by Congress, adding the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

Apparently, Joe McCarthy getting his head handed to him on TV twice in the last 3 months wasn't enough to scare them out of the "Red Scare." This was also the 2nd of 6 seasons in which baseball's Cincinnati Reds were officially known as the Cincinnati Redlegs.

The first version of the Pledge written in 1885 by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union Army officer in the American Civil War, who later wrote a book on how to teach patriotism to children in public schools. In 1892, Francis Bellamy -- a Socialist, with retroactive irony -- revised Balch's verse as part of a magazine promotion surrounding the World's Columbian Exposition, a World's Fair in Chicago that celebrated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas.

Bellamy, the circulation manager for The Youth's Companion magazine, helped persuade then-President Benjamin Harrison to institute Columbus Day as a national holiday, and lobbied Congress for a national school celebration of the day. The magazine sent leaflets containing part of Bellamy's Pledge of Allegiance to schools across the country. On October 21, 1892, over 10,000 children recited the verse together.

Bellamy's version of the pledge, though his authorship of it is contested, is largely the same as the one formally adopted by Congress 50 years later, in 1942: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

In 1923, the words "my flag" were replaced with "the Flag of the United States." Quickly, in 1924, it was altered again, to "the Flag of the United States of America." And so, for 30 years, it read: "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."

The official name "The Pledge of Allegiance" was adopted in 1945. The most recent alteration of its wording came on Flag Day, June 14, in 1954, when the words "under God" were added. This is the version pretty much every American alive today has used, with spacing tending to make it sound like a poem, as follows:

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.

The Pledge is accompanied by a salute. Originally, it was one suggested by Bellamy, based on one used in ancient Rome, and it became known as the Bellamy Salute. But in 1942, with the U.S. having entered World War II, it was deemed to be too close to the salutes used by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, and it was replaced by holding the right hand over the heart for civilians, the Boy Scout salute for Scouts, and a traditional military salute for the armed forces.

In 1940, in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, the Supreme Court ruled that students in public schools, including the respondents in that case -- Jehovah's Witnesses, who opposed oaths, and considered the flag salute to be idolatry -- could be compelled to swear the Pledge. But in 1943, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnett, the Supreme Court reversed its decision.

In 1977, I was in the 2nd grade in East Brunswick, New Jersey. In my school, it was customary for the teacher to start the schoolday by calling the roll, then calling on the students to stand, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and then sing "America" (a.k.a. "My Country 'Tis of Thee," which most of us did not know used the same music as the British National Anthem, "God Save the Queen").

That year, in Massachusetts, Governor Michael Dukakis vetoed a bill that required public school teachers to lead daily recitations of the Pledge. When he was nominated for President by the Democratic Party in 1988, the Republican nominee, Vice President George H.W. Bush, made a big deal out of this issue. Bush would have won the election, anyway, but it made him look very petty.

A few years later, I was at a wrestling meet at East Brunswick High School, and, instead of having a singer perform our National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," a recording was played. But the tape broke in the boom box a few seconds into the song. Instead of getting someone to just sing it, the public address announcer decided that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance was an appropriate alternative.

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June 14, 1954 was a Monday. Actor Will Patton was born.

There were only 2 scores, both in baseball. The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 13-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. Bob Lemon was the winning pitcher. A former outfielder, he helped his own cause by going 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs. George Strickland and Al Smith hit home runs. Larry Doby went 3-for-5 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Hank Majeski went 4-for-6 with an RBI. Ted Williams did not play in this game.

And the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Hank Sauer, known as "the Mayor of Wrigley Field," hit a home run. Rookie Ernie Banks, who would replace him as the Cubs' most popular player, went 0-for-3 with a walk.