This
column is about something that I personally reflect on every year
about this time. Even though it is not about Church history, it is
related to American history and I thought it would not be amiss to
share my thoughts about it.
I
was born on the 150th
anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the flag of
the United States: Flag Day, June 14, 1927. Maybe that is one reason
I have always had a special feeling for the flag, and for what I
believe it stands for. And maybe, since Flag Day is almost upon us,
that is why I wanted to use this column as a reminder of what the
flag, and Flag Day, is all about, and to give a bit of history.
June
14, 1777, in the midst of the American Revolution, was the day the
Continental Congress adopted the following resolution: “That
the flag of the United States shall be of thirteen stripes of
alternate red and white, with a union of thirteen stars of white in a
blue field, representing the new constellation.” (As you know,
a new white star has been added for each new state. For a short time
a new stripe was also added, but after there were fifteen stripes we
went back to the original thirteen.)
But,
so far as historians can tell, the idea of a special day of
celebration was not suggested until 1861, during the Civil War, by
George Morris of Hartford, Connecticut. That year the city of
Hartford celebrated the day with a patriotic program and a prayer for
the success of the Federal army in preserving the Union. However,
this observance did not begin a tradition.
Bernard
J. Cigrand is sometimes referred to as the “Father of Flag
Day.” In 1885,
he held a formal observance of Flag Day in the Wisconsin grade school
where he taught. Then, for several years after that, he stumped the
country preaching patriotism and respect for the flag and calling for
a nationwide annual observance.
Cigrand
became president of the American Flag Day Association and later of
the National Flag Day Society, giving him strong organizational
backing for his cause. At one point he noted that he had given 2,188
speeches on patriotism and the flag.
Cigrand’s
efforts caught on,
and by the mid 1890's the observance of Flag Day on June 14 was a
popular event. Many mayors and governors proclaimed it as a day of
celebration for their cities and towns and people all over that
nation continued to urge its adoption as an official national day.
Finally,
in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation
designating June 14 as Flag Day for the nation. In 1927, the 150th
anniversary of the flag, President Calvin Coolidge issued a similar
proclamation. These proclamations established the tradition, and the
day was celebrated in states and communities throughout the nation,
but it did not become an official national day of observation until
1949.
On
August 2, 1949, the United States Congress adopted a joint resolution
officially designating June 14 as Flag Day and requesting the
President to issue an annual proclamation calling for the day’s
observance and for all federal government buildings to display the
flag. In 1966,
Congress went one step further by passing a resolution requesting the
President to designate the week of June 14 as “National Flag
Week” and urging the citizens of the United States to display
the flag not just on flag day but during the week.
Sometime
in the next two weeks President Obama, as all the presidents before
him after 1949, will issue just such an official proclamation.
These
resolutions and proclamations did not make Flag Day an official
national holiday. Rather, it was to be a day of observance and
celebration, and of appreciation for the flag and all it stands for.
What
do the colors on the flag mean? There is no specific official
designation, but the Secretary of the Continental Congress noted that
the colors in the Great Seal of the United States were those used in
the flag: “White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness
& valour, and Blue... signifies vigilance, perseverance &
justice.”
Why
stars and stripes? A book published in 1977 by the House of
Representatives said that the star “is a symbol of the heavens
and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial;
the stripe is symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun.”
(See http://www.colonialflag.com/symbolism_of_the_american_flag_s/105.htm)
Though not official, those symbolic ideas are good enough for me.
Last
year’s Presidential proclamation, issued on June 11, said the
following: “For over 200 years, our flag has proudly
represented our Nation and our ideals at home and abroad. It has
billowed above monuments and memorials, flown beside the halls of
government, stood watch over our oldest institutions, and graced our
homes and storefronts. Generations of service members have raised
our country's colors over military bases and at sea, and generations
of Americans have lowered them to mourn those we have lost. Though
our flag has changed to reflect the growth of our Republic, it will
forever remain an emblem of the ideals that inspired our great
Nation: liberty, democracy, and the enduring freedom to make of our
lives what we will.”
I
love that sentiment, but the flag means even more than that to me. In
my mind it represents my love for the country in which I live —
not the kind of love that says “our country can do no wrong,”
or that people whose political opinions are different from mine are
somehow not good Americans.
