This is an intelligent book about the strange story of American patriotism. Strange because America is much more of an “imagined community,” to use Benedict Anderson's evocative concept, than most Western European states. Also strange because, as Richard Ellis points out, it has been so contested over the years.
Ellis's book will no doubt annoy political scientists who search for models, airtight theories, or a quantifiable subject matter. We have here no obsession with “methods,” just straightforward historical narrative. This makes the book not only enjoyable to read but also appealing for use in undergraduate courses dealing with American patriotism and nationalism.
Ellis refuses to tell a simple, unified narrative about how the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag was adopted. A straightforward or Whiggish story is impossible due in part to the “decentralized character of American education,” wherein different schools and municipal and state governments could adopt the pledge and its rules (how to hold your hand, the need to stand, etc.) in different ways (p. 58).
The book is strongest in its opening sections. Here, Ellis explores the story of Francis Bellamy, the original author of the Pledge. It is fascinating to note that Bellamy (a cousin of Edward Bellamy, radical author of Looking Backward) was a Christian socialist and concerned with the selfish materialism and business culture taking root during the Gilded Age at the turn of the last century. Though Ellis admits that Bellamy was “undeniably radical” (p. 26), he downplays this element of his life and instead stresses his nativist streak. It was Bellamy's fear of new people coming ashore to America that drove him to write the Pledge and then try to get it adopted nationwide. The biggest aid in his campaign came during World War I, a time known for whipped-up nativism (anti-German most obviously) and patriotism.
The author is quick to document early dissent from the Pledge. Most of this came from religious believers, especially Mennonites and Jehovah's Witnesses, who no doubt worried that the Pledge deified the flag and nation more than it did God (and “under God” was not in the original version). The conflicts documented in this story are fascinating and sometimes comical. For instance, during World War II, there was some concern that the original arm-extended salute to the flag looked frighteningly like the Heil Hitler salute in Nazi Germany (p. 115). Never was it an easy thing to get American patriotism right!
Ellis's story turns particularly contentious as it moves up in time. As the saying goes, the 1960s changed everything, and it certainly changed the way Americans thought about the Pledge. More secular claims started to be made against the Pledge, with some students saying that it was impossible for them to state that America really stood for “justice” (pp. 160–61). Judges increasingly allowed students to sit and remain silent during the Pledge. Teachers, too, got in on the act of refusing to comply. Battles emerged between legislatures—typically in support of the pledge—and the judiciary—which was more willing to accept the importance of dissent, and religious dissent especially (p. 168). Ellis then shows how this story culminated in the Dukakis-Bush Sr. battle for the presidency, when Vice President George H. W. Bush thrashed Governor Michael Dukakis for refusing to sign a pro-Pledge bit of legislation.
Toward the end of the book, the story turns less illuminating as it turns fairly obvious. After all, it is no surprise to find that the Pledge became a political football after 9/11. Republicans turned increasingly strident, and more willing to make patriotism work for them as the culture wars heated up. Ellis shows how “politicians” have used the Pledge and mandatory laws to “mobilize political support and to portray opponents as insufficiently patriotic” (p. 207).
The idea that stating certain words could make clear one's loyalty is indeed a strange practice. It is also exceptional, as Ellis points out. He cannot find any other country that does what the United States does with its pledge. He argues that America's “idea-based identity” (p. 214) cannot explain it. He also knocks down the idea that America's self-conception as a chosen people has much to offer in way of explanation. He emphasizes instead a national “anxiety” that is prone to abuse. And he has much documentary evidence to show that.
Still, “anxiety” might sound like something bad—something prone to manipulation. But it might also offer us another interpretation. Ellis himself documents how a fear of “materialism” has inspired Americans to seek a faith in something that transcends self-interest. Recall Bellamy here. And though he downplays this dimension and emphasizes fear, it is important to recall the idealist strain behind the Pledge. After all, the idea is not necessarily that Americans are unified and not divided—it is that Americans should be united even across class lines. Though saying words does not ensure that America will achieve more social justice, the spirit behind saying those words might matter more than Ellis himself thinks.
In remembering the idealistic element that Ellis plays down, however, we cannot ignore how the Pledge has operated as a form of political football. Or how it elicits fears about difference. Or how sometimes when Americans get whipped up over patriotism, they forget central features of their own creed—namely, freedom and democracy. Reminding us of that and of our conflicted story of patriotism, Ellis has performed a very important service indeed.
