1892 was going to be a significant year in the United States. Plans for celebrating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World ("In fourteen hundred and ninety-two/Columbus sailed the ocean blue...") had been discussed for years. A World's Fair was to be held whose official name would be "The World Columbian Exposition." But what city would receive the honor of hosting this extraordinary event? Many large metropolitan areas sang their own praises, promoted themselves shamelessly, but...when the field had been narrowed down, only two cities were under serious consideration: New York City and Chicago.
 |
| Chicago's elevated railway (the "EL"), 1890s. |
The competition was on between the two. New York, the center of banking, trade, art, culture and sophistication...vs. Chicago, the awkward colossus of the West, home to the meat packing industry, a rougher and much less refined city. This was the way New York City advocates framed the decision. But Chicago took exception, and publicized itself as an example of the new, urban America, birthplace of the "skyscraper," with a beautiful location for the Exposition/Fair on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Chicago newspapers extolled the city with so much hype that, according to one story, a reporter for the "New York Sun" got put off by what he called the "windy bragging" of his Chicago counterparts. Chicago soon came to be known by New Yorkers as "the windy city." It was meant as an insult, but Chicago embraced the nickname and, ever since, Chicago has proudly been known throughout the U.S. as "the windy city."
 |
| This contemporary Chicago post card shows how the city has continued to embrace the nickname it earned during the competition with New York City for hosting the Columbian Exposition, or, the Chicago World's Fair. |
(Note: Chicago is not an especially windy city, meteorologically speaking, so the rival story about the origin of this nickname having to do with the gusty winds coming off Lake Michigan is suspect. But that, as they say, is another story.) Chicago's self promotion worked, and they were chosen over New York City as the site for the World Columbian Exposition, or as it was commonly referred to, The Chicago World's Fair. The city was now "on the map" so to speak, and here is proof of that statement:
It soon became apparent that the immensity of the project was not going to allow the Exposition to open on time in the spring of 1892. However, a formal dedication of the site, with construction proceeding all around, was arranged for October 12, 1892, on exactly the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Caribbean. Earlier in the year Francis J. Bellamy, the editor of a popular children's magazine called "Youth's Companion," thought it would be a fine thing for all the school children in the United States to offer up, at exactly the same moment, a patriotic expression of their love of country.
 |
| Francis J. Bellamy |
He composed a "pledge" and sent it to the Bureau of Education for the Fair. The Bureau liked the idea so much they printed massive quantities of the pledge and mailed copies to virtually every school in the nation. It read,"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." The children and adults saying the pledge at the moment of the dedication were to show respect for the flag by giving that symbol a gesture that came to be known as the "Bellamy salute." The gesture involved stretching the arm out toward the flag as the pledge was recited. The practice of reciting the pledge caught on quickly with educators and the public in general. Soon it was a regular part of a student's school day.
NOTE: The World Columbian Exhibition finally opened to the public in May, 1893, and ran through October of that same year.
 |
| This is how people looked while pledging allegiance to the flag up into the 1930s. |
DIGRESSION, AND ANOTHER STORY:
The only reason this simultaneous recitation of the "pledge" could work was that four years earlier, in 1888, the U.S. had been divided into four time zones, the time being uniform in each zone, each zone being either one hour ahead or behind the time zone next to it. This was part of the larger task of dividing the entire world into 24 time zones in 1888. It was done primarily to make it easier to create accurate train schedules. How could you calculate departure and arrival times if each town, city, or rural area had its own "time"? Up until 1888 people set their watches/clocks at "noon" when the sun was at its highest point in the sky.
 |
| The establishment of time zones in 1888 made the recitation of the pledge simultaneously throughout the U.S. in 1892 possible. |
NOW, BACK TO MY STORY:
Then, suddenly, things changed. The rise of Adolph Hitler and the National Socialist Party (Nazis) in Germany in the 1930s was a threat to world peace. The Nazis had a love of ritual and pageantry. Huge rallies with flags, uniforms, and speeches were meant to create a strong nationalistic feeling in the German people and a love of Adolph Hitler as the savior of "the Homeland."
 |
| This salute caused Americans to change a long established habit. |
Part of the ritual established under the Nazis was the "Heil Hitler!" salute which, coincidentally, looked just like the salute to the flag United States citizens used while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance." Very quickly, the "Bellamy salute" was dropped (as well as the extended arm) and the hand was placed on the heart. This posture while reciting the pledge has remained in place ever since.
 |
| This is how we do it today. Few know, however, that it was not always done this way. |
A RELATED STORY:
During the 1930s one of the most popular brands of potato chip in the United States was "Mrs. Japps Potato Chips."They were sold in tin containers in weights of 1lb. or more. Later, they would be sold in the wax paper bags. Below is a picture of a vintage tin container of Mrs. Japp's Potato Chips.
The company was successful and making money handsomely, ...until a public relations disaster took place well beyond the control of this very profitable potato chip company. On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and brought the United States into World War II.The next day, Franklin Delano Roosevelt appeared before Congress asking for a declaration of war because of this "date which will live in infamy." Below is a short video clip of his message to Congress.
Suddenly, The Japanese were our hated enemy. The racial slur used regularly to refer to them was "the Japs." We had to fight "the Japs." Men volunteered to serve in the Pacific to "kill the Japs.""The Japs" were rounded up on the West coast and put into internment camps. Mrs. Japp's Potato Chips found this situation a marketing nightmare. What to do? Sales were tanking, no one was buying their product. What to do? The answer they came up with was a simple one. They changed their brand name. Mrs. Japp's
potato chips disappeared. In their place appeared "Jays" potato chips. They kept the recognition of the "J" but changed the name to something non-offensive. They have been with us ever since.
 |
| A familiar brand name. |
So there it is. What does the Pledge of Allegiance and a brand of potato chips have in common? They each had to change because of World War II. The 1892 Chicago World's Fair (World Columbian Exhibition) provided the impetus for the "Pledge of Allegiance" and the rest of the story. In concluding, I give many thanks to Mr. Erik Larson for his brilliant historical novel Devil In The White City which tells the powerful and detailed story of the Fair itself and the story of the most notorious serial murderer in U.S. history. I highly recommend the book. It is a great read and wonderful history. He inspires me.
 |
| Read this book! |
FINIS.