Just an info byte:
In doing some (gasp!) '50s Net research, I stumbled on a site which
offers a partial answer to a question I posed earlier this summer and
ostensibly a full answer (I haven't verified it yet) to one someone else
posed subsequently. My question was whether or not school children still
recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the school day as they
did when I was in elementary school. According to the source I ran
across, following Congress' 1942 official recognition of the Pledge of
Allegiance, "in June 1943, the Supreme Court ruled that school children
could not be forced to recite [the Pledge]. In fact, today only half of
our fifty states have laws that encourage the recitation of the Pledge
of Allegiance in the classroom!" ("!" in original.)
The second question which I didn't see answered on the list after it
was raised was how long the words "under God" have been in the pledge.
The source gives the following as the original (1892) wording: "I pledge
allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands- one nation
indivisible-with liberty and justice for all." Then, "In June of 1954 an
amendment was made to add the words 'under God.'" The addition was made
in Eisenhower's presidency. If you want to know his rationale (far be it
from _me_ to start a flame war!) go to
http://www.icss.com/usflag/the.pledge.of.allegiance.html
As I said, this is unverified history, gleaned from a single web site.
Sounds reasonable, though.
Sandra
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