A group of schoolchildren performing the Bellamy salute, May 1942
No, this is not the way our family greets one another. It was the original hand gesture used to accompany the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. James B. Upham ofThe Youth's Companion invented it in 1882. The fascists and nazis adopted a similar salute in the 1920s. Not wanting to be confused with those groups American Congress officially amended the Flag Code on 22 December 1942 and replaced the Bellamy salute with a hand-over-the-heart gesture.
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