By David Swanson

An imperial presidency, a cult of idiocracy, and a team of hateful oligarchs is the problem.

A salute is just a symbol.

If you do a web search for images of “Bellamy salute” you find countless black-and-white photographs of U.S. children and adults with their right arms raised stiffly out in front of them in what will strike most people as a Nazi salute. From the early 1890s through 1942 the United States used the Bellamy salute to accompany the words written by Francis Bellamy and known as the Pledge of Allegiance. In 1942, the U.S. Congress instructed Americans to instead place their hands over their hearts when swearing allegiance to a flag, so as not to be mistaken for Nazis.[i]

Doing both — placing your hand over your heart followed by a stiff-arm salute — still gets you (mis-)taken for a Nazi.

Jacques-Louis David’s 1784 painting The Oath of the Horatii is believed to have begun the fashion that lasted for centuries of depicting ancient Romans as making a gesture very similar to the Bellamy or Nazi salute.[ii]

A U.S. stage production of Ben Hur, and a 1907 film version of the same, made use of the gesture. Those using it in U.S. dramatic productions of that period would have been aware of both the Bellamy salute and the tradition of depicting a “Roman salute” in neoclassical art. As far as we know, the “Roman salute” was never actually used by the ancient Romans.

Of course, it’s a very simple salute, not hard to think up; there are only so many things humans can do with their arms. But when Italian fascists picked it up, it had neither survived from ancient Rome nor been newly invented. It had been seen in Ben Hur, and in several Italian films set in ancient times, including Cabiria (1914), written by Gabriele D’Annunzio.

From 1919 to 1920 D’Annunzio made himself the dictator of something called the Italian Regency of Carnaro, which was the size of one small city. He instituted many practices that Mussolini would soon appropriate, including the corporate state, public rituals, black-shirted thugs, balcony speeches, and the “Roman salute,” which he would have seen in Cabiria. If Trump finds out about D’Annunzio, who knows what mountain or gulf he’ll want named for him.

By 1923, Nazis had picked up the salute for greeting Hitler, presumably copying the Italians. In the 1930s fascist movements in other countries and various governments around the world picked it up. Hitler himself recounted a medieval German origin for the salute, which, as far as we know, is no more real that the ancient Roman origin.[iii] Hitler certainly knew of Mussolini’s use of the salute and almost certainly knew of the U.S. use. Whether the U.S. connection inclined him in favor of the salute or not, it seems not to have dissuaded him from adopting the salute.

The official salute of the Olympics is also very similar to these other ones, though rarely used because people don’t want to look like Nazis. It was widely used at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and confused a lot of people then and ever since as to who was saluting the Olympics and who was saluting Hitler. Posters from the 1924 Olympics show the salute with the arm almost vertical. A photograph from the 1920 Olympics shows a somewhat different salute.

It seems that a number of people had a similar idea around the same time, perhaps influenced by each other. And it seems that Hitler gave the idea a bad name, leading everybody else to drop, modify, or downplay it from that point forward. Well, almost everybody.

What difference does it make? Hitler could have instituted that salute without the United States existing. Or if he couldn’t have, he could have instituted some other salute that would have been no better or worse. Yes, of course. But the problem is not where the arm is placed. The problem is the mandatory ritual of militarism and blind, servile obedience.

It was strictly required in Nazi Germany to give the salute in greeting, accompanied by the words Hail Hitler! or Hail Victory! It was also required when the National Anthem or the Nazi Party Anthem was played. The national anthem celebrated German superiority, machismo, and war.[iv] The Nazi anthem celebrated flags, Hitler, and war.[v]

When Francis Bellamy created the Pledge of Allegiance, it was presented as part of the following program for schools:[vi]

“The schools should assemble at 9 A.M. in their various rooms. At 9:30 the detail of Veterans is expected to arrive. It is to be met at the entrance of the yard by the Color-Guard of pupils,—escorted with dignity to the building, and presented to the Principal. The Principal then gives the signal, and the several teachers conduct their students to the yard, to beat of drum or other music, and arrange them in a hollow square about the flag, the Veterans and Color-Guard taking places by the flag itself. The Master of Ceremonies then gives the command ‘Attention!’ and begins the exercises by reading the Proclamation.

