Government in the USA popularized the straight-arm salute for three
decades before Nazis began doing the same thing. The salute developed
in the USA from 1892 in the Pledge of Allegiance (to the flag) in government
schools. From there its use expanded to parades, with spectators saluting
passing flags, military officials, other government officials, and politicians.
There were uses outside of parades in gestures to and from politicians,
legislators, government officials, and military officials. http://rexcurry.net/book11pledge-ch2a1a.html
The salute was used during the National Anthem and was used at sporting
events. It was used by the USA's athletes at Olympic Games. http://rexcurry.net/bookchapter1a1c1.html
The National Socialist German Workers' Party began in 1920, and the
USA continued to expand its use of the salute. Congress did not attempt
to inject itself into the mess until it adopted the Flag Code on June 22,
1942. That is after the USA entered WWII.
What is commonly called the "German Greeting" was, in a sense, the
"American Greeting" first.
Presidents had precedents in performing the stiff-armed salute to the
flag. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt robotically chanted the Pledge
of Allegiance with the Nazi salute and he was sometimes saluted in that
way by civilians. see the photograph at http://rexcurry.net/bookpic-nazi-salute-fdr.JPG
Photographic examples exist of the Nazi salute used outside of the Pledge
of Allegiance by FDR's underling, General Hugh Johnson, head of the National
Recovery Administration. Hugh Samuel Johnson (1882-1942), an army officer
and politician, often gave the salute. In one photograph (Granger Collection,
N.Y.), Johnson presents President Roosevelt to a group of industrial
leaders in Washington, D.C. on March 5, 1934 and Johnson uses the straight-arm
salute (FDR is holding the arm of Secret Service aid Gus Generick). see
the photograph at http://rexcurry.net/nazi-salute-hugh-johnson-fdr.JPG
A common myth on the web is that "Roosevelt instituted the hand over
the heart gesture." A web search for the quoted phrase suggests
that the lie originated from evil wikipedia writers who post lies. Wikipedia
is an anonymous bulletin board that is misrepresented as an encylopedia.
It is misrepresented so effectively that other sites identified as reference
sites will blindly repeat lies that are posted on Wikipedia. That repetition
of lies is shown by the Roosevelt quote above. A web search for the quote
produced the following inaccuracy: "Because of the similarity between the
Bellamy salute and the Nazi salute, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
instituted the hand-over-the-heart gesture as the salute to be rendered
by civilians during the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem in
the United States, instead of the Bellamy salute. This was done when Congress
officially adopted the Flag Code on June 22, 1942." The most accurate
part is the last sentence, which reveals that the salute changed after the
U.S. had entered WWII. Roosevelt did not institute the hand-over-the-heart
gesture (Congress attempted to start the switch), nor did Roosevelt do so
because of the similarity between the "Bellamy salute" and the "Nazi salute."
The change that occurred on June 22, 1942 retained that part of the "Bellamy
salute" that involved extending the arm toward the flag (although the gesture
was initiated with the hand over the heart, in place of the military salute).
In other words, the first thing that Congress did was ADOPT the raised-arm
gesture, and enshrine it in law as an official gesture of the USA (another
scary parallel to German National Socialism under Franklin Roosevelt). The
U.S. Flag Code was passed by a joint resolution in Congress, Public Law 829
(Chapter 806, 77th Congress, 2nd session). The code, inter alia, contained
the raised-arm salute (following the lead of the 1924 Flag Day conference).
Section 7, Pub.L. 77−623, 56 Stat. 380, Chap. 435, H.J.Res. 303, enacted
June 22, 1942. (WITH the Bellamy Salute) - "That the pledge of allegiance
to the flag, ‘‘I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all’’, be rendered by standing with the right hand over the
heart; extending the right hand, palm upward, toward the flag at the words
‘‘to the flag’’ and holding this position until the end, when the hand drops
to the side. However, civilians will always show full respect to the flag
when the pledge is given by merely standing at attention, men removing the
headdress. Persons in uniform shall render the military salute."
