PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES ...

pledge to the flag of the United States. It was first published in the juvenile periodical The Youth's Companion on Sept. 8, 1892, in the following form: I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible, with liberty and Justice for all. The words the flag of the United States of America were substituted for my Flag in 1924, and the pledge was officially recognized by the U.S. government in 1942. In 1954, at Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower's urging, the Congress legislated that under God be added, making the pledge read: 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. A controversy arose concerning the authorship of the pledge of 1892. Claims were made on behalf of both James B. Upham, one of the editors of The Youth's Companion, and Francis Bellamy, an assistant editor. In 1939 a committee of the U.S. Flag Association ruled in favour of Bellamy, and a detailed report issued by the U.S. Library of Congress in 1957 supported the committee's ruling. According to the legislation of 1954, one is supposed to stand upright, remove any headdress, and place the right hand over the heart while reciting the pledge.