THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE AND THE BELLAMYS

As a libertarian lawyer, I have devoted my life as an advocate of liberty.  I defended individuals from government and from society. 

This book is part of my advocacy.  It is an indictment of those who hate America and who love government. It charges them with destroying America with socialism and statism.  

I give counsel to anyone who has wasted his life voting for socialists (the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the Green Party or worse) and watching the American government grow, and then voting for the same socialists again.  It is a wonder why anyone is still registered with such groups.

But this book is not only about America.  It is about the world.  It is an indictment of those who hate the world and everyone in it.  This book reviews the prior record of the criminals who have robbed victims of liberty worldwide.  

My biography of Edward Bellamy, Francis Bellamy, Charles Bellamy and Frederick Bellamy started during court litigation against the pledge of allegiance.  I noticed that there were parallels between Nazism and the dogma espoused by the Bellamys.  Edward, Charles and Frederick were brothers, and Francis was their cousin. Francis Bellamy was the author of the original Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag. The Pledge originally used a straight-arm salute that was the origin of the salute of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.  The Bellamy boys were socialists.  Francis and Edward were both self-proclaimed National Socialists and they supported the "Nationalism" movement in the USA, the "Nationalist" magazine, the "Nationalist Educational Association," and their dogma of "military socialism" and the "industrial army."  Edward inspired the "Nationalist Party" (in the USA) and their dogma influenced socialists in Germany, and the Pledge was the origin of the Nazi salute.

The question arose of how many more parallels there might be.   For additional information on those parallels, please continue to the chapters in the book.  http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html

As the discoveries about the pledge unfolded, I wondered why they had been overlooked by others. An odd sequence of events explains the oversight by others.  When the pledge program was first published in the Youth's Companion publication, Francis Bellamy was not given specific attribution of the Pledge.  However, the Pledge was a small part of a larger program that specifically placed the name "Francis Bellamy" at the end as Chairman of the Executive Committee. The socialist dogma was evident in the program, and at that time Edward Bellamy was world famous for his socialist dogma and Francis Bellamy was well-known and also known to be Edward's cousin and supporter.  Even though the publication did not specifically attribute the Pledge part to Francis, the Bellamys talked about it to their friends and associates and others. It took years, even decades, for the chant to become routine and widespread, and during that time its origin (and Francis Bellamy's larger program of which the pledge was a part) faded from many memories. Even so, the Bellamy socialist dogma that sprang from Edward Bellamy's international bestseller continued to inspire National Socialists worldwide. The gesture that Francis Bellamy had penned for the pledge evolved into the hard, stylized straight-arm salute, because the original initial military salute was simply extended straight out by disinterested children perfunctorily performing the forced ritual chanting (the original pledge description began with a military salute that extended out toward the flag with the palm upward).  The evolved gesture was repeated in fictional Roman scenes in early "new" movies and the gesture became known worldwide. By the time that Francis Bellamy began working to re-claim credit as author of the pledge, it was the year 1920 and his claim was disputed and was not well-known (Francis Bellamy gave the speech "The Pledge of Allegiance: How I Came to Write It" in the New York City Stadium in 1920).  That also happened to be the year that the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party) took its name.  German National Socialists and their salute were not yet notorious worldwide, nor in the USA (it would be interesting to know what Francis Bellamy thought about the German National Socialists at that time). In 1931 Francis Bellamy died (age 76 in Tampa, Florida).  In 1939, the National Socialist German Workers' Party and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics join as allies to invade Poland, under a pact to divide up Europe. In 1939, the U.S. Flag Association Committee examined the controversy regarding the authorship of the Pledge and it believed that Bellamy was the author.  In 1942, Congress injected itself into the mess and changed the gesture of the Pledge of Allegiance to the hand-over-the-heart.

Usually there are three types of responses to my work.  The initial response from many people is to deny that the Pledge of Allegiance ever used the Nazi-style salute and to accuse me of fabricating the historical photographs of the salute.

The second response is from people who have learned for the very first time from me that the Pledge of Allegiance did use a Nazi-style salute.  Some are amazed and aghast and thank me for disabusing them.  Others hate me for having told the truth and they would have preferred to remain in the ignorant bliss of propaganda for the rest of their lives. 

The third response is from people who pretend that they already knew everything that there is to know about the Bellamys.  Those respondents show in their comments that they have learned for the very first time (from me) that the Pledge of Allegiance was the origin of the salute of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, and they have learned for the first time all of the other eye-popping revelations about the Bellamy boys.  Those respondents have learned, for the first time (from me), the etymology of the word "Nazi."   Those respondents have learned, for the first time (from me), that the "Nazis" did not call themselves "Nazis."   Those respondents have learned, for the first time (from me), that the Nazis did not call their symbol a "swastika."

Whenever I discuss socialism and the National Socialist German Workers' Party, I start with this alert: IT DOES NOT MATTER WHETHER HITLER WAS A TRUE SOCIALIST. After my alert, some people still write to me and repeat that Hitler was not a "true socialist," ignoring my warning  They misunderstand my point. They concede that Hitler called his group the "National Socialist German Workers' Party" and he used an "S" shaped symbol to represent it.  My critics letters voice mere wishes that he had not done so. Their wishes do not change reality. They concede every point I make. 

When I discuss swastikas, I start with this alert: I KNOW THAT THE SWASTIKA WAS AN ANCIENT SYMBOL.  After my alert, some people still write to me and repeat that the swastika was an ancient symbol meaning "good luck" in India or such.  They misunderstand my point: a symbol's original meaning does not prevent other uses later.  It does not prevent later alterations by people such as Hitler.

For additional information, please enjoy the rest of the book.  http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html