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Published: June 14, 2009
Q. With it being Flag Day, I was wondering, what year was "under God" added to the Pledge of Allegiance? I remember it being done, but I can't remember the date. -- J.H.
A. The United States Congress passed a bill to add the words "under God" to the pledge, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.
It was not the first time that the wording had been tinkered with. The pledge was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy to be recited in honor of Columbus Day. In the early years, the pledge went: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."
By the 1920s, reciting the pledge had become a school-day staple in the United States. In 1923, at the first National Flag Conference in Washington, "my Flag" was replaced with "the Flag of the United States" and the next year the conference added "of America."
It remained an unofficial pledge until 1942, when Congress included the pledge in the U.S. Flag Code.
In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school children would not be required to recite the pledge.
In the early 1950s, the Knights of Columbus organization initiated a drive to have the phrase "under God" added to the pledge. As he authorized this change, Eisenhower said: "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 and war."
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