On This Date December 28, 1945- Congress recognizes the “Pledge of Allegiance”

December 28, 1945 – Congress officially recognizes “Pledge of Allegiance”. Such a pledge was
first composed, with a text different from the one used at present, by Captain George Thatcher
Balch, a Union Army Officer during the Civil War and later a teacher of patriotism in New York
City schools. The form of the pledge used today was largely devised by Francis Bellamy in
1892, and formally adopted by Congress as the pledge in 1942. The official name of The Pledge
of Allegiance was adopted in 1945. The most recent alteration of its wording came on Flag Day
in 1954, when the words “under God” were added