Patriotism | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

War and patriotism are often two sides of the same coin because warfare produces strong feelings of nationalism as well as challenges to the nation's culture and society. Patriotism not only has made Americans feel more strongly about their ideals, but also has led to excesses in which those ideals of tolerance and defense of basic rights are compromised in the name of patriotism. Although patriotism became a common way of expressing national identity, it also divided Americans and created disputes about the meaning of loyalty.

Some of America's most important patriotic holidays and rituals of patriotism either originated or gained familiar, contemporary characteristics between the Spanish-American War and the end of World War II.

The Spanish-American War helped give patriotic celebration new national significance. A shift occurred in the meaning of Memorial Day, a holiday first called Decoration Day that originated in the 1860s with local ceremonies held to honor soldiers who died in the Civil War by decorating their graves with flowers. By the 1890s, northern states celebrated Memorial Day on May 30 to remember those who had given their lives for the Union, while southern states had separate holidays to commemorate the Confederate war dead.

The Spanish-American War contributed to sectional reconciliation, as soldiers from all parts of the country served together under the American flag. After the war was over, the commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), an organization of Union veterans, urged members of his organization to celebrate Memorial Day by placing flowers on the graves of fallen Confederates. Another GAR commander declared, "We had a new Union, no Northerners, no Southerners, but Americans all" (O'Leary, p. 146). Sectional differences, of course, persisted, but Memorial Day started to become a national holiday. In addition, a new national organization, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), emerged after the Spanish-American War.

Heavy immigration, especially from nations in southern and eastern Europe, created new concerns about loyalty and patriotism. As early as the 1890s, the GAR called on public schools to establish programs of citizenship education, which included pledging allegiance to the flag. Americanizing immigrants became a matter of national

importance after the beginning of war in Europe in August 1914. Even as President Woodrow Wilson sought to keep the United States out of war, he worried that the divided loyalties of recent immigrants threatened national cohesion. At the president's urging, citizens celebrated the Fourth of July in 1916 as "Americanization Day."

Wilson also proclaimed the first national observance of Flag Day in 1916 and marched in a parade draped in a flag. The Pledge of Allegiance became a daily ritual in many public schools, although some advocates of Americanization worried about an ambiguity in the original version that Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, had written in 1892. They insisted that in a diverse society with many people who had been born in other countries, citizens should pledge allegiance not to "my flag" but to the "flag of the United States of America," a change that Congress formally recognized in 1942.

After U.S. entry into World War I in 1917, the federal government played an unprecedented role in arousing patriotism. A Committee on Public Information rallied public support for the war by creating an army of 75,000 Four-Minute Men—speakers who gave brief, stirring, patriotic talks in local communities. Gold Star Mothers also became part of the war effort when Wilson decided to recognize those who had given their lives in battle by having their mothers wear a black arm band with a gold star. Wilson encouraged representatives of various ethnic groups to demonstrate their commitment to the war effort during Fourth of July celebrations in 1918, including a parade in the nation's capital called "Democracy Triumphant" that he personally reviewed.

Yet patriotism, at times, went to excess, as zealots sometimes measured loyalty by ethnicity or nationality. Some communities prohibited the teaching of German in the public schools. German-Americans occasionally became the targets of mob violence. Citizens who opposed U.S. involvement in the war or criticized the Wilson administration's policies faced not only challenges to their patriotism, but also the possibility of conviction and imprisonment under the Espionage and Sedition acts. Even the end of the war on November 11, 1918, did not bring a return to peace on the home front. A wave of strikes, including some that turned violent, and several terrorist bombings produced a postwar Red Scare, as many patriotic Americans worried that "hyphenated Americans" with radical or revolutionary ideas threatened homeland security.

In 1919, veterans of the American Expeditionary Force that had fought in Europe founded the American Legion, which became an important organization in shaping patriotic observances after World War I. The American Legion helped secure recognition of Armistice Day—November 11—as a national holiday in 1938. In 1954, after World War II and the Korean War, the name changed to Veterans Day, to honor those who served in all U.S. wars. The American Legion also drew up a code of flag etiquette that Congress accepted, with few changes, in 1942.

World War II produced an outpouring of patriotism, which the federal government directed toward boosting the war effort. Each year during the war millions of citizens celebrated "I Am an American Day" on the third Sunday in May. The holiday began in 1940 as a way of encouraging naturalized citizens to accept American values; it was intended to protect against the dangers of fascism and communism. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, "I Am an American Day" helped solidify public determination to do everything possible to win the war. More than a million people turned out for celebrations in New York City in 1945, and one thousand other communities held events to mark the occasion.

Because of its similarity to Nazi ritual, the traditional salute of the flag with arm extended and palm down while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance changed after America entered the war. That salute, as one West Virginia official put it, was "too much like Hitler's." During the war and thereafter, the usual practice was to hold the right hand over one's heart while pledging allegiance. Jehovah's Witnesses, who refused to accept any salute because of their religious beliefs, became targets of harassment and violence.

By 1945, there were more patriotic holidays than there had been a half century earlier and their observance conformed to national standards as well as local practices. The federal government and large organizations like the American Legion had helped make patriotism and its expression a significant part of national culture.

Armistice Day.

Fried, Richard M. The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! Pageantry and Patriotism in Cold-War America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Hansen, Jonathan M. The Lost Promise of Patriotism: Debating American Identity, 1890–1920. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Kennedy, David M. Over Here: The First World War and American Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.

O'Leary, Cecilia Elizabeth. To Die For: The Paradox of American Patriotism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999.

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