A later change dropped the extended arm gesture. Section 7, Pub.L. 77−829,
56 Stat. 1074, Chap. 806, H.J.Res. 359, enacted December 22, 1942. (WITHOUT
the Bellamy Salute) - "That the pledge of allegiance to the flag, ‘‘I pledge
allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic
for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for
all’’, be rendered by standing with the right hand over the heart. However,
civilians will always show full respect to the flag when the pledge is given
by merely standing at attention, men removing the headdress. Persons in uniform
shall render the military salute."
As is often the case, no source was cited in Wikipedia at the time of the
errors above, because there was no source to cite. Of course, wakipedia changes
by the millisecond.
The Nazi salute had been used by the National Socialist German Workers'
Party for approximately two decades before 1942, and the U.S. developed and
used the salute from 1892. Wikipedia's anonymous bulletin board changes by
the nanosecond, and at the time of the above comment, the entire article
was a study in deliberate and artful deception. http://rexcurry.net/wikipedia-lies.html
Dr. Rex Curry (author of Pledge of Allegiance Secrets) showed that
the early Pledge to the USA's flag used a straight-arm salute and it was
the origin of the salute to the swastika flag under the monstrous National
Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazis). Frightening photographs are at
http://rexcurry.net/pledge2.html
The Pledge began with a military salute that then stretched out toward
the flag. Due to the way that both gestures were used sequentially,
the military salute led to the Nazi salute. The Nazi salute is an extended
military salute. http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html
The person who created the pledge to the USA's flag was a self-proclaimed
socialist in the nationalism movement in the USA and he called his dogma
"military socialism" and it influenced socialists in Germany, and his pledge
was the origin of their salute to the swastika flag. "Nazi" means "National
Socialist German Workers' Party." Although the swastika was an ancient
symbol, it was also used sometimes by German National Socialists to represent
"S" letters for their "socialism," as shown by Professor Curry (author
of "Swastika Secrets"). Hitler altered his own signature to use the same
stylized "S" letter for "socialist" and similar alphabetic symbolism still
shows on Volkswagens. http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-swastika.html
National Socialism conjures up visions of neo-classical buildings,
big government economic programs, state funded art, labor camps, concentration
camps, leaders in open cars wearing capes, militant rallies, and segregation
imposed by law in government schools (socialist schools) where racism is
taught as public policy. All of those and more existed under FDR
and before him in the USA. http://rexcurry.net/bookchapter5a1.html
Written in 1892, the pledge's robotic chanting and stiff-arm salute spread
with help from patriotic groups in the 1920s, prominent among them the
Ku Klux Klan.
John Benton Bellamy (son of Francis Bellamy, author of the Pledge of
Allegiance) was graduated from Harvard with the class of 1904 and President
Franklin D. Roosevelt was a classmate. (Berkeley Daily Gazette - Jun 14,
1944).
National socialism was specifically promoted in the USA in 1888 by
Edward Bellamy, author of the book "Looking Backward." Roosevelt was so
impressed by Bellamy's book that Roosevelt wrote "Looking Forward" to
impose Bellamy's national socialism in America.
Bellamy's book was an international bestseller and was tranlsated
into every major language including German, Russian and Chinese. Clubs
sprang up in the USA and worldwide for touting the book's ideas. The
Bellamy dogma influenced socialists worldwide, including the countries of
the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part): ~60 million
dead under the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; ~50 million under
the Peoples' Republic of China; ~20 million under the National Socialist
German Workers' Party (NSGWP).
Roosevelt's book was not an international bestseller. Roosevelt's
policies were imposed by law on Americans, nevertheless.
Roosevelt also ended up on the side of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics and the Peoples' Republic of China in World War II. At the end
of WWII, Roosevelt helped to hand over half of Europe to the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics. After WWII, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
and the Peoples' Republic of China went on to kill even more millions of
people than had been killed by the National Socialist German Workers' Party.