The world is owed an apology by the U.S. and by anyone who thinks that the military-socialism and saluting of the Nazis originated in Germany. An American organization is lobbying for an official apology and is gaining support to set the record straight.  http://rexcurry.net/pledgeapology.html

The pledge of allegiance to the U.S. flag was the origin of the salute of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazis). The flag's original straight-arm salute pre-dated the Nazis by three decades. The claim that it was an old Roman salute is a myth debunked by the historian Rex Curry.  http://rexcurry.net/pledgesalute.html

The pledge of allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, cousin and cohort of the also-famous Edward Bellamy, author of the 1888 book "Looking Backward: 2000-1887."

The Bellamys were self-proclaimed national socialists and they loved the military and both espoused "military socialism" (A Bellamy phrase).

The Bellamy book was an international bestseller and translated into every major language, including German, and it inspired military socialism worldwide.

The original pledge to the U.S. flag began with a military salute for the phrase "I pledge allegiance" and then the right arm extended straight outward toward the flag for the rest of the chant. The military salute was not a random choice, and the extended right arm was the origin of the salute for other national socialists who loved militarism: the monstrous National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazis). Historic photographs are linked at  http://rexcurry.net/pledge1.html

Government schools teach that the pledge was created to sell flags to schools and Francis Bellamy is described as an advertising pioneer. That is a whitewashed piece of the whole story. A better description is that Bellamy was a propaganda pioneer, comparable to Leni Riefenstahl.

Many people forget that Nazis were socialists. A mnemonic device for remembering that Nazis were socialists is that the swastika resembles two overlapping "s" letters, and "socialism" begins with the letter "s."  http://rexcurry.net/swastikanews.html

The entire world is owed an apology for the horrid influence that government had inside the U.S. and abroad in promoting socialized schools, military socialism within government schools, the creation of industrial armies, and daily robotic pledges of allegiance in military formation with the infamous straight-arm salute (the Nazi salute) upon the ring of a government bell, like Pavlov’s lapdogs of the state.

The legacy of the Bellamys, the pledge, and the U.S. flag in government schools, was nationwide government policies of racism and segregation. Children used the “sieg heil” gesture for flags flying over racist government schools through the rise of Nazism (the hand-over-the-heart spread in 1942). The bizarre practices served as an example for three decades before they were adopted by the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. The U.S. practice of segregation even outlasted the horrid party, into the 1960's and beyond. That is why the Bellamys are known as the “American Hitlers” and as the first “American Nazis.”  http://rexcurry.net/pledge1.html

There is only one place on the web with a historic photo of a segregated class chanting the Pledge with the original straight-arm salute.  http://rexcurry.net/pledgeracism.html

It’s as if the pledge was an original wordier "Heil Nation" and "Sieg Heil" (Hail to Victory).

For the rest of this detailed article about the pledge’s unlibertarian past with historic photographs see  http://rexcurry.net/pledgeapology.html