Rather,
mine is the kind of love that is grateful for the right we have to
speak our minds on anything at all (except treason, or to advocate
the violent overthrow of the government) — and even to burn the
flag, if we are that insensitive to what it really means, without
fear of governmental reprisal; the kind of love that is grateful for
our right to worship according to the dictates of our own conscience;
the kind of love that is grateful for the opportunities most of us
have for work, education, and all the other positive things we enjoy
— not that these things are not available elsewhere, but simply
that they are available here, and that we should not just take
them for granted; the kind of love that is grateful for the
opportunity to participate in the political process — to vote,
hold office, and lead out in political activities without regard to
race, creed, gender, or even economic status (there are some
restrictions on these things, of course, but not governmental
restrictions); the kind of love that is grateful for the physical
grandeur of our country — not that this in any way makes the
country better than others, but simply because it is the place I live
and enjoy and want to spend the majority of my life in.
These
and many other things cross my mind when I see the flag being carried
in a parade, flown on homes and buildings everywhere on Flag Day (my
birthday), and, when I visit other countries, flown from the U.S.
embassy, hotels catering to Americans, and other buildings. My heart
seems to have a special beat on these occasions, for I am thus one of
these who feel deep respect for the flag and what it symbolizes.
This
makes me especially concerned that we treat our flag with respect.
And that, of course, is why we have certain traditions about
displaying the flag — traditions that I think should be
honored. They are not laws, but they are certainly important symbolic
acts.
According
to these traditions, the flag should be displayed from sunrise to
sunset, raised briskly and lowered ceremoniously, and not flown in
inclement weather (though that tradition is very often breached); it
should be displayed on or near the administration building of public
institutions, and in or on all polling places on election days, and
in or near schoolhouses during school days; when displayed against a
wall or a window, the blue field should be uppermost and to the left
of the observer; when the flag is passing in review, or being raised
or lowered in a public ceremony, everyone should face it with the
right hand over his/her heart; and the flag should never be dipped
toward any person or object, nor ever touch anything beneath it.
These
things are only gestures, but they represent the kind of feelings I
think are important to maintaining our unity as a nation.
On
June 14, the scouts in my ward will place flags in the yards of each
of the homes in the ward. What a great tradition we have adopted! But
I hope that on that same day, and maybe for all of Flag Week, we will
also display our personal flags as open signs of our love for
America.
There
are all kinds of ways to display the flag. I loved what the host of a
website I recently visited had to say: “So, let’s talk
Flag Day observation. How are you going to partake? Big flags, little
flags, flag pins, flag stickers on your bumper, car flags that mount
on your window, patriotic decor all over your house or building
exterior… so many ways! Mini flags!!! You can do anything with
a mini flag! Mini flags can be displayed on your desk or counter
space, or feel free to carry and wave a mini flag like a true fan!
Definitely express your enthusiasm for our flag, our freedom, and the
ever present feeling of American pride.”
(http://flaginfo.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/flag-day)
The
Pledge of Allegiance is something I also love — partly, I
suppose, because I grew up reciting it in school, in scout meetings,
and many other places. I like having it recited in school rooms and
public gatherings everywhere. It reads:
“I
pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to
the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.”
Some
people want to remove the words “under God.” I personally
like having those words there, and I do not believe that they violate
the Constitution in the way certain critics feel they do. But I am
equally concerned about the distorted perspective I sometimes
received in notes from students who seemed to think that the removal
of this single phrase would somehow undermine the work of the
Founders.
The
fact is that the Founders did not even envision such a thing as a
pledge of allegiance. The original pledge was written in 1892. We are
not sure who the author was, but it was written to be recited in the
public schools at the celebration the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s
discovery of America.
It
appeared in a newspaper in September 8, and in October more than
twelve million children all over the nation recited it in school.
The original wording was as follows: “I pledge allegiance to my
Flag and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation,
Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.” In 1923, the
words “my Flag” were replaced by “the flag of the
United States of America.” The pledge was not formally written
into the U.S. Flag Code until a resolution was approved by Congress
in 1942, and the official name, “The Pledge of Allegiance,”
was adopted in 1945.
