Flag Day is near (June 14), and the Pledge of Allegiance court case
is expected to be decided soon. As an attorney, I am asked about the case's
historic precedent. The history of the Pledge shocked my libertarian mind.
The Pledge was the origin of the salute of the horrid National
Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazis). The Pledge's original salute was
straight-armed. The Pledge's creator was a National Socialist in the U.S.
(Francis Bellamy).
It is a myth that the straight-arm salute is an old Roman salute
adopted by Mussolini. According to Dr. Martin Winkler in "The Roman Salute
on Film" of the American Philological Association, the salute is not in any
Roman art or text. The salute occurs in these films: the American "Ben-Hur"
(1907), the Italian "Nerone" (1908), "Spartaco" (1914), and "Cabiria"
(1914). In imitation of such films, self-styled Italian "Consul" Gabriele D
'Annunzio borrowed the salute as a propaganda tool for his political
ambitions upon his occupation of Fiume in 1919. Earlier, D'Annunzio had
worked with Giovanni Pastrone in his colossal epic Cabiria (1914). Mussolini
worked with D'Annunzio. Even so, evidence shows that the National Socialist
German Workers' Party officially adopted the salute before Mussolini did,
not vice versa.
Dr. Winkler didn't know about the original U.S. flag salute (1892)
that inspired the films, and that the National Socialist German Workers'
Party was inspired by the films and by the Pledge of Allegiance. The U.S.
changed the salute during WWII.
P.S. for Dr. Winkler's article see
http://www.apaclassics.org/AnnualMeeting/03mtg/abstracts/Winkler.html
For historic photos of the original straight-arm salute to the Pledge see
http://members.ij.net/rex/pledge2.html
Rex Curry
Attorney At Law
Tampa, FL
