0:02 Who are you and where are you going? What do you want? [Music] Hello and welcome to this special edition of the Way to Wow shows. I'm your host Kevin Bemel and today June 22nd 2025 we're marking the uh anniversary of the adoption of the pledge of allegiance.
0:37 So, this is perhaps a bit of an anacronism uh for contemporary times, but when I was in school uh in grade school especially, we started out every school day by putting our hand over our heart and pledging allegiance to the flag. The same was true at Cub Scout pack meetings and Boy Scout troop meetings. Um, you know, in the in the US military, there were various meetings where we said the pledge of allegiance, and I'm I'm trying to think of there was uh some somewhere
1:14 in my civilian life where um the pledge of allegiance is still said at the beginning of of a meeting. So, it's it's been controversial um over the last um I don't know three decades or so. I I think that's unfortunate. Uh I think it's a good thing for us to um express allegiance uh to our country. Um just because we express allegiance doesn't mean we agree with everything our country, our elected officials and
1:49 appointed officials choose to do on our country's behalf. Uh nor does it mean that uh we uh approve of everything our country has done in the past. But it does mean that we stand together as a people and and that we cherish uh its values and the unity that we can gain from them. And so that that's why I I chose to to do this special edition. Um I think I started these about a year ago. I didn't do uh a a show on this
2:25 topic last year, but I will be including it from now on. So this is the 77th anniversary of the adoption of the pledge of allegiance. I'll talk about that a little in a in a few minutes. Um the pledge of allegiance was originally wi written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy who was a Baptist minister and interestingly enough a Christian socialist. So we we we tend to think of of socialism as being anti-American.
3:01 Uh I I I you know I a Christian socialist you that that has also somehow come to be something pjorative. I don't think either one of them needs to be per se. But in any way, in any event, um, uh, Francis Bellamy, uh, wrote the original PLA, uh, pledge, um, as, uh, uh, for a campaign celebrating of, of again, interestingly, the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas. So,
3:36 if you remember the old phrase, in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. So 400 years later, Francis Bellamy originally wrote the pledge in order to honor the anniversary of that event. It was published in the Youth Companion. This was a popular children's magazine of the time on September 8th, 1892 as part of a public school celebration of Columbus Day. If you saw my Columbus Day show, that also has been uh tinged with uh controversy. Unfortunately, so
4:13 the original text was shorter and simpler than the pledge that we say today. And the original text was, I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I think a a lovely sentiment and hopefully one that um you know we all could agree on. Um and and certainly I think people of of the time the vast majority uh I think agreed with that
4:48 sentiment. on October 12th of 1892. Uh that that was the first recitation sort of official recitation of the pledge and it was re it was recited in public schools uh during Columbus Day celebrations that were organized by the National Education Association and it was accompanied by what's called the Bellamy Salute. Uh so originally um students recited the pledge with an arm outstretched toward the flag. Now I'm
5:25 I'm not going to do it because the gesture has uh since then become associated with the Nazi party. Um this is not to exculpate the Nazis. the the salute they used had been used for millennia all the way back to Rome certainly as as a a a way of saluting. Um but um in any event, the Nazis didn't exist when Francis Bellamy um you know adopted the what what's been what's become what's come to be called the
6:00 Bellamy salute in in pledging allegiance uh to to the flag. So over since then over the [Music] 30 some odd years since the pledge was first recited there have been modifications. Uh the first one took place in 1923 and the phrase my flag was replaced by the flag of the United States and this was to ensure that the loyalty was to the United States flag specifically
6:36 as opposed to a flag from an im from an immigrant's uh home country or or not home country prior country I should say. So it was to clarify that they were pledging allegiance to the flag of the United States as opposed to some some other flag. In 1924, the next year, this was further clarified to be uh the flag of the United States of America. Okay, it was pretty well known or understood back then that the United States referred to the United States of America. But just just in the effort, you know, in in an
7:11 effort to be clear, um that was they they we they added of America. I think that was a good a good uh addition. U it's always good thing to be clear, right? And then on June 22nd, 1942, 77 years ago, Congress officially recognized the pledge of allegiance and um made it part of the US flag code, which is how the flag is treated, including how it's flown, how how it's
7:46 retired, um how a flag is destroyed when it's uh no longer longer serviceable. So all of those are contained in the US flag code and and this was if you recognize the date June 22nd, 1942. The United States had entered World War II just about 6 months before that. Pearl Harbor was December 7th, 1941. So um the the United States officially entered World War II on December 8th, 1941. So it was about six months later. there was some you know patriotic fervor in the country at that time to be sure. Uh and
8:23 in 1942 um the salute was also changed. So instead of doing the so-called Bellamy salute which by then was associated with the Nazi party and Nazi Germany so it was replaced by putting the right hand over the heart. Now, I will add, by the way, that when people in uniform say the pledge, they keep their cover on, their hat on. But when civilians say it, so for example, I don't know if it's still said at sporting events, it it it was when I
8:59 used to go to sporting events, football games, uh, baseball games, etc. So, as a civilian, you would take your hat off and I would always hold my hat over over my heart. I don't know if that was right or wrong, but that's what I used to do. Um, and so, um, and so now we hold our hand over our right hand over our heart. Um, as opposed to doing the Bellamy salute. And that that also happened in 1942. In 1954, um, the words under God were added to the pledge. And this was in response to the cold war
9:35 and the anti-communist sentiment that was uh that was very prevalent in the 1950s and60s. Um I don't think we can quite appreciate just how unified Americans were in general um against communism um and and and and Soviet Russia as the embodiment of it. It doesn't seem like that was the case today, but it but it certainly was in the 50s and 60s. And um communism was often referred to as
10:10 godless communism because the communists specifically rejected God. And so under God was added to the pledge. This was when uh President Eisenhower was in the was in office. um and Congress influenced by lobbying groups uh most notably the Knights of Columbus uh added added the phrase under God in order to distinguish the United States from the atheistic uh Soviet Union. Uh now that has become really the most controversial
10:45 aspect of the uh pledge of allegiance and there have been um there have been Supreme Court challenges to it. Um there you know atheists many atheists in the United States are um offended by the words under God being in the pledge. In 1963 in a case called school district of Abington Township versus SHMP um which was also related to school prayer um the Supreme Court held upheld the idea that
11:21 recitation of the pledge of allegiance was voluntary. Students could not be forced to recite the pledge. Now, interestingly enough, this was this was this case was decided shortly after I was born, three years after I was born. I when I was in school, I said the pledge of allegiance. Now, I would have volunteered had I known, you know, that even if I didn't if even though I knew I didn't have to say it, I I certainly would have said it for the reasons I mentioned earlier in this. Um, in 1988, President Ronald Reagan endorsed an
11:57 amendment to the Constitution to protect the words under God in the pledge. Uh, that that endorsement never materialized into a change in the Constitution. Okay. And then in 2002, the ninth circuit court, uh, the ninth circuit court, federal circuit court, which is the area, which is the circuit court, federal circuit court covering California and kind of the western part of the United States in a case called New versus the United States Congress found that the phrase found the phrase was unconstitutional in
12:34 public schools. Um and so the um Nuda was an atheist and and of course he was trying to get it removed from the the pledge. Two years later in 2004, the Supreme Court reversed that decision on procedural grounds, meaning that the court dismissed the New Dao case because they determined that New Dao did not have standing in order to bring the case to begin with. However, they did not, this court did not rule on the merits of
13:11 whether it was constitutional or not for under God to stay in the pledge of allegiance. And and that's where sort of pledge of allegiance juristprudence uh stands uh to this day. Um it it it remains uh especially the under God phrase uh remains uh controversial. Um people who are against it assert that this is an establishment of religion which violates the first amendment. Um people who are in favor of it say God is not religion.
13:47 Religion is the way that people choose to worship God. But God stands outside of religion. and and and God was mentioned in the Declaration of Independence and and and therefore is a acknowledged as you know the the deity um under whose grace the United States exists. Uh you know um like I said I I believe it remains controversial to this day. Um but but as you know I'm a um you know religious Jew and so for for me I I find
14:23 no controversy in in um pledging under God. So um the pledge of allegiance there are many public schools that still say the pledge of allegiance. It's also said at civic events. Um some states allow students to opt out. Um but but it remains I think a a a fairly broad um practice. Um so um it it is the recitation is voluntary in accord with the 1963 Supreme Court ruling. Um so student neither students
15:00 nor adults can be compelled uh to to say the pledge. Um however uh it it really remains a a a seinal practice in um um asserting a love of country and patriotism in in the best sense of the word. Um you know the controversy spins on but uh but I think the the pledge has endured. um it has been um translated into non-English languages for um for people who you know
15:36 who are who don't speak English uh and so that they can recite it and um new citizens to the United States uh do recite the pledge as part of their naturalization ceremony. So I think it's notable that indeed this this practice uh you know continues and and and new newly minted citizens do say the pledge. So if you're watching this show and you you care to join me, I'm going to recite the pledge of allegiance in honor of the
16:12 anniversary of its adoption in on June 22nd, 1942. So I'll place my right hand over my heart. 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. So that's that's my, you know, kind of brief special edition of the Way to Wow Show in in honor of the anniversary of the adoption of the pledge of
16:47 allegiance. I hope you'll fly your American flag today and in honor of this event and in fact that you'll fly the flag in honor of all federal holidays as as a sign of unity with our fellow Americans and I wish you a a meaningful day and I thank you very much for joining me. Signing off as I always do, my dear Marie, who was a proud American. And Marie, you are my bell. Courage at all times, my friends.