The
words “under God” were added by Congress in 1954, when,
in response to the Communist threat, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
encouraged it. I well remember when that happened. I also remember
that I actually felt uncomfortable with the new wording because it
did not give the pledge the same “rhythm” that I had been
so used to. However, I am used to it now, and I would not like to see
it removed.
But
if it ever happens that we do go back to the way things were in the
beginning, I would not be too disturbed. To me, patriotism is not
related just to the words in the pledge, but, rather, to how we feel
about our country and what the flag really stands for.
But
I also like what President Gordon B. Hinckley once said about the
pledge: “We repeat the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the
United States and ‘to the republic for which it stands.’
We say, ‘One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.’ I pray that we will never forget that we are
in very deed a nation under God and that with the strength which
comes from Him, we will remain “indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.’ (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997], 24.)
In
addition, I love the way President Hinckley expressed his love for
America on various occasions, as put together by the compilers of his
Teachings, pages 11-13. I can do no better than to close with
what he said:
“I
love America for her great and brawny strength, the products of her
vital factories, and the science of her laboratories. I love her for
the great intellectual capacity of her people. I love her for their
generous hearts. I love her for her tremendous spiritual strengths.
She is unique among the nations of the earth — in her
discovery, in her birth as a nation, in the amalgamation of the races
that have come to her shores, in the consistency and strength of her
government, in the goodness of her people.
“We
first visited Jerusalem long ago, before the 1967 war. It was then a
divided city. We retained the services of a guide who was an Arab. We
stood on an elevation where we could see the other side of Jerusalem.
With tears in his eyes he pointed to the home of which he had been
dispossessed. And then he said with deep emotion: ‘You belong
to the greatest nation on the face of the earth. Yours is the only
nation which has been victorious in war and never claimed any
territory as a prize of conquest. Your people have given millions,
yes billions, to the poor of the earth and never asked for anything
in return.’
“That
I learned from a man in Jerusalem. I had never thought of it before.
It is tremendously significant. I have stood in the American military
cemetery in Suresnes, France, where are buried some who died in the
First World War. It is a quiet and hallowed place, a remembrance of
great sacrifice ‘to make the world safe for democracy.’
No additional territory was claimed by America as recompense for the
sacrifices of those buried there.
“I
have stood in reverent awe and wonder in the beautiful American
military cemetery on the outskirts of Manila in the Philippines.
Here, standing row on row in perfect symmetry, are marble crosses and
the Star of David marking the burial places of some 17,000 Americans
who lost their lives in the Second World War. Surrounding that sacred
ground are stone colonnades on which are incised the names of another
35,000 who were lost in the battles of the Pacific during that
terrible conflict. There was victory, but not a claim for territory.
“I
have been up and down South Korea from the 38th parallel on the north
to Pusan on the south and seen the ridges and the valleys where
Americans fought and died, not to save their own land, but to
preserve freedom for people who were strangers to them but whom they
acknowledged to be brothers under the Fatherhood of God. Not an inch
of territory was sought nor added to the area of the United States
during that conflict.
“I
have been up and down South Vietnam in the days of war, during those
years when 55,000 Americans died in the sultry heat of that strange
and foreign place fighting in the cause of human liberty without
ambition for territory.
“In
no instance — in the First World War, in the Second World War,
in the Korean War, in the Vietnam struggle — did this nation
seize and hold territory for itself as a prize of conquest.
“I
love America for the tremendous genius of its scientists, its
researchers, its laboratories, its universities, and the tens of
thousands of facilities devoted to the increase of human health and
comfort, to the sustenance of life, to improved communication and
transportation. Its great, throbbing industries have blessed the
entire world. The standard of living of its people has been the envy
of the entire earth. Its farmlands have yielded an abundance
undreamed of in many other places. The entrepreneurial environment in
which has grown its industry has been the envy of all nations.
“I
love America for its great spiritual strength. It is a land of
churches and synagogues, of temples and tabernacles, of pulpits and
altars. (Freedom Festival Address, Provo, Utah, June 26, 1988.)
“I
believe in America. I am grateful for the Constitution under which
this nation lives and moves and has its being. I am profoundly
grateful that somehow for more than two centuries of time we have
existed as a nation and grown to become the strongest and most free
in the entire world. I am grateful for those men whom the God in
Heaven raised up and inspired and who pledged their lives, their
fortunes, and their sacred honor to establish this nation and its
government.
