A Few Comments on the Flag and the Pledge
W.J. Astore
When I was young, I kept a pamphlet in my room: "How to Respect and Display Our Flag." It was from the U.S. Marine Corps, dated March 1968. I still have that pamphlet; here's a photo of it:
Some of its guidance is now (it saddens me to say) obsolete. Consider the following: "Do not use the flag as a portion of a costume or athletic uniform. Do not embroider it upon cushions or handkerchiefs nor print it on paper napkins or boxes."
Nowadays, flags are everywhere. They are on football helmets and baseball caps. They are on bathing suits (!) and shirts, jackets and tops. I once bought an ice cream cone at a baseball game in a paper wrapper decorated by the American flag.
Fifty years ago, there was a sense our flag was special, meaning you didn't put one everywhere and on everything. All these representations of the flag that you see today, especially those flag lapel pins most often seen on sportscasters and politicians, strike me as opportunistic and self-celebratory rather than respectable tributes to Old Glory.
My flag handbook also says, "When carried, the flag should always be aloft and free--never flat or horizontal." I suppose they couldn't imagine in 1968 flags so gigantic that they could only be carried flat or horizontal.
A book of more recent vintage (2001), "United We Stand," celebrates efforts during World War II to bring the nation together by marking the Fourth of July in 1942 with images of the flag on magazines. One of my favorites from that time showcased Veronica Lake:
From this book, I was reminded of the original "Pledge of Allegiance":
I pledge allegiance to my Flag
and the Republic for which it stands,
one nation indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
The phrase "under God" was only added in 1954 at the height of McCarthyism.
I favor the original pledge. If it was good enough for the "Greatest Generation" who fought and won World War II, it should be good enough for these times.
I was also reminded of a song that I rarely hear nowadays: "You're a Grand Old Flag" by George M. Cohan (played, of course, by Jimmy Cagney in "Yankee Doodle Dandy," as mentioned on the cover above). Remember the opening stanza of that song?
You're a grand old flag.
You're a high-flying flag
and forever in Peace may you wave.
"Forever in peace may you wave" -- how come we don't hear that sentiment today?