1. READING OF THE PRESIDENT’S PROCLAMATION—by the Master of Ceremonies
   “At the close of the reading he announces, ‘In accordance with this recommendation by the President of the United States, and as a sign of our devotion to our country, let the Flag of the Nation be unfurled above this School.’
2. RAISING OF THE FLAG—by the Veterans
   “As the Flag reaches the top of the staff, the Veterans will lead the assemblage in ‘Three Cheers for “Old Glory.” ‘
3. SALUTE TO THE FLAG—by the Pupils
   “At a signal from the Principal the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the Flag. Another signal is given; every pupil gives the flag the military salute—right hand lifted, palm downward, to a line with the forehead and close to it. Standing thus, all repeat together, slowly, ‘I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.’ At the words, ‘to my Flag,’ the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, toward the Flag, and remains in this gesture till the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side. Then, still standing, as the instruments strike a chord, all will sing AMERICA—’My Country, ’tis of Thee.’
4. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD—Prayer or Scripture
5. SONG OF COLUMBUS DAY—by Pupils and Audience...
   “Dear Country, the star of the valiant and free!
   Thy exiles afar are dreaming of thee.
   No fields of the Earth so enchantingly shine,
   No air breathes such incense, such music as thine...
6. THE ADDRESS
   “ ‘The Meaning of the Four Centuries’ A Declamation of the Special Address prepared for the occasion by The Youth’s Companion.
7. THE ODE
   “ ‘Columbia’s Banner,’ A Reading of the Poem written for the Occasion by Edna Dean Proctor.
   “Here should follow whatever additional Exercises, Patriotic Recitations, Historic Representations, or Chorals may be desired.
8. ADDRESSES BY CITIZENS, and National Songs.”

Of course, the current version of the pledge is slightly different from above and reads: “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.”[vii]

Nationalism, militarism, religion, exceptionalism, and a ritual oath of loyalty to a piece of cloth: this is quite a mix. Imposing this on children has got to be among the worst ways to prepare them to oppose fascism. Once you’ve pledged your allegiance to a flag, what are you to do when someone waves that flag and screams that evil foreigners need to be killed or deported? Rare is the U.S. government whistleblower or war veteran peace activist who won’t tell you how much time they spent trying to deprogram themselves of all the patriotism that was put into them as children.

Some people who visit the United States from other countries are shocked to see children standing, using the modified salute of hand-on-heart, and robotically reciting a loyalty oath to a “nation under God.” It seems that the modification of hand position has not succeeded, after all, in preventing them looking like Nazis.[viii]

The Nazi salute has not simply been abandoned in Germany; it has been banned. While Nazi flags and chants can occasionally be found at racist rallies in the United States, they are forbidden in Germany, where neo-Nazis sometimes wave the flag of the Confederate States of America as a legal means of making the same point.

NOTES:

[i] Erin Blakemore, Smithsonian Magazine, “The Rules About How to Address the U.S. Flag Came About Because No One Wanted to Look Like a Nazi,” August 12, 2016, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/rules-about-how-to-address-us-flag-came-about-because-no-one-wanted-to-look-like-a-nazi-180960100

[ii] Jessie Guy-Ryan, Atlas Obscura, “How the Nazi Salute Became the World’s Most Offensive Gesture: Hitler invented German roots for the greeting—but its history was already filled with fraud,” March 12, 2016, https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-the-nazi-salute-became-the-worlds-most-offensive-gesture

[iii] Hitler’s Table Talk: 1941-1944 (New York: Enigma Books, 2000), https://www.nationalists.org/pdf/hitler/hitlers-table-talk-roper.pdf page 179

[iv] Wikipedia, “Deutschlandlied,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschlandlied

[v] Wikipedia, “Horst-Wessel-Lied,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst-Wessel-Lied

[vi] The Youth’s Companion, 65 (1892): 446–447. Reprinted in Scot M. Guenter, The American Flag, 1777–1924: Cultural Shifts (Cranbury, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson Press, 1990). Cited By History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web, George Mason University, “‘One Country! One Language! One Flag!’ The Invention of an American Tradition,” http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5762

[vii] U.S. Code, Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 4, https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title4/chapter1&edition=prelim

[viii] “A list of all the nations where children regularly pledge allegiance to a flag would be pretty short, and not include any wealthy Western countries apart from the United States. While some countries have oaths to nations (Singapore) or dictators (North Korea), I can only find one country other than the United States where anyone claims that children regularly pledge allegiance to a flag: Mexico. And I’m aware of two other countries that have a pledge of allegiance to a flag, although neither seems to use it as regularly as does the United States. Both are nations under heavy U.S. influence, and in both cases the pledge is relatively new. The Philippines has had a pledge of allegiance since 1996, and South Korea since 1972, but its current pledge since 2007.” From David Swanson, Curing Exceptionalism: What’s Wrong With How We Think About the United States? What Can We Do About It? (David Swanson, 2018).

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The Nazi Salute Has U.S. Origins
https://davidswanson.org/the-nazi-salute/

David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is executive director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson's books include his latest: NATO What You Need to Know with Medea Benjamin. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org. He hosts Talk World Radio. He is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and U.S. Peace Prize recipient. Longer bio and photos and videos here. Follow him on Twitter: @davidcnswanson and FaceBook, and sign up for: Activist alerts or Articles.