“I
believe in America — one nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all. We are, of course, not without fault. We
have more than our share of crime and of every other evil to be found
on the earth. I fear that we have become an arrogant people, but when
all is said and done, there is no other nation quite like this
nation.” (“Articles of Belief,” Bonneville
International Corporation Management Seminar, February 10, 1991.)
JAMES B. ALLEN, Professor of History, Emeritus, Brigham Young University
James B. Allen was born June 14, 1927, in Ogden, Utah. He married Renée Jones, April 16,
1953. They have five children, twenty-one grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren . He
received his bachelor's degree in history form Utah State University in 1954, a master's degree
from Brigham Young University in 1956, and the Ph.D. from the University of Southern
California in 1963.
Active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all his life, he has served in numerous
positions, including bishop of two BYU wards and a member of 5 different BYU high councils.
In 1999-2000 he and Renée served as missionaries at the Boston Institute of Religion.
He has also been active in the Republican party and twice served as a delegate to the state
convention.
In his professional career, he taught in the LDS Seminary and Institute program from 1954-63,
after which he was a member of the faculty at Brigham Young University until his retirement in
1992. From 1972 to 1979 he also served as Assistant Church Historian (splitting his time
between BYU and the Church Historical Department). He was chair of the History Department
from 1981-1987 then, during his last five years at BYU, he was honored to hold the Lemuel
Hardison Redd, Jr. Chair in Western American History. After his retirement he became
associated with the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at BYU, where
for several years he held an appointment as a Senior Research Fellow.
He has also been active in various professional organizations, including the Western History
Association (served on various committees, and as chair of a program committee) and the
Mormon History Association (president, 1971-73). He has been on various boards of editors and
advisory committees and presented numerous papers at the meetings of various historical
associations.
As a researcher and writer he is the author, co-author, or co-editor of fourteen books or
monographs and around 90 articles relating to Western American history and Mormon history,
as well as numerous book reviews in professional journals. Some of his books include the
following:
The Company Town in the American West (University of Oklahoma Press, 1966)
The Story of the Latter-day Saints (with Glen M. Leonard; Deseret Book Company, 1976;
2nd edition 1992)
Trials of Discipleship: The Story of William Clayton, a Mormon (University of Illinois
Press, 1987). Revised and republished in 2002 by BYU Press under the title No
Toil Nor Labor Fear: The Story of William Clayton. In 1986, while still in press,
this book won the prestigious David Woolley Evans and Beatrice Cannon Evans
Biography Award.
Men With a Mission: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles, 1837-1841
(with Ronald K. Esplin and David J. Whittaker, Deseret Book Company, 1992)
Studies in Mormon History 1830-1997: An Indexed Bibliography (with Ronald W.
Walker and David J. Whittaker; University of Illinois Press, 2000). Allen was the
lead investigator for this important work. It lists, and provides an index to, all the
significant books, articles, doctoral dissertations and master's theses on Mormon
history produced between 1830 and 1997. It has been widely hailed as one of the
most important aids to finding LDS history ever published. In 2001 the Mormon
History Association awarded the authors a special citation for the publication of
this book. After that, working with J. Michael Hunter, Allen continued to update
the bibliography database. Hunter has now taken over the updating, and the
database is online at mormonhistory.byu.edu.
Mormon History (with Ronald W. Walker and David J. Whittaker, University of Illinois
Press, 2001). This book is a history of the writing of Mormon history, from the
days of Joseph Smith until the present time.
Over the years he has received various awards, honors, and recognitions, besides those indicated
above. Among them were several "best article" awards; the Karl G. Maeser Research and
Creative Arts Award, Brigham Young University, 1980; named Distinguished Faculty Lecturer,
Brigham Young University, 1984; named a Fellow of the Utah State Historical Society, July 15,
1988; the Leonard J. Arrington Award for a Distinctive Contribution to the cause of Mormon
History, awarded by the Mormon History Asociation, 2008.
James and Renée have enjoyed living in Orem, Utah since 1963.
He currently serves as Sunday School President in his ward, and he and Renée have been officiators
in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple since 2004.
