December 28th is Pledge of Allegiance Day

Pledge of Allegiance Day is observed annually on December 28.

Congress formally recognized the Pledge of Allegiance on December 28, 1945.  Thought to have been written by Francis Bellamy, the Pledge of Allegiance was published anonymously by a magazine for young people, The Youth’s Companion, and was written in celebration of the 400th anniversary, in 1892, of the discovery of America.

The text of the pledge, as originally written and modified a bit by the National Flag Conference in 1923 and 1924, was inserted into this legislation, but without designating it as the official pledge. In its original form it read: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” The small changes made resulted in this version: “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.”

The words “under God” were added by Congress on June 14, 1954, in response to the anti-Communist opinion sweeping the country during the Cold War.