Pledge of Allegiance: Original
Republican president
Eisenhower had been baptized a Presbyterian very recently, just a year before.
He responded enthusiastically to Docherty in a conversation following the
service. Eisenhower acted on his suggestion the next day and on February 8,
1954, Rep. Charles Oakman (R-Mich.), introduced a bill to that effect. Congress
passed the necessary legislation and Eisenhower signed the bill into law on
Flag Day, June 14, 1954
Addition of
"under God" -Wikipedia
Louis A. Bowman
(1872–1959) was the first to initiate the addition of "under God" to
the Pledge. The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution
gave him an Award of Merit as the originator of this idea.[11][12] He spent his
adult life in the Chicago area and was Chaplain of the Illinois Society of the
Sons of the American Revolution. At a meeting on February 12, 1948,[citation
needed] Lincoln's Birthday, he led the Society in swearing the Pledge with two
words added, "under God." He stated that the words came from
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Though not all manuscript versions of the
Gettysburg Address contain the words "under God", all the reporters'
transcripts of the speech as delivered do, as perhaps Lincoln may have deviated
from his prepared text and inserted the phrase when he said "that the
nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom." Bowman repeated his
revised version of the Pledge at other meetings.[11]
In 1951, the Knights
of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization, also
began including the words "under God" in the Pledge of
Allegiance.[13] In New York City, on April 30, 1951, the Board of Directors of
the Knights of Columbus adopted a resolution to amend the text of their Pledge
of Allegiance at the opening of each of the meetings of the 800 Fourth Degree
Assemblies of the Knights of Columbus by addition of the words "under
God" after the words "one nation." Over the next two years, the
idea spread throughout Knights of Columbus organizations nationwide. On August
21, 1952, the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus at its annual meeting
adopted a resolution urging that the change be made universal and copies of
this resolution were sent to the President, the Vice President (as Presiding
Officer of the Senate) and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The
National Fraternal Congress meeting in Boston on September 24, 1952, adopted a
similar resolution upon the recommendation of its president, Supreme Knight
Luke E. Hart. Several State Fraternal Congresses acted likewise almost
immediately thereafter. This campaign led to several official attempts to
prompt Congress to adopt the Knights of Columbus’ policy for the entire nation.
These attempts failed.
In 1952, Holger
Christian Langmack wrote a letter to President Truman suggesting the inclusion
of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Langmack was a Danish
philosopher and educator who came to the United States in 1911. He was one of the
originators of the Prayer Breakfast and a religious leader in Washington, D.C.
President Truman met with him along with several others to discuss the
inclusion of "under God" and also "love" just before
"liberty and justice".
At the suggestion of
a correspondent, Representative Louis C. Rabaut of Michigan sponsored a
resolution to add the words "under God" to the Pledge in 1953.
Prior to February
1954, no endeavour to get the Pledge officially amended succeeded. The final
successful push came from George MacPherson Docherty. Some American presidents
honored Lincoln's birthday by attending services at the church Lincoln
attended, New York Avenue Presbyterian Church by sitting in Lincoln's pew on
the Sunday nearest February 12. On February 7, 1954, with President Eisenhower
sitting in Lincoln's pew, the church's pastor, George MacPherson Docherty,
delivered a sermon based on the Gettysburg Address titled "A New Birth of
Freedom." He argued that the nation's might lay not in arms but its spirit
and higher purpose. He noted that the Pledge's sentiments could be those of any
nation, that "there was something missing in the pledge, and that which
was missing was the characteristic and definitive factor in the American way of
life." He cited Lincoln's words "under God" as defining words
that set the United States apart from other nations.
President Eisenhower
had been baptized a Presbyterian very recently, just a year before. He
responded enthusiastically to Docherty in a conversation following the service.
Eisenhower acted on his suggestion the next day and on February 8, 1954, Rep.
Charles Oakman (R-Mich.), introduced a bill to that effect. Congress passed the
necessary legislation and Eisenhower signed the bill into law on Flag Day, June
14, 1954.[14] Eisenhower stated "In this way we are reaffirming the
transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way
we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be
our country's most powerful resource, in peace or in war."[15]
The phrase
"under God" was incorporated into the Pledge of Allegiance June 14,
1954, by a Joint Resolution of Congress amending §7 of the Flag Code enacted